Ramirez, Ortiz tested positive in 2003: report

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Baseball sluggers Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz, who helped the Boston Red Sox end an 86-year World Series title drought in 2004, tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003, The New York Times reported on Thursday.

Ortiz and Ramirez were among the 104 Major League Baseball players who tested positive in what was meant to be confidential testing, the Times said, citing unidentified lawyers with knowledge of the results.

Ramirez, who now plays for the Los Angeles Dodgers and is one of baseball's best hitters, was suspended for 50 games this season for testing positive for a banned substance.

Ortiz, not previously linked to performance-enhancing drugs, issued a statement on Thursday voicing surprise his name was on the list.

"I have already contacted the Players Association to confirm if this report is true," Ortiz said. "I have just been told that the report is true."

"Based on the way I have lived my life, I am surprised to learn I tested positive. I will find out what I tested positive for. And based on whatever I learn, I will share this information with my club and the public. You know me -- I will not hide and I will not make excuses."

The report was the latest revelation about baseball's so-called steroids era that has seen some of the game's biggest names tied to doping.

Major League Baseball's Mitchell Report of December 2007, which cited widespread use of performance-enhancing drugs in the sport, named more than 80 players, including home run record-holder Barry Bonds and former pitching ace Roger Clemens.

The disclosure about Ramirez and Ortiz, who both also played on Boston's 2007 World Series-winning team, emerged through interviews with multiple lawyers and others connected to pending litigation, the Times said.

The lawyers spoke anonymously because the testing information is under seal by a court order and they did not identify which drugs were detected, the newspaper said.

The Red Sox, Dodgers and players' union all declined to comment on the story.

Pat Courtney, a spokesman for Major League Baseball, said the organization would have no comment because it "has no knowledge of the names that are on the list."

GOVERNMENT SEIZED RESULTS

Baseball's 2003 testing was conducted in agreement with the players' union to determine if there would be mandatory random testing in 2004, which was instituted after a threshold of 5 percent positive tests was exceeded.

Results of the confidential testing were seized by the U.S. government in conjunction with an investigation into the distribution of performance-enhancing drugs to professional athletes.

The test results remain the subject of litigation between the baseball players' union and the government, with the union arguing the results were illegally seized.

In February, New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez, baseball's highest-paid player, admitted the accuracy of a Sports Illustrated report that his name was on the 2003 list of players testing positive.

Ramirez was suspended in May when officials found he had been prescribed a fertility drug often used by bodybuilders after they stop using steroids.

In February, Ortiz said players who tested positive for steroids should be suspended for an entire season -- about 100 games more than current policy requires for a first offense.

"I think you clean up the game by the testing," Ortiz told reporters.

"I know that if I test positive by using any kind of substance, I know that I'm going to disrespect my family, the game, the fans and everybody, and I don't want to be facing that situation."

(Reporting by Larry Fine; additional reporting by Svea Herbst in Boston and Bernie Woodall in Los Angeles; Editing by Peter Cooney)