December 27, 2015
The attorney for Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard (and Washington Nationals infielder Ryan Zimmerman) called the claims that his clients were a part of an alleged doping ring both “inexcusable” and “irresponsible.”
Howard and Zimmerman were among those named in a report late Saturday night from HuffingtonPost.com, referencing a televised undercover investigation called “The Dark Side” that’s scheduled to air tonight by Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit. In the report, a track athlete goes undercover in an attempt to expose how widespread the use of performance-enhancing drugs are in sports.
“The extraordinarily reckless claims made against our clients in this report are completely false and rely on a source who has already recanted his claims. We will go to court to hold Al Jazeera and other responsible parties accountable for smearing our clients' good names.”
The biggest name in the story is Peyton Manning, the 14-time Pro Bowl quarterback with Denver and Indianapolis and shoo-in Hall of Famer. The report claims that Manning was supplied with human growth hormone while recovering from neck surgery in 2011.
Howard, the longest tenured player on the Phillies, was named by Charlie Sly, a pharmacist based in Austin, Texas. Sly said he supplied Howard, Zimmerman and former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson with Delta-2, “a hormone supplement that is ‘steroidal in nature’” and also designed to “stay ahead of drug tests.” Delta-2 is a drug banned by Major League Baseball.
On Sunday morning, William Burck of Quinn Emanuel, the attorney for both Howard and Zimmerman, didn’t mince words in responding to the report and promised legal action.
"It's inexcusable and irresponsible that Al Jazeera would provide a platform and broadcast outright lies about Mr. Howard and Mr. Zimmerman,” Burck said in a statement. “The extraordinarily reckless claims made against our clients in this report are completely false and rely on a source who has already recanted his claims. We will go to court to hold Al Jazeera and other responsible parties accountable for smearing our clients' good names.”
Howard, 36, is entering his 13th season with the Phillies. He is due to make $25 million in 2016, which is likely to be his final year with the team. Howard has a guaranteed $35 million left on his 5-year, $125 million contract ($25 million salary for 2016, $10 million buyout for 2017).
Sunday night, the Phillies released the following statement:
“Ryan Howard has vigorously denied the allegations contained in tonight’s airing of Al Jazeera’s report titled ‘The Dark Side.’ Ryan has spent his whole career with the Phillies and, during that entire time, has been an extremely well-respected member of our team and an outstanding contributor to our community. We will fully cooperate with any investigation conducted by Major League Baseball and will refer all further questions to them concerning the Al Jazeera report.”
Howard hit .229 with 23 home runs and a .720 OPS in 129 games with the Phillies in 2015. The 2006 NL MVP, Howard on-field production has been in steep decline since rupturing his left Achilles in October of 2011.
