Andy Pettitte admits using HGH for two days in 2002
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According to ESPN and other published reports late Saturday afternoon, New York Yankees starting pitcher Andy Pettitte admits he took human growth hormone (HGH) for two days in 2002 to accelerate his recovery time from an elbow injury. In a statement released by his agent Randy Henricks, Pettitte came clean and said:
"If what I did was an error in judgment on my part, I apologize. I accept responsibility for those two days. In 2002 I was injured. I had heard that human growth hormone could promote faster healing for my elbow.
I felt an obligation to get back to my team as soon as possible. For this reason, and only this reason, for two days I tried human growth hormone. Though it was not against baseball rules, I was not comfortable with what I was doing, so I stopped.
This is it - two days out of my life; two days out of my entire career, when I was injured and on the disabled list," he said. "I wasn't looking for an edge. I was looking to heal."
Pettitte was among the 85 players that former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell named in his investigation into steroids and performance-enhancing drugs. He said he tried HGH on two occasions, stressing he did it to heal faster and not enhance his performance. He confirmed he never used steroids.
In the rest of his formal statement to the Associated Press, Pettitte added, "I have the utmost respect for baseball and have always tried to live my life in a way that would be honorable," he said. "If I have let down people that care about me, I am sorry, but I hope that you will listen to me carefully and understand that two days of perhaps bad judgment should not ruin a lifetime of hard work and dedication.
I have tried to do things the right way my entire life, and again, ask that you put those two days in the proper context. People that know me will know that what I say is true."
While doing what he did was the wrong approach in recovering from an injury, what possibly puts public opinion more in his favor is his honesty. How this will affect his relationship with the fans remains to be seen, but this helps establish damage control. At the same time, his teammate Roger Clemens who was also named in Mitchell's report as yet to make a public statement. His lawyers have already stated that he denies the allegations of steroid use.
