Jason Giambi
Jason Giambi was the muscle-bound, hard-slugging, steroid-fueled first baseman/designated hitter for the New York Yankees from 2002 to 2008. He's since been traded to the Oakland A's and subsequently the Colorado Rockies.
California native Giambi made his major league debut in 1995 with the Oakland Athletics, where he was mentored by slugger Mark McGwire, perhaps not the most auspicious pairing given McGwire's later steroid scandal. Giambi soon became Oakland's biggest star, winning the American League MVP award in 2000 and attracting legions of female fans with his long hair and rock-star image. Giambi left the team after the 2001 season, signing a 7-year, $120 million free agent contract with the Yankees. Longtime fans griped that he was selling out—particularly after he cut his hair and beard to conform with George Steinbrenner's longstanding dress code. But Yankees fans were pleased with the prospect of getting one of the game's top sluggers to fill the power-hitting shoes of the declining Bernie Williams and the departed Paul O'Neill and Tino Martinez. For a couple of years, Giambi came through, but recent years have not been kind. In addition to the steroid scandal that tarnished his image, he's battled a number of bizarre health issues, including an intestinal parasite, calcium deposits in his eyes, and a tumor on his pituitary gland. In 2009 he was quietly traded back to the A's and then quickly to the Colorado Rockies.
In 2005, former slugger Jose Canseco implicated Giambi as a steroid user in his tell-all book Juiced, writing that Giambi "went overboard with steroids," and "had the most obvious steroid physique that I've ever seen in my life." After the book's publication, Giambi admitted using steroids and human growth hormone to a grand jury. When the news leaked in early 2005, Giambi called a press conference and publicly apologized. In May 2007, he found himself in the hot seat again as rumors swirled that he had recently tested positive for amphetamines. But in August 2007, MLB commissioner Bud Selig announced that because Giambi had cooperated with baseball's steroids investigation and admitted to using steroids under the threat of suspension from the game, the slugger would face no further discipline from the league. [Image via Getty]