Report links D-Backs' Matt Williams to steroids

Diamondbacks partner Matt Williams is among the latest to become entangled in the widening net of performance-enhancing drug use in major league baseball.

D-Backs stand by Williams after steroid report

Bordow: Williams’ explanation hard to accept

Williams and former D-Backs outfielder Jose Guillen purchased steroids and human growth hormone from a Florida anti-aging clinic in 2002, according to records obtained by the San Francisco Chronicle.

“Do I regret it? I tried to heal,” Williams said Tuesday night to KTVK, Ch. 3, which telecasts D-Backs’ games. “It had adverse effects and I didn’t like it. I quit. Who was responsible? I was. I could have said no, but I didn’t.”

Williams, a five-time All-Star in a 17-year career that ended when he retired in 2003, told D-Backs officials Tuesday that he used the substances as a way to treat severe spring training injuries. He is also expressing regret over his decision and said he quit using the substances within months of trying them.

“He has acknowledged that he did use the steroids because he thought it might help his recovery,” D-Backs managing partner Ken Kendrick said.

“He said he used it for about a month but he didn’t like the effect it had on his body. He said it made him gain weight, so he stopped. I accept him at his word. At the time he did them ... that was not in violation of major league rules.

“I don’t condone it. It reflects on his career, definitely. I’m disappointed that he did it under any circumstance. But I think his circumstances are different in a very special way from a player who used it all along.”

Williams bought $11,600 worth of steroids, growth hormone (HGH) and other drugs, according to the paper, on March 9, 2002, which was almost two weeks after he suffered a dislocated left ankle and a broken left fibula while fielding ground balls on a practice field in Tucson on Feb. 25. The injury kept him out until mid-July.

After retiring in 2003, Williams placed three more orders totaling about $11,000 for additional growth hormone and syringes in 2004 and 2005, according to records cited by the paper.

Williams has been in the D-Backs’ organization since 1997 as a player, adviser, broadcaster and part-owner.

“Matt informed us that a doctor recommended its use to help heal his ankle injury. It was a substance that he was not familiar with at the time, and according to him, did not like its effects after sampling. He discontinued the use of it and retired the next season,” D-Backs president Derrick Hall said in a prepared statement.

“Matt is a stand-up guy, who without hesitation, admitted using it and not liking it. There is no doubt in our minds that Matt would decline such a recommendation today, knowing what we all know about enhancing substances.”

Williams told the paper he underwent a battery of tests before receiving a prescription from the Palm Beach Rejuvenation Center, which recently has come under scrutiny as a possible seller of illegal drugs.

Major League Baseball did not ban HGH until January 2005, but steroids and HGH always have been illegal unless obtained by a legitimate prescription. Baseball instituted a ban against performance-enhancing drugs under commissioner Fay Vincent in 1991.

According to the paper, Williams ordered $5,693 worth of testosterone, cypionate, growth hormone, clomiphene, Novarel and syringes and had them sent to a business address in Scottsdale.

The prescriptions were written by a Florida dentist, who has since been suspended for fraud and incompetence.

The same dentist prescribed similar drugs to Cleveland pitcher Paul Byrd, linked to the investigation before Game 7 of the AL championship series against Boston.

“He thought he was going through a normal course of treatment, from what he thought was a qualified physician.

“He didn’t know the guy would end up being a dentist,” said Williams’ agent, Joe Longo, who spoke to Williams on Monday.

“Knowing Matt, he would never do anything knowingly in violation of major league rules. It was a time when a lot of clinics were promoting it (HGH) as a fountain of youth. A lot of older men were taking it.”

On May 8, 2002, while still rehabilitating from his injuries, Williams ordered $6,000 worth of testosterone, cypionate, nandrolene, clomiphene, Novarel and syringes.

Cypionate is a common injectable form of testosterone, and nandrolone is an anabolic steroid.

Clomiphine, marketed as Clomid, is a fertility drug, and Novarel is a hormone used to treat infertility in males and females. Clomid is considered a masking agent to conceal the presence of steroids.

There were no comments from Williams explaining the need to purchase steroids again in 2004 and 2005.

Williams hit .240 with 12 home runs and 40 RBIs in 60 games in 2002, after breaking or tying four World Series batting records in the D-Backs’ 2001 World Series victory over the New York Yankees.

He retired after the 2003 season. He had a lifetime .268 batting average, hit 378 home runs with four Gold Gloves.

Williams was named an NL All-Star five times in the ‘90s, the last with the D-Backs in 1999, when he had the best season of his career, hitting .303 with 35 home runs and 142 RBIs while finishing third in the NL MVP balloting.

Guillen, an 11-year veteran who spent part of the 2002 season with the D-Backs, ordered more than $19,000 worth of drugs from the Florida anti-aging center between May 2002 and June 2005, according to the records.

Guillen signed with the D-Backs as a free agent after the 2001 season and played 54 games with Arizona before being released on July 22, 2002.

The players’ orders were obtained by what the Chronicle called a confidential source, who said the purchases were consistent with an athlete’s personal usage pattern.

The records included purchase and shipping orders, payment data, birthdates and Social Security numbers.