HGH Use Mars Ankiel Comeback

Cards outfielder admits taking hormones during recovery from surgery
By Lucas Laursen,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 8, 2007 7:17 AM CDT
HGH Use Mars Ankiel Comeback
St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Rick Ankiel, right, is joined by Cardinals general manager Walt Jocketty as he answers questions from the media prior to the team's baseball game against the Arizona Diamondbacks Friday, Sept. 7, 2007, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)   (Associated Press)

St. Louis Cardinals’ star slugger Rick Ankiel acknowledged using Human Growth Hormone last night, facing reporters in the dugout after news emerged yesterday that he had received HGH from a pharmacy involved in a prescription-drug scandal. Ankiel took delivery of HGH for a year following a routine elbow surgery in 2003, before it was banned by Major Leage Baseball, according to the New York Daily News.

The former pitcher who made a fairy-tale comeback as an outfielder this year said the treatment was prescribed by his doctor. But league officials questioned why he went outside Cardinals’ medical system, and HGH is not approved under FDA rules for healthy young men recovering from surgery, reports the News. The Cardinals’ manager defended Ankiel Friday, saying there was no violation of league rules or the law. (More human growth hormone stories.)

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