Steroid scandal touches home

In a May 2006 affidavit stemming from an interview with admitted steroids user and former Major League pitcher Jason Grimsley that was made public last week, Christ the King baseball coach and former Major League pitcher Allen Watson was named for using unspecified performance-enhancing drugs.
Watson, however, vehemently denied the report.
“At no time during my professional baseball career have I used steroids or any performance-enhancing drugs,” he said in a statement. “Not then, not now, not ever.”
A veteran of seven seasons, Watson, 37, was 51-55 with a 5.03 ERA with six different teams. The southpaw starred at the Middle Village school and was chosen with the 21st overall pick in the 1991 Draft by the St. Louis Cardinals. He finished his career with the Yankees in 2000 and returned to Christ the King two years ago to take over the floundering baseball program.
In the affidavit by IRS special agent Jeffrey J. Novitzky, Grimsley named nine players, including Watson, who used performance-enhancing drugs. Watson was one of four who were not named in the Mitchell Report, the 20-month steroids investigation into professional baseball by former senator George Mitchell, but whose name came up in the affidavit.
It did not specify what drugs Watson was using or when, although the two were teammates on the Yankees in the 1999 and 2000 seasons.
“It’s totally not true,” Watson’s agent, Tony Giordano, said. “Allen is outraged. I’ve known Allen for his entire career and under no circumstances did he ever use steroids or performance-enhancing drugs.”