Report: Ankiel meets with MLB

Sep 15, 2007 - 4:33 AM ST. LOUIS (Ticker) -- According to a report in Friday's St. Louis Post-Dispatch, St. Cardinals right fielder Rick Ankiel met with officials from Major League Baseball to answer questions about his involvement with using human growth hormone prescribed to him in 2004.

"I think it was a good thing to do and I was happy to help," Ankiel told the newspaper. "I answered whatever questions they had. I was in full compliance with whatever they needed."

Ankiel, who is one of the feel-good stories of the season, has hit nine home runs since being called up to the Cardinals on August 9.

The story broke just hours after Ankiel, a former pitcher, belted a pair of home runs and drove in seven runs in the Cardinals' 16-4 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on September 7.

Ankiel, who also hit a two-run homer Wednesday, is batting .284 (31-for-109) with nine home runs and 29 RBI in 31 games since returning to the majors. But he has just two hits in 28 at-bats since the story came out.

Ankiel said he met with representatives of the commissioner's office on Tuesday before the opener of the Cardinals' series at Cincinnati. They requested the meeting after a report in last Friday's New York Daily News said Ankiel received eight shipments of HGH in 2004.

"I answered all their questions ... And, absolutely, they were happy I was in full compliance," Ankiel said.

Ankiel has declined to address the validity of the report, saying that while he recovered from elbow surgery, he took what a doctor prescribed him, and that he would not go into the specifics of those prescriptions.

A baseball source agreed with the description of Tuesday's interview as a "fact-finding trip" and that any information would be passed on to the Mitchell Investigation, the probe into the use of performance-enhancing drugs in baseball.

Under its current drug policy, baseball does not test for HGH and the drug was not banned by MLB until 2005. The newspaper report stated that Ankiel stopped receiving shipments before the ban took effect.

The report stems from an Albany, New York-based investigation into Signature Pharmacy. Toronto Blue Jays third baseman Troy Glaus and Baltimore Orioles outfielder Jay Gibbons reportedly received shipments of steroids from the pharmacy. MLB has requested meetings with both players.