Report: Union notified Manny, Ortiz years ago

David Ortiz said Thursday that he was "blindsided" by the news that he and Manny Ramirez, whose booming bats led the Red Sox to their historic 2004 World Series title, had tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003. But both players, along with more than 100 others who tested positive, were notified years ago by the players union that they were on a list of players seized by federal authorities along with the test results, according to a landmark report on doping in the sport and testimony by the union chief. The notifications came after federal investigators seized more than 100 names of ballplayers in an April 2004 raid of the two firms that handled the testing of more than 1,400 samples. After the raid, the commissioner's office and the Major League Baseball Players Association agreed the union would inform those on the list that the government believed they had tested positive.

Source: SI