Chapter[ IX. The Threat Posed By Internet Sales of Steroids and Human Growth
Hormone ]
Section[ B. Rick Ankiel ]
Rick Ankiel
In a September 7, 2007 article, the New York Daily News reported that Rick
Ankiel, an outfielder and former pitcher with the St. Louis Cardinals, had ordered eight
shipments of injectable human growth hormone (including HGH sold under the brand names
Saizen and Genotropin) from Signature Pharmacy between January and December 2004. Ankiel
reportedly had been issued prescriptions for the drugs that were signed by Dr. William Gogan,
a physician that the Daily News reported was affiliated with The Health and Rejuvenation Center
of Palm Beach Gardens. Ankiel’s orders were shipped from Signature Pharmacy to the clinic.
One of the owners of the clinic did not deny that the clinic had supplied human growth hormone
to Ankiel although he added that “under the current policies in effect, no employee at this center
is permitted or authorized to give medication, like HGH, to bodybuilders or professional athletes.
That’s an absolute no-no.”459
In comments to reporters after the story was published, Ankiel initially admitted
that he had used human growth hormone while recovering from ligament surgery in 2003, but he
then invoked medical privacy laws to decline further comment. Ankiel said that “[a]ll and any
459 T.J. Quinn, Christian Red, Michael O’Keeffe, and Bill Madden, Red Faces for Ankiel,
N.Y. Daily News, Sept. 7, 2007, at 90.
243
medications that I have received in my career has (sic) always been under a doctor’s care, a
licensed physician.”460
Neither I nor any member of my investigative staff had any prior knowledge of
any allegation about Ankiel. The Commissioner’s Office met with Ankiel on September 11,
2007 to discuss the allegations.461 On December 6, 2007, the Commissioner’s Office announced
that there was insufficient evidence of a violation of the joint program in effect at the time of the
conduct in question to warrant discipline of Ankiel.
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