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Yesterday, Alex Rodriguez, considered one of the best baseball players of all time, was hit with the longest doping suspension in history. After a contentious private hearing, Major League Baseball's arbitration judge took the Yankee third baseman out of the game all of next season. This, despite the fact that there is no positive drug test for Rodriguez. After the decision, Rodriguez repeated that he has never taken performance-enhancing drugs in the years that he's played for New York.
Tonight, you are going to hear details of the evidence for the first time -- much of it from Anthony Bosch, who ran a secret doping practice for pro athletes. It was last summer, after Bosch was exposed, that Rodriguez and 13 others, all Bosch's clients, were suspended. All accepted their penalties except Rodriguez who appealed. In Rodriguez's appeal hearing, Tony Bosch testified for five days, behind closed doors. Tonight, he speaks publicly for the first time.
Scott Pelley: Once Alex Rodriguez was fully into your protocol, what were the various banned substances that he was taking?
Anthony Bosch: Testosterone, insulin growth factor one, human growth hormone, and some different forms of peptides.
Scott Pelley: All of them banned?
Anthony Bosch: All of them banned.
Scott Pelley: And he knew that.
Anthony Bosch: He-- yes, he-- he did.
Scott Pelley: And you knew that?
Anthony Bosch: And I knew that.
Scott Pelley: Was Rodriguez injecting himself with these substances?
Anthony Bosch: Alex is scared of needles. So at times-- he would ask me to inject.
Scott Pelley: You've injected him?
Anthony Bosch: Yes.
Scott Pelley: Personally?
Anthony Bosch: Personally.
Tony Bosch told us Alex Rodriguez became his client in 2010. Bosch says he's supplied pro athletes with banned drugs almost 10 years -- a corrupt sideline to his anti-aging clinic called "biogenesis" which was once in this Florida office building.
On August 4th, 2010, Rodriguez hit his 600th home run in his quest to become the greatest home run hitter of all time. Tony Bosch told us it was five days before this moment that he was summoned to a Florida hotel to meet Rodriguez for the first time.
Anthony Bosch: The first words out of his mouth were, you know, what did Manny Ramirez take in 2008 and 2009? What were you giving him-- what-- what were you giving Manny Ramirez?
Bosch says Manny Ramirez came to him at the age of 35 and the next season he nearly doubled his homeruns. Ramirez retired in 2011 after testing positive for doping. Bosch says that Rodriguez wanted in on the secret.
Anthony Bosch: Alex cared. Alex wanted to know. He would study the product. He would study the substance. He would study the dosages because he wanted to achieve all his human performance or in this case, sports performance objectives. And the most important one was the 800 Home Run Club.
Scott Pelley: The 800 Home Run Club?
Anthony Bosch: Which was only going to have one member, Alex Rodriguez.
Bosch told us, to tailor a doping program for Rodriguez, he needed to know how long various drugs stayed in Rodriguez's body. He says doses and timing were critical so Rodriguez would not test positive after a game. Bosch says he often drew Rodriguez's blood at specific times to see how quickly the drugs dissipated. He remembers, one night, a blood test was supposed to be done precisely at 8 o'clock, but Rodriguez was in a Miami club.
Anthony Bosch: So we ended up drawing the blood in the bathroom of this one restaurant slash bar slash club in the bathroom stall at 8:00 p.m.
Scott Pelley: With the crowd there?
Anthony Bosch: With the crowd right there.
Scott Pelley: People coming in and out of the men's room, I take it. And you're in a stall with Alex Rodriguez drawing his blood?
Anthony Bosch: Yes. As crazy as that sounds.
Scott Pelley: What were you thinking?
Anthony Bosch: I'm not getting paid enough.
Bosch told us he was getting paid $12,000 dollars a month in cash. In return, Bosch prepared this elaborate drug schedule for Rodriguez. Bosch says that his records show the days and times of injections, plus when to use skin creams, and oral medications. Six substances on this list are banned. One is testosterone troches or lozenges -- Bosch also calls them gummies -- which, he says, were taken in combination with growth hormone and all the rest.
Anthony Bosch: He would put one of these troches in his mouth probably about ten, 15 minutes before game time, or as soon as he went into the field. A player could take it right before game time. And by the time they get back into a locker room after the game and there was any possibility of testing, they would-- they-- they would test negative. They would test clean.
Scott Pelley: If you were telling Alex Rodriguez to take these gummies a few minutes before the game, he's taking these in the locker room or the dugout. That's quite an image.
Anthony Bosch: Quite an image. They're so small that you could literally while sitting in the dugout take it, put it in your mouth, and people could think it's sunflower seeds or-or-or a piece of candy or a piece of gum, for that matter.
Scott Pelley: And how would that help if he took it just a few minutes before a game?
Anthony Bosch: Well, now all of a sudden, his levels of testosterone are higher. It gives him a little bit, it gives him more energy. It gives him more strength. It gives him more focus. And in combination with the growth hormone, that combination would make playing the game of baseball a lot easier.
Scott Pelley: You know a lot of people are watching this interview right now saying, "How could he? How could you? What's the answer to that question?"
Anthony Bosch: I did it because I had a responsibility, I felt I had a responsibility to do it, to let them know that if they're gonna take something like this, do it the right way.
Scott Pelley: You might have said to these players when they came to you, "Look, don't do any of this stuff. It breaks the rules of baseball. Don't do this." Did you ever say that?
Anthony Bosch: No. I never said that. My approach to all this, I'll stand by it now and I'll stand by it forever, was you're gonna do this. Let me show you how to do this. Let me educate you. And let's do it the right way. And sure, let's not get caught while we're doing this.
Bosch's education in doping is self-taught. He studied at a medical school in Belize but he has never had a license to practice. He grew up in Miami and to us he seemed like a troubled guy, heavy drinker, heavy smoker--dealing in prescription drugs. We found no criminal record other than traffic violations and a citation for practicing medicine without a license for which he was fined $5,000.
Scott Pelley: A lotta people are gonna say if you hadn't been caught you'd still be doing it?
Anthony Bosch: I would have to say, yes. But that's not what happened. I got caught. So, I did what was the right thing to do. So, yes would I be doing it if I didn't get caught? I'd still be doing it. I'm here to say the truth, so that is, that is the truth.
One thing is certainly true--Bosch has lied about this case--he's had it both ways. This is what he said after the scandal broke.
[Anthony Bosch: No comment. I'm a nutritionist. I don't know anything about performance-enhancing drugs.]
Bosch says the story he tells today is backed up by hundreds of text messages that he says he exchanged with Rodriguez. We have more than 500 of them. They are BlackBerry "BBM" messages. Major League Baseball says the pin number attached to the messages matches a BlackBerry owned by Rodriguez. Bosch says those testosterone lozenges were taken both before and during a game. This question came from the device linked to Rodriguez. "Gummie at 1045am?... Game at 1pm." Bosch responded, "10:30am."
Scott Pelley: What difference does 15 minutes make?
Anthony Bosch: All the difference in the world. Every difference in the world. Every minute counts.
Scott Pelley: At what point in a game was too late to take a troche, what inning?
Anthony Bosch: In Alex's case probably right after-- right after the first inning, second inning.
Any later than that and there was a chance the testosterone would turn up in the league's random, post-game, urine tests. Bosch says that Rodriguez was tested by baseball more than a dozen times--all turned out negative. He told us he'd given Rodriguez tips on ways to beat that test.
Anthony Bosch: You want to start the test and then introduce the urine cup into the stream and what you want to capture is the middle of the stream, not the beginning or not the end of the stream that was extremely important because most of the metabolites are either in the beginning of the stream or at the end of the stream.
Scott Pelley: It's that precise?
Anthony Bosch: It's that precise.
During this 2012 game, Rodriguez drove in three runs, and smashed a 418-foot double.
Announcer: A-Rod hits a deep one to center. Alex Rodriguez in his hometown of Miami, has given the Yankees a 4-2 lead.
The next morning, a message from the Rodriguez BlackBerry read "Really good. Explosive." Bosch replied "Go with same protocol."
What we didn't find in the messages is the name of any performance-enhancing drug. Rodriguez's lawyer has said that's because they were talking about nutrition--but Bosch says it's because they used code words. He says the word cohete--(misspelled in the message) is Spanish for "rocket"--and that meant injectable drugs, according to Bosch. "Night cream" was loaded with testosterone. In 2012, a message attributed to Rodriguez's BlackBerry said "feel good, big day tomorrow, what do you have?" Bosch texted back these instructions:
Yesterday, Alex Rodriguez, considered one of the best baseball players of all time, was hit with the longest doping suspension in history. After a contentious private hearing, Major League Baseball's arbitration judge took the Yankee third baseman out of the game all of next season. This, despite the fact that there is no positive drug test for Rodriguez. After the decision, Rodriguez repeated that he has never taken performance-enhancing drugs in the years that he's played for New York.
Tonight, you are going to hear details of the evidence for the first time -- much of it from Anthony Bosch, who ran a secret doping practice for pro athletes. It was last summer, after Bosch was exposed, that Rodriguez and 13 others, all Bosch's clients, were suspended. All accepted their penalties except Rodriguez who appealed. In Rodriguez's appeal hearing, Tony Bosch testified for five days, behind closed doors. Tonight, he speaks publicly for the first time.
Scott Pelley: Once Alex Rodriguez was fully into your protocol, what were the various banned substances that he was taking?
Anthony Bosch: Testosterone, insulin growth factor one, human growth hormone, and some different forms of peptides.
Scott Pelley: All of them banned?
Anthony Bosch: All of them banned.
Scott Pelley: And he knew that.
Anthony Bosch: He-- yes, he-- he did.
Scott Pelley: And you knew that?
Anthony Bosch: And I knew that.
Scott Pelley: Was Rodriguez injecting himself with these substances?
Anthony Bosch: Alex is scared of needles. So at times-- he would ask me to inject.
Scott Pelley: You've injected him?
Anthony Bosch: Yes.
Scott Pelley: Personally?
Anthony Bosch: Personally.
Tony Bosch told us Alex Rodriguez became his client in 2010. Bosch says he's supplied pro athletes with banned drugs almost 10 years -- a corrupt sideline to his anti-aging clinic called "biogenesis" which was once in this Florida office building.
On August 4th, 2010, Rodriguez hit his 600th home run in his quest to become the greatest home run hitter of all time. Tony Bosch told us it was five days before this moment that he was summoned to a Florida hotel to meet Rodriguez for the first time.
Anthony Bosch: The first words out of his mouth were, you know, what did Manny Ramirez take in 2008 and 2009? What were you giving him-- what-- what were you giving Manny Ramirez?
Bosch says Manny Ramirez came to him at the age of 35 and the next season he nearly doubled his homeruns. Ramirez retired in 2011 after testing positive for doping. Bosch says that Rodriguez wanted in on the secret.
Anthony Bosch: Alex cared. Alex wanted to know. He would study the product. He would study the substance. He would study the dosages because he wanted to achieve all his human performance or in this case, sports performance objectives. And the most important one was the 800 Home Run Club.
Scott Pelley: The 800 Home Run Club?
Anthony Bosch: Which was only going to have one member, Alex Rodriguez.
Bosch told us, to tailor a doping program for Rodriguez, he needed to know how long various drugs stayed in Rodriguez's body. He says doses and timing were critical so Rodriguez would not test positive after a game. Bosch says he often drew Rodriguez's blood at specific times to see how quickly the drugs dissipated. He remembers, one night, a blood test was supposed to be done precisely at 8 o'clock, but Rodriguez was in a Miami club.
Anthony Bosch: So we ended up drawing the blood in the bathroom of this one restaurant slash bar slash club in the bathroom stall at 8:00 p.m.
Scott Pelley: With the crowd there?
Anthony Bosch: With the crowd right there.
Scott Pelley: People coming in and out of the men's room, I take it. And you're in a stall with Alex Rodriguez drawing his blood?
Anthony Bosch: Yes. As crazy as that sounds.
Scott Pelley: What were you thinking?
Anthony Bosch: I'm not getting paid enough.
Bosch told us he was getting paid $12,000 dollars a month in cash. In return, Bosch prepared this elaborate drug schedule for Rodriguez. Bosch says that his records show the days and times of injections, plus when to use skin creams, and oral medications. Six substances on this list are banned. One is testosterone troches or lozenges -- Bosch also calls them gummies -- which, he says, were taken in combination with growth hormone and all the rest.
Anthony Bosch: He would put one of these troches in his mouth probably about ten, 15 minutes before game time, or as soon as he went into the field. A player could take it right before game time. And by the time they get back into a locker room after the game and there was any possibility of testing, they would-- they-- they would test negative. They would test clean.
Scott Pelley: If you were telling Alex Rodriguez to take these gummies a few minutes before the game, he's taking these in the locker room or the dugout. That's quite an image.
Anthony Bosch: Quite an image. They're so small that you could literally while sitting in the dugout take it, put it in your mouth, and people could think it's sunflower seeds or-or-or a piece of candy or a piece of gum, for that matter.
Scott Pelley: And how would that help if he took it just a few minutes before a game?
Anthony Bosch: Well, now all of a sudden, his levels of testosterone are higher. It gives him a little bit, it gives him more energy. It gives him more strength. It gives him more focus. And in combination with the growth hormone, that combination would make playing the game of baseball a lot easier.
Scott Pelley: You know a lot of people are watching this interview right now saying, "How could he? How could you? What's the answer to that question?"
Anthony Bosch: I did it because I had a responsibility, I felt I had a responsibility to do it, to let them know that if they're gonna take something like this, do it the right way.
Scott Pelley: You might have said to these players when they came to you, "Look, don't do any of this stuff. It breaks the rules of baseball. Don't do this." Did you ever say that?
Anthony Bosch: No. I never said that. My approach to all this, I'll stand by it now and I'll stand by it forever, was you're gonna do this. Let me show you how to do this. Let me educate you. And let's do it the right way. And sure, let's not get caught while we're doing this.
Bosch's education in doping is self-taught. He studied at a medical school in Belize but he has never had a license to practice. He grew up in Miami and to us he seemed like a troubled guy, heavy drinker, heavy smoker--dealing in prescription drugs. We found no criminal record other than traffic violations and a citation for practicing medicine without a license for which he was fined $5,000.
Scott Pelley: A lotta people are gonna say if you hadn't been caught you'd still be doing it?
Anthony Bosch: I would have to say, yes. But that's not what happened. I got caught. So, I did what was the right thing to do. So, yes would I be doing it if I didn't get caught? I'd still be doing it. I'm here to say the truth, so that is, that is the truth.
One thing is certainly true--Bosch has lied about this case--he's had it both ways. This is what he said after the scandal broke.
[Anthony Bosch: No comment. I'm a nutritionist. I don't know anything about performance-enhancing drugs.]
Bosch says the story he tells today is backed up by hundreds of text messages that he says he exchanged with Rodriguez. We have more than 500 of them. They are BlackBerry "BBM" messages. Major League Baseball says the pin number attached to the messages matches a BlackBerry owned by Rodriguez. Bosch says those testosterone lozenges were taken both before and during a game. This question came from the device linked to Rodriguez. "Gummie at 1045am?... Game at 1pm." Bosch responded, "10:30am."
Scott Pelley: What difference does 15 minutes make?
Anthony Bosch: All the difference in the world. Every difference in the world. Every minute counts.
Scott Pelley: At what point in a game was too late to take a troche, what inning?
Anthony Bosch: In Alex's case probably right after-- right after the first inning, second inning.
Any later than that and there was a chance the testosterone would turn up in the league's random, post-game, urine tests. Bosch says that Rodriguez was tested by baseball more than a dozen times--all turned out negative. He told us he'd given Rodriguez tips on ways to beat that test.
Anthony Bosch: You want to start the test and then introduce the urine cup into the stream and what you want to capture is the middle of the stream, not the beginning or not the end of the stream that was extremely important because most of the metabolites are either in the beginning of the stream or at the end of the stream.
Scott Pelley: It's that precise?
Anthony Bosch: It's that precise.
During this 2012 game, Rodriguez drove in three runs, and smashed a 418-foot double.
Announcer: A-Rod hits a deep one to center. Alex Rodriguez in his hometown of Miami, has given the Yankees a 4-2 lead.
The next morning, a message from the Rodriguez BlackBerry read "Really good. Explosive." Bosch replied "Go with same protocol."
What we didn't find in the messages is the name of any performance-enhancing drug. Rodriguez's lawyer has said that's because they were talking about nutrition--but Bosch says it's because they used code words. He says the word cohete--(misspelled in the message) is Spanish for "rocket"--and that meant injectable drugs, according to Bosch. "Night cream" was loaded with testosterone. In 2012, a message attributed to Rodriguez's BlackBerry said "feel good, big day tomorrow, what do you have?" Bosch texted back these instructions:
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