FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) -Tom Hicks, the Texas owner who first made Alex Rodriguez baseball’s highest-paid player, said he feels “personally betrayed” after the slugger’s admission Monday that he used performance-enhancing drugs while with the Rangers.
“This whole episode has caught me totally by surprise. I feel personally betrayed, I feel deceived by Alex,” Hicks said.
Hicks said there were “absolutely no suspicions whatsoever” about Rodriguez using steroids or other performance-enhancing drugs during his three seasons with the Rangers after signing a then-record $252 million, 10-year contract in December 2000.
With the growing talk about steroids at the time, Hicks said he had general conversations with A-Rod and even asked the player if he had used them.
“Not in an accusatory way,” Hicks said during a conference call. “But I certainly asked the question in a way where I came away with a clear answer that he had much too much respect for his own body that God had given him to ever do anything like that to hurt it with steroids.”
ay in an interview with ESPN that he used performance-enhancing drugs with the Rangers from 2001-03, in an attempt to justify his status as the game’s highest-paid player.
The admission came two days after Sports Illustrated reported on its Web site that Rodriguez was among 104 names on a list of players who tested positive for steroids in 2003. Testing that year was intended to determine the extent of steroid use in baseball, and the results were not supposed to be made public.
Rodriguez said Monday that he was “very sorry and deeply regretful” and specifically apologized to Rangers fans.
“I’d rather he have one further apology,” Hicks said, “To the owner of the Texas Rangers that signed him that contract. Then I’ll decide if I want to accept his apology.”
The Rangers owner said he felt betrayed because of many talks he had with Rodriguez, and the close relationship they shared then.
“Just the hypocrisy of numerous hours of conversation he and I had about the game of baseball, and about what kind of role he wanted to play in the game of baseball, what his personal objectives were,” Hicks said.
“I certainly don’t believe that if he’s now admitting that he started using when he came to the Texas Rangers, why should I believe that it didn’t start before he came to the Texas Rangers,” he said.
uding 52 in 2001, his first year there after averaging 42 the previous three seasons in Seattle. A-Rod followed with 57 homers in 2002 and 47 the next year when he won the first of his three MVP awards.
Texas traded Rodriguez to the Yankees before the 2004 season because of A-Rod’s growing frustration with the performance of the Rangers, who finished last in the AL West in each of his three seasons.
The Rangers were still paying part of A-Rod’s salary until he opted out of the original 10-year deal in 2007 and then signed a $275 million, 10-year contract with the Yankees.
Hicks said Rodriguez never expressed being overwhelmed by the pressure of being the highest-paid player.
“He was actually proud that he responded best under pressure,” Hicks said. “I think Alex was used to being under pressure, playing under pressure. … Obviously, he’s not perfect. Today is proof of that.”
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