Orioles outfielder Jay Gibbons admitted Thursday to using human growth hormone after he was suspended for 15 games by Major League Baseball.
Gibbons and outfielder Jose Guillen, who recently signed a contract with Kansas City, were suspended for violating Major League Baseball?s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment program. The two will begin serving their suspensions with the start of the 2008 season.
“We completely support the Commissioner?s program and his decision with regard to Jay Gibbons? suspension,” Orioles president Andy MacPhailsaid in a release. “Jay has acknowledged his mistake, and we appreciate his willingness to accept the consequences.”
Major League Baseball banned human growth hormone in 2005, two years after it banned steroids. Gibbons and Guillen are the first players suspended without testing positive for a banned substance.
Gibbons, 30, said he is “deeply sorry for the mistakes that I have made,” and explained he “relied on the advice of a doctor, filled a prescription, charged the hGH, which is a medication to my credit card and had only intended to help speed my recovery from injuries and surgeries.”
Gibbons has been with the Orioles longer than any current player, with the exception of Melvin Mora. In seven big league seasons ? all the with Orioles ? he has batted .260 with 121 home runs.
Gibbons left the Orioles in August to undergo surgery on his left shoulder. He met with baseball officials Sept. 18 to discuss the details of Sept. 9 story on Sports Illustrated?s Web site, which sited a source which indicated Gibbons had received six shipments of hGH from a Florida pharmacy.
In an interview with The Examiner shortly after the Sports Illustrated story, Orioles owner Peter Angelos said, “he hasn?t tested positive for anything.”
Angelos did not return a phone call seeking comment Thursday afternoon.
Gibbons hit just .230 with 6 home runs and 28 RBIs in 84 games last season. He has played in 100 or more games just three times in his seven-year career. He made two trips to the disabled list in 2006, missing 53 games in a 55-game stretch during the middle of the season.
Commissioner Bud Selig?s office also announced Thursday it concluded investigations of Scott Schoeneweis, Gary Matthews, Jr., Troy Glaus and Rick Ankiel ? all accused of using performance enhancing drugs ? and determined there was insufficient evidence of any of the players violating Major League Baseball policy. Major League Baseball steroids investigator George Mitchell is expected to release his report by the end of the month.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
