BE SURE TO DRINK YOUR C-R-E-A-T-I-N-E:

Brogna on Phils & steroids, own andro use (PAUL HAGEN, 4/11/05, Philadelphia Daily News)

Rico Brogna told this story at a symposium on baseball and steroids last week at the University of New Haven:

"I remember when I was with the Phillies, we were on the road, at our hotel, when a pitcher asked me to inject him with steroids. I don't know, I guess he couldn't stick a needle in himself. I told him no, that I didn't think that I could stick a needle in someone either, but also, I said no because I didn't believe it was right," the Waterbury (Conn.) Republican-American reported.

Reached at his home by the Daily News, the squeaky-clean Brogna not only confirmed the tale but talked at length about the pressure players are under to enhance their performance, his own use of creatine and androstenediene and the devil-on-one-shoulder-angel-on-the-other struggle he faced when confronted with the choice of whether to use even stronger substances.

Brogna, now a part-time scout for the Colorado Rockies, turns 35 next week. He played for the Phillies from 1997 through 2000 and retired after playing with the Braves in 2001.

"Andro, for me, was amazing," he said. "It gave me better results than anything I'd taken in my career. The gains I got were incredible. I did it during the offseason and it was like my body kept telling me to work out more. I had more energy. I could do more sets, more reps. I wanted to get down and work out the next day. It was like I had to feed my body by working out.

"Baseball was going through a creatine phase then. It was in every locker and everybody was putting it in their juice and their drinks. It was something you could buy over the counter, so you could feel good about it. And you felt like, 'Wow, I'm really powerful.' "

Brogna said he didn't believe steroids were common in the Phillies' clubhouse while he was there.