Major League Baseball's key witness in its case against Alex Rodriguez says he designed and administered an elaborate doping program for the 14-time All-Star that started in 2010.
Anthony Bosch, the owner of the now-closed Florida anti-aging clinic Biogenesis said in an interview on 60 Minutes that aired on Sunday that Rodriguez paid him $US12,000 ($A13,380) a month to provide him with an assortment of banned drugs that included testosterone and human growth hormone.
Rob Manfred, the chief operating officer of MLB, said during the program that Bosch chose to co-operate with the investigation because he feared for his life.
MLB's suspension of Rodriguez was reduced on Saturday by an arbitrator from 211 games to 162, plus all play-off games next season.
MLB commissioner Bud Selig, who did not testify during the slugger's appeal, defended the largest suspension ever handed out under MLB's Joint Drug Agreement.
"In my judgment, his actions were beyond comprehension," Selig said on 60 Minutes. "I think 211 games was a very fair penalty."
Bosch said he began working with Rodriguez five days before the New York Yankees third baseman hit his 600th career home run on August 4, 2010.
Bosch said the first words out of Rodriguez's mouth were: "What did Manny Ramirez take in 2008 and 2009?"
Ramirez was suspended for 50 games in 2009 while playing with the Los Angeles Dodgers after testing positive for a banned drug, his first of two offences.
Of the 14 players suspended as a result of MLB's investigation into Biogenesis, Rodriguez was the only one to appeal the ban.
A self-taught practitioner, who was once fined $US5000 ($A5575) for practising medicine without a license, Bosch outlined his relationship with the three-time American League Most Valuable Player.
He said he designed the program to help Rodriguez maximise the effects of the drugs and remain clean in the eyes of baseball.
Rodriguez never failed a test during the period in question.
Detailing a clandestine operation, Bosch said the duo used code words for the drugs, such as "gummies" for testosterone lozenges, which Rodriguez sometimes took immediately before games.
Bosch said he once tested A-Rod's blood in the bathroom stall of a Miami restaurant.
Bosch also said he injected A-Rod with banned drugs because the slugger, with 654 career homers, was afraid of needles.
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