The clock was ticking against Jim Leyritz and he knew it. He had surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff in his right shoulder after the 2000 season and he did not have the normal recovery time – about a year – left on his baseball calendar.
Not at age 37.
Leyritz had the surgery done by the renowned James Andrews. But the former Yankee said it was on his own research that he learned Human Growth Hormone (HGH) could speed his healing and, thus, better his chances to make the Mets out of spring training in 2001. Leyritz called it a failure all around.
He said he has prostate cancer in his family and, because of that, when his PSA levels began to rise after two weeks of taking HGH, he quit using. On March 17, 2001, the Mets released Leyritz, ending his career.
“I didn’t want to get bigger and stronger, I wanted to heal faster,” Leyritz said yesterday by phone.
Leyritz’s revelation in the aftermath of Jason Grimsley’s confession to HGH use is helping to transform the impression that merely power hitters have been using illegal performance enhancers to increase home run totals. Leyritz mostly was a reserve player in his career and Grimsley a reliever.
In his affidavit to federal agents, Grimsley said he used the anabolic steroid Deca-Durabolin after his shoulder surgery in 2000, and switched to HGH after MLB began testing for steroids, both times to aid in the healing prowess.
Leyritz said he never used anabolic steroids and that this was his first and only association with HGH, and done as a last gasp to try to continue playing.
Leyritz played with Grimsley with the 1999-2000 Yankees, and in 1998-99 in San Diego with admitted steroid abuser Ken Caminiti.
Yet, he says while anecdotal information existed about users, he never encountered first-hand use. He also says it is his impression that the current game “is as clean as it is ever been.” “You have guys like Derek Jeter and A-Rod [Alex Rodriguez], and these are great athletes worried about their health and reputation,” Leyritz said. “They can’t afford to do this stuff and screw up.” Leyritz had made news earlier this week by talking about his amphetamine use as a player during an interview on the “Opie and Anthony” radio show. Leyritz reiterated yesterday that he used “greenies” on occasion and that they were readily available to players. However, he added, “I think the idea that guys were using every day is nuts. You would be dead. This was instead of drinking 10 cups of coffee on those days you were really dragging. This was not a drug problem.” Leyritz also said he thought amphetamine use was way down in the majors.
He said better knowledge about diet and exercise means “it is not like it was in the days of the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s.”