New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez made an unexpected visit to 500 students at a Baltimore County school to deliver an anti-steroid message Tuesday, months after admitting publicly that he used performance-enhancing drugs earlier in his career.
At the time of his admission, Rodriguez vowed to turn his past transgressions into a positive lesson for young athletes, and he appears to be attempting to uphold that promise by discreetly speaking to select students this season. It's part of the agreement, however, that the talks not be covered by the news media.
After previously addressing groups in New York City and Texas, he presented his anti-steroids message at Milford Mill Academy on Tuesday, hours before Rodriguez's Yankees played the Orioles at Camden Yards.
He talked for about 10 minutes and answered several questions from Milford Mill athletes, who did not know the identity of their guest speaker until shortly before the three-time American League Most Valuable Player stepped to the podium.
"When I sat down, they asked me a question about, 'Who do you know who's a big star who took steroids?' " said Tyrek Cheeseboro, a Milford Mill senior and football captain. "I was going over names, and I said, 'A-Rod.' "
Before Tuesday night's game, Rodriguez declined to discuss the specifics of the morning's assembly.
"One of the things I said in spring training is I wanted to turn a negative into a positive, and I meant that," said Rodriguez, who has admitted to using steroids from 2001 to 2003 while with the Texas Rangers. "And then the other thing I kind of vowed to myself is I wanted to play more and talk less. So that's that."
In partnership with Don Hooton, perhaps the best-known anti-steroids advocate in the country and co-founder of the Taylor Hooton Foundation, Rodriguez has been speaking to students twice a month for the past three months, without advance promotion.
The news media were informed about Tuesday's event by a news release from St. Joseph Medical Center's Powered By Me!, an anti-steroid initiative that sponsored a similar talk in 2007 by Orioles second baseman Brian Roberts, who also has admitted to using steroids.
In his address to the students, Rodriguez mentioned his steroid use and the freedom that has come with discussing it publicly.
