New York, NY (My Sportsbook) - Alex Rodriguez reportedly tested positive for steroids in 2003, when he won the American League MVP award as a member of the Texas Rangers, according to SI.com.

The report states that four separate sources have independently verified the claim and that Rodriguez is one of 104 players who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs under the league's testing survey that year.

Testing was conducted in 2003 as part of a joint agreement between Major League Baseball and the Players' Association to determine whether it was necessary to institute mandatory random drug testing for the 2004 season. No penalties were levied for tests that came back positive in 2003.

After more than five percent of MLB's 1,198 players surveyed in 2003 tested positive, a mandatory random-testing program was instituted and penalties were enforced beginning the following year.

The report goes on to state that Rodriguez tested positive for two anabolic steroids, Primobolan and testosterone, and that three major league players indicated Rodriguez was tipped off early in September of the 2004 season by then COO of the players' union Gene Orza of an impending test later that month.

Orza had earlier been implicated in the 2007 Mitchell Report for violating an agreement with MLB by tipping off a player who was not Rodriguez that same month.

Of the 104 names on the list, none other than Rodriguez were made public as the list is under seal in California. Those that tested positive were meant to be kept anonymous under an agreement between the commissioner's office and the players association but Rodriguez's results were found following the April 2004 seizure by federal agents of lab results as part of the government's BALCO investigation.

The Major League Baseball Players' Association issued a statement in response to the report.

"Information and documents relating to the results of the 2003 MLB testing program are both confidential and under seal by court orders. We are prohibited from confirming or denying any allegation about the test results of any particular player(s) by the collective bargaining agreement and by court orders. Anyone with knowledge of such documents who discloses their contents may be in violation of those court orders.

"As we have explained previously, in detail and in public, there was no improper tipping of players in 2004 about the timing of drug tests. As set forth in our letter to Chairman Waxman of the House Government Reform Committee, in September 2004 MLBPA attorneys met with certain players, but we are not able to confirm or deny the names of any of the players with whom we met."

Major League Baseball also weighed in on the subject later in the day as executive vice president of labor relations Rob Manfred issued a statement.

"We are disturbed by the allegations contained in the Sports Illustrated news story which was posted online this morning. Because the survey testing that took place in 2003 was intended to be non-disciplinary and anonymous, we can not make any comment on the accuracy of this report as it pertains to the player named.

"Any allegation of tipping that took place under prior iterations of the program is of grave concern to Major League Baseball, as such behavior would constitute a serious breach of our agreement."