Report: Sosa tested positive in 2003

NEW YORK, June 16 (UPI) -- Baseball superstar Sammy Sosa allegedly tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug in 2003, sources told The New York Times.

The Times said Tuesday lawyers with knowledge of the drug-testing results from that year did not know for which drug Sosa allegedly tested positive. Sosa is sixth on Major League Baseball's career home run list, and last played in 2007.

If true, the allegation makes Sosa a part of a group including Mark McGwire, Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, Manny Ramirez and Rafael Palmeiro who have been linked in reports to performance-enhancing drugs, the newspaper said.

Sosa becomes eligible for induction into baseball's Hall of Fame in 2012, but the alleged positive test in 2003, when he was playing for the Chicago Cubs, may hurt his chances, the Times said.

If proved, the Times said, the positive test could cause Sosa legal troubles: He testified under oath before Congress in 2005, that he had "never taken illegal performance-enhancing drugs."