Ryan Howard takes batting practice (Frank Klose/Philliedelphia)
When the news agency Al Jazeera released a documentary in December entitled, "The Dark Side", a number of athletes were named in the documentary as using performance enhancing drugs. While on an hidden camera, pharmicist Charlie Sly named Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard and Washington Nationals first baseman Ryan Zimmerman as former customers of the drug Delta 2, on MLB's banned substance list. Sly publicly recanted his statements, which he did not intend to be broadcast. After an investigation of the matter, Major League Baseball issued his findings.
A press release issued by Major League Baseball publicly cleared Howard of any wrongdoing:
The Office of the Commissioner has completed its investigation into the statements made by Charlie Sly concerning players Ryan Howard of the Philadelphia Phillies and Ryan Zimmerman of the Washington Nationals in the Al Jazeera documentary “The Dark Side.” This thorough investigation did not find any violations of the Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program by either Howard or Zimmerman.
After being cleared formally, both Howard and Zimmerman's laywers got right to work.
ESPN reported shortly thereafter that Howard Zimmerman have filed lawsuits against the news agency:
In the lawsuits filed Tuesday, Zimmerman and Howard claim the Al Jazeera America report on sports doping, titled "The Dark Side," contained false statements and was inaccurate, unsubstantiated and reckless in nature.
The MLB press release said that Sly would not give MLB an interview.
It's possible that Sly was making up names in order to sell some drugs to the undercover Liam Collins, an Olympic athlete pretending to be in search of some help via performance enhancing drugs. Howard immediately issued public statements refuting what Sly said in the undercover video. Former Major League catcher Taylor Teagarden, however, admitted PED use on camera in the same documentary and was suspended 80 games.
