2007: A-Rod denies doping on 60 Minutes
In January, New York Yankee Alex Rodriguez was hit with the longest doping suspension in baseball history. Rodriguez appeared on 60 Minutes to tell his side of the story in 2007. In that interview (excerpted in the video player above), Rodriguez was defiant, saying he didn't need performance-enhancing drugs to excel and that his talents were God-given.
"Getting big and being stronger was never my problem," he said. "I have never felt overmatched on the baseball field....I'm just trying to be the best I can with the ability that God gave me."
Six years after Rodriguez appeared on the broadcast, 60 Minutes tells another side of that story.
Tonight, in a two-part report, Scott Pelley reports details of the evidence against Rodriguez-- much of it from Pelley's interview with Anthony Bosch, who ran a secret doping practice for pro athletes. After Bosch was exposed last summer, Rodriguez and 13 other players, all Bosch's clients, were suspended. Rodriguez appealed that suspension, and Tony Bosch testified for 5 days behind closed doors in Rodriguez's appeal hearing. In Pelley's 60 Minutes report, Bosch spoke publicly for the first time, sharing details about Rodriguez's doping program and how easily he beat the MLB's drug tests.
Doping in baseball has been a long-running conversation on 60 Minutes over the past decade, and Rodriguez is not the only player who has appeared on the broadcast to speak directly to the public amidst accusations of cheating.
In 2008, an outraged Roger Clemens swore to Mike Wallace that he had never used performance-enhancing drugs.
"I'm angry that...I don't get the benefit of the doubt," said Clemens. "The stuff that's being said, it's ridiculous. It's hogwash for people to even assume this. Twenty-four, 25 years, Mike. You think I'd get an inch of respect, an inch. How can you prove you're innocent?"
Wallace's response: "Apparently, you haven't done it yet."
In 2005, Jose Canseco took a different approach, telling Wallace exactly where he injected himself with a cocktail of steroids and growth hormones (The "butt muscle" Canseco volunteered.). But he displayed little regret, and he even downplayed the physical advantage that the drugs had given him: "A lot of it is psychological," Canseco told Wallace. "You really believe you have an edge."
Editor's Note: This segment was originally published Jan. 12, 2014