David Bell Admits to Receiving HCG Shipments

John Rocker, Jose Canseco and David Bell were the latest three players named as alleged customers of performance-enhancing drugs in SI.com's on-going coverage of the federal investigation of a purported steroid and HGH distribution ring.

Canseco has famously admitted steroid abuse in the past, so no surprise there. Rocker allegedly received shipments for HGH back in 2003, a year after he last appeared in the majors. Needless to say, neither player seems especially relevant for our purposes, since both players allegedly received the drugs after they were out of the majors for good.

The name that should garner the most attention is that of David Bell, who's not on a roster this year but split last season between the Phillies and Brewers. From SI.com:

David Bell, a veteran of a dozen major league seasons, received six packages of HCG at a Philadelphia address last April, when he played for the Phillies. The cost was $128.80, and the drug was prescribed in conjunction with an Arizona antiaging facility. Bell acknowledges receiving the shipment but tells SI the drug was prescribed to him "for a medical condition," which he declined to disclose, citing his right to privacy.

Now here's what I don't understand: who's to say that Bell doesn't have a legitimate medical condition that requires HGH HCG (see below)? The natural inclination is to rush to judgment and assume that he took the drugs so that he could gain an advantage on the baseball diamond (an advantage, that is, over his otherwise decrepit skills, since he was never one of the most talented on the field...), but how do we know? Doesn't it seem odd that his medical records -- or at least, his prescription history -- are now part of the public domain without the benefit of a trial?

Maybe Gary Sheffield is right -- this definitely has a "witch hunt" aura surrounding it.

Update: As commenter No. 2 pointed out below, my initial headline and post said Bell received HGH, when the article actually said HCG. (I have no problem using that the fact I confused the two as an example of how generally ill-equipped the media is in having a conversation about performance-enhancing drugs. But I digress ...) According to Wikipedia, HCG is "human chorionic gonadotropin." It has several medical uses, but is also frequently used in conjunction with anabolic steroids to "restore / maintain testosterone production in the testes." Make of it what you will.