Doctor: HGH was for him

Associated Press

TORONTO

A sports doctor at the center of drug investigations in Canada and the United States said Monday he treated Alex Rodriguez after the Yankees slugger had hip surgery last year and prescribed anti-inflammatories but not human growth hormone.

Dr. Anthony Galea also told The Associated Press an assistant who was stopped at the U.S.-Canadian border in Buffalo, N.Y., last year was carrying only a minuscule amount of HGH — which Galea said was for his own use. The doctor reiterated that he has never given the drug to an athlete.

“I only brought enough for her to do two injections into me because I was away for two nights,” said Galea, who believes authorities and the media have exaggerated the accusations involving him and his practice.

“They made it look like I had 100 vials. I had one little vial and two doses were for me and you think that someone along the line would ask ‘Well how much is there?’ ”

Rodriguez and other high-profile baseball players, including Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran, have been contacted by U.S. federal investigators regarding Galea. Reyes and Beltran each say they did not receive HGH from Galea.

Rodriguez said last week he was “aware” of the investigation and plans to cooperate with the government.

Galea said that he helped with Rodriguez’s rehabilitation from hip surgery last March.

“He had a damaged hip. Inflamed. It was damaged,” Galea said in an interview at his clinic. “He needed anti-inflammatories for his hip. I was basically helping in the rehab.”

The Yankees released a statement last week saying they never authorized Galea to treat the slugger.

If Rodriguez was treated without club consent, any attempt to determine whether he violated his record $275 million, 10-year contract, its guarantee language or baseball’s collective bargaining agreement likely would hinge on whether treatment was elective or necessary.

“The statement we released last week stands,” Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said, refusing to elaborate.

Baseball commissioner Bud Selig declined comment on Galea’s remarks.