MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL'S SANDY ALDERSON SAYS HE HEARD THE RUMORS OF STEROID USE, BUT DIDN'T HAVE ANY EVIDENCE -- "60 MINUTES WEDNESDAY" ON CBS

Jose Canseco Reveals More About Steroid Use In Interview With Mike Wallace

Executive Vice President Sandy Alderson tells 60 MINUTES correspondent Mike Wallace that Major League Baseball encountered rumors about players using steroids, but didn't have any proof. "�Were there rumors? Yes, there were over a period of time, but never any sort of direct, hard information that steroids were being used." Alderson's response to the claims of widespread steroid use among Major League Baseball players, as well as more of Wallace's interview with Canseco, will be broadcast on 60 MINUTES WEDNESDAY (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT) Feb. 16 on the CBS Television Network.

Alderson, who was the general manager of the Oakland A's while Canseco played for the team, tells Wallace that although he suspected that Canseco might have been using steroids, he never confronted him about it because he didn't have any evidence. "�There was no testing policy that would allow us to confirm or deny any of the rumors that existed," he tells Wallace.

Even without the testing policy, Canseco says his trainers and conditioning coaches knew about his steroid use. "They knew what I was doing," Canseco tells Wallace. "They knew what the other baseball players were doing, if they were involved in taking steroids. Owners knew it. [The] players association knew it."

One person who says he knew Canseco was using steroids is the team's manager, Tony LaRussa. He tells Wallace that Canseco openly bragged he didn't need much work in a gym in order to build his strength. "He would laugh about the time that other guys were spending there and how he didn't have to because�he was doing the other 'helper'�He would kid our players. You know, it was a joke with him."

Despite Canseco's open bragging, LaRussa says there was no point in reporting the steroid use. "I think it's fair to say that Major League Baseball could have been more hard-nosed about their approach, but it's more fair to say that even any effort that they made, or would have made, would have been rebuffed by the players association," says LaRussa. "�Why does the players association do things that is really not in the best interest of the game as a whole? They're really concerned with their constituents."

Jeff Fager is the executive producer of 60 MINUTES WEDNESDAY and Michael Rosenbaum is the producer of this report.