David Ortiz insists he never knowingly took PEDs, says he deserves to be in Hall of Fame

Boston Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz is never one to mince words and his new essay is a perfect example of how he responds to his critics. He posted a long piece about performance enhancing drugs, insisting that he has never “knowingly” taken them. In addition, he is sure that he belongs in the Hall of Fame.

Ortiz, 39, posted the essay on The Players’ Tribune, starting off with a story about how he was again drug tested this past winter while at home in the Dominican Republic. It was 7:30 in the morning and he was really scared that the man was an intruder. But it turned out to be some guy from Colorado with a briefcase and he tested Ortiz’s blood.

“In some people’s minds, I will always be considered a cheater. And that’s bulls**t. Mark my words: Nobody in MLB history has been tested for PEDs more than me,” Ortiz wrote.

Ortiz said that if he took anything, it was over-the-counter supplements that anyone could take during the early-2000s. He wrote that if a supplement is legal, a ballplayer takes it because of how long the season is.

So if he’s not taking steroids, how did he get so good in his early 30s? “Physically, I was always a bull,” Ortiz wrote. “But I learned to play the game with my head and my heart and my balls. I got smarter. I got mentally tougher.”

The catalyst for Ortiz came in 2009, when he showed up on a list of players who had failed a test in 2003. Ortiz said that he was never told that he failed a test in 2003 and still doesn’t know why he failed it. Even the MLB Players’ Association wouldn’t tell him.

“I never knowingly took any steroids,” Ortiz wrote. “If I tested positive for anything, it was for something in pills I bought at the damn mall. If you think that ruins everything I have done in this game, there is nothing I can say to convince you different.”

At the end of his column, Ortiz insisted that he should join Cooperstown after he retires.

“I’ve won three World Series since MLB introduced comprehensive drug testing. I’ve performed year after year after year,” Ortiz wrote. “But if a bunch of writers who have never swung a bat want to tell me it’s all for nothing, OK. Why do they write my legacy?”

Ortiz is signed for another season for the Red Sox. He had a down 2014, at least in batting average, hitting .263.

image courtesy of INFphoto.com

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