Chapter[ VII. Major League Baseball and the BALCO Investigation ]
Section[ B. 2. d. Jason Giambi ]
d. Jason Giambi
Jason Giambi was interviewed subject to an agreement that had been negotiated
among his agent, the Commissioner’s Office, and the Players Association under which Giambi
was not to be asked to identify any other player as to whom he had knowledge of the illegal use
of performance enhancing substances.345
Giambi told me that he began using anabolic steroids in 2001, when he purchased
Deca-Durabolin from a contact named “Jim” who he met at Gold’s Gym in Las Vegas but could
not further identify. Giambi said that he injected himself with approximately “one cc” (cubic
centimeter) of Deca-Durabolin each week for the remainder of the 2001 season, always
administering the drug to himself and always at home. He purchased an additional supply of
344 Transcript of Dodgers Baseball Operations Department Meetings, dated Oct. 21-24,
2003, at 51. Several Dodgers officials participated in the meetings, including special scouting
advisor Gib Bodet, senior advisor John Boles, general manager Dan Evans, team physician Frank
Jobe, athletic trainer Stan Johnston, manager Jim Tracy, advance scout Mark Weidemaier, senior
scouting advisor Don Welke, and director of amateur scouting Logan White.
345 Letter from Francis X. Coonelly to Michael S. Weiner, dated June 21, 2007.
131
Deca-Durabolin from the same source before the 2002 season, and he followed the same weekly
regimen of use of that substance throughout the 2002 season.346
Giambi told me he first met Greg Anderson in November 2002 while on an All-
Star tour of Japan on which Anderson was accompanying Barry Bonds. Anderson told Giambi
that “he was connected to BALCO” and that it specialized in correcting mineral deficiencies in
athletes. Anderson suggested Giambi should “come and get his blood and urine tested” when
they returned to the United States. Giambi did not discuss steroids with Anderson in Japan, nor
did Giambi receive any drugs or other substances from Anderson while they were in Japan.
In late November or early December 2002, after Giambi had returned to the
Bay Area, Anderson arranged for him to have a blood test at a hospital near BALCO’s offices.
Giambi later met Anderson at a gym in Burlingame, where they reviewed the results of the test.
Anderson told Giambi that he had tested positive for Deca-Durabolin and warned him to stop
using it because it would stay in his system for a long time and was easily detectable in a urine
test. They then discussed starting Giambi on Anderson’s program of performance enhancing
substances. Anderson explained how he would prepare a calendar for Giambi that would tell
him what substances to take, and when, and promised that if Giambi followed the program he
would not test positive in baseball’s drug testing program, which was to begin in 2003.
Shortly thereafter, Anderson mailed a package to Giambi that included a calendar,
injectable testosterone, the “cream,” the “clear,” and orange, white, and yellow pills. Giambi
was not certain what the different pills were but believed one of them was Clomid. Separately,
Giambi also obtained human growth hormone from “a guy in Las Vegas.” Anderson explained
346 On the advice of his lawyer, Giambi declined to answer any questions about
performance enhancing substances for the period before 2001, invoking the Fifth Amendment
privilege against self-incrimination.
132
to Giambi how to inject the growth hormone into his abdomen. Giambi paid Anderson, once by
check and once in cash or by money order, for a total of about $7,000 to $10,000. Separately,
Giambi paid his Las Vegas source about $1,000 for one kit of human growth hormone.
Giambi confirmed that Anderson described the “cream” and the “clear” to him as
an “alternative” to steroids or “something other than steroids that would boost testosterone and
epitestosterone levels.” He began the “Anderson program” in December 2002 or January 2003.
While following the program, he injected himself with two to three IUs (“international units”) of
human growth hormone three days a week and with one cc of testosterone a week (although he
only used testosterone for a short period).347 Giambi took the other pills about three days per
week and used the “cream” and the “clear” twice per week, all in accordance with the calendar
that Anderson had provided him. Giambi continued using these substances through the 2003
All-Star break. At that time, Giambi injured his knee sliding into a base and decided to stop
using the substances because he was not sure what impact they would have on his ability to
recover. Giambi told me that he has not used any performance enhancing substances since the
2003 All-Star break.