Sosa linked to positive drug test

The disclosure makes Sosa the latest baseball star of the past two decades to be linked to performance-enhancers, a group including McGwire, Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez and Rafael Palmiero.

Sosa, sixth on baseball's career home run list and who last played in 2007, had long been suspected of using performance-enhancing drugs but had never been publicly linked to a positive test.

During a recent interview with ESPN Deportes, Sosa, 40, said he would “calmly wait” for his induction into baseball's Hall of Fame, for which he will become eligible in 2013. But his 2003 positive test, when he played for the Chicago Cubs, might seriously damage his chances, a fate encountered by McGwire, who has attracted relatively little support from voters on three ballots.

The 2003 positive test also could create legal troubles for Sosa because he testified under oath before Congress at a 2005 public hearing that he had “never taken illegal performance-enhancing drugs.”