Fomer Chicago White Sox shortstop Alexei Ramirez tested positive for four anabolic steroids at the World Baseball Classic in March, where he set a record as its oldest ever player.
The 44-year-old Cuban tested positive for “metabolites of mesterolone, metandienone, oxandrolone and stanozolol,” the International Testing Agency said Wednesday in announcing his provisional ban from the sport.
Ramírez played nine years in Major League Baseball, mostly at shortstop for the White Sox, San Diego Padres and Tampa Bay Rays. He was runner-up in the American League Rookie of the Year vote in 2008 won by the Rays’ Evan Longoria.
An Olympic champion with Cuba at the 2004 Athens Games, Ramírez was on the silver medal-winning team at the WBC two years later won by Japan. There, the 43-year-old Roger Clemens set the previous record for oldest player by representing the United States.
Ramírez returned to the Cuba roster 20 years later as a bench player to break the mark.
The ITA said it notified Ramírez of the result from a sample taken during the tournament. Cuba did not advance from the pool phase.
The agency based in Lausanne, Switzerland, said the steroids in question are “associated with promoting rapid muscle growth, increased strength and enhanced physical performance.”
Ramírez hit 115 home runs in the majors and had 590 RBIs in his regular-season career through 2016.
Reporting by The Associated Press.
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