Rocker says he failed test

ATLANTA -- John Rocker said Monday that he flunked a drug test ordered by Major League Baseball in 2000 and also said he, Alex Rodriguez and other Texas Rangers were advised by management and union doctors on how to effectively use steroids.

“Bud Selig [baseball’s commissioner] knew in . . . 2000 John Rocker was taking the juice,” the ex-pitcher said on Atlanta radio station 680. “Didn’t do anything about it.”

Rocker was suspended for the first 14 days of the 2000 season by Selig for making racial and ethnic remarks the commissioner deemed insensitive. The penalty, originally set to cover 28 days, was reduced by an arbitrator after a grievance.

MLB released a statement that said, in part, that “further discipline was not an option legally available to Major League Baseball at that time.”

Rocker said doctors from management and the players’ association, following a spring training talk with the Rangers on steroids and other topics, pulled him, Alex Rodriguez, Rafael Palmeiro and Ivan Rodriguez aside. Rocker was with the Rangers in 2002.

“Look guys, if you take one kind of steroid, you don’t triple-stack them and take them 10 months out of the year like Lyle Alzado did,” Rocker said the doctors told them. “If you do it responsibly, it’s not going to hurt you.” Rocker did not identify the doctors.