Manny Ramirez Suspended 50 Games by MLB

Manny Ramirez, the popular but mercurial slugger for the Los Angeles Dodgers, has been suspended 50 games for violating Major League Baseball's Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program.

The suspension was announced Thursday afternoon.  A statement from Manny Ramirez claims that he received the substance in question from a physician in Florida.  He claims that his use was not recreational, and that he was unaware that the drug was banned.

Early reports indicated that Manny would appeal the suspension, and there were even arrangements made for a hearing to be scheduled in Los Angeles.  According to ESPN's Peter Gammons, though, Manny backed off at the last minute and declined to appeal.  Ramirez has taken public responsibility for using the substance, saying: "LA is a special place to me and I know everybody is disappointed. So am I. I'm sorry about this whole situation. "

There has been no official word on what the substance was that triggered the suspension.  But ESPN writers T.J. Quinn and Mark Fainaru-Wada — famous for writing the Barry Bonds/BALCO expose Game of Shadows -- are reporting that it was hCG, a women's fertility drug.  According to the American Pregnancy Association's website, hCG is produced during pregnancy by cells that form the placenta.  WebMD states that hCG levels can be tested to determine pergnancy but may also be affected by tumors.

That sounds innocent enough, but it fails to explain what an otherwise healthy adult male such as Ramirez would need them for.  T.J. Quinn, speaking on an ESPNews broadcast, states that despite its uses as a female fertility drug, hCG is used almost exclusively by steroid users.  hCG helps renew the body's ability to make testosterone.  This is made necessary when steroid users have been doping for a certain period of time, inhibiting their body's ability to produce testosterone naturally.  Not only does hCG seem to indicate steroid abuse in the vast majority of cases, but the substance itself is banned under baseball's drug policy, since it does enhance the body's testosterone levels.

Despite an official statement both from Ramirez and the MLB, there is some confusion as to how the substance was detected.  It may or may not have come as part of baseball's random drug testing.  Quinn reports that the hCG wasn't actually detected at first; his sources report that the only abnormality that registered was elevated levels of testosterone.  This led investigators to determine what was responsible for the high levels of testosterone, and the use of hCG was indicated, reportedly, through documents uncovered during the process.

Article Author: Aaron Whitehead

Aaron, 28, lives in southern Kentucky and works at the local community college. He spends his spare time working in the theatre and cheering for the Braves ... against his better judgment.

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