NEW YORK—New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez tested positive for two anabolic steroids in 2003 according to four independent sources, Sports Illustrated magazine reported on Saturday.
Rodriguez, known as A-Rod and the highest-paid player in baseball, won the American League Most Valuable Player award as a shortstop for the Texas Rangers that year.
The magazine's website (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com), said Rodriguez's name was on a list of 104 players who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in Major League Baseball's 2003 survey testing.
Rodriguez, who has 553 career home runs and has a chance to become the game's all-time home run champion, declined to comment.
"You'll have to talk to the union," the 33-year-old told a Sports Illustrated reporter.
The New York Yankees, the Players' Association and Major League Baseball were not immediately available for comment.
While major league baseball's drug policy has banned the use of steroids without a valid prescription since 1991, there were no penalties for a positive test in 2003.
That year's survey testing was conducted as part of an agreement with the players' union to determine if it was necessary to impose mandatory random drug-testing across the major leagues in 2004.
The results were meant to remain anonymous.
New York signed Rodriguez in November 2007 to a 10-year, incentive-laden deal that could be worth as much as $305 million, Sports Illustrated said.
(Reporting by Steve Ginsburg in Washington; Editing by Alan Baldwin and Ken Ferris)
