How badly has A-Rod's marketing value been hurt?

Alex Rodriguez's image transformed in a three-day span, costing himself millions of dollars in future endorsements.

Marc Ganis, president of the consulting company Sports Corp. Ltd., said Rodriguez will be viewed differently by fans and sponsors as his home-run total climbs from 553 and nears Barry Bonds' mark of 762.

The A-Rod brand has been tainted.

"He is going to have a cloud over him, particularly as he approaches the home run record, where before this revelation, he was considered the anti-Bonds, the guy who was going to get the greatest record in all of sports back into the hands of a clean athlete," Ganis said Tuesday. "He will always have this postscript. Sponsors don't like postscripts."

Baseball's highest-paid and perhaps most-talented player, Rodriguez said Monday that he used banned drugs from 2001-2003 while playing for Texas. The admission came two days after Sports Illustrated reported that his name was among 104 players on a list seized by federal agents five years ago.

That list was compiled from baseball's anonymous 2003 survey - the samples and document remain under court seal as the union's motion seeking their return works through the federal judiciary.

"Our program, which was designed to be confidential, if it turns out not to be, that's something that causes concern," union head Donald Fehr said.

Former union head Marvin Miller called for an investigation of federal prosecutors to help determine whether there was a government leak of the test results.

"I think the first question ought to be: 104 names all testing positive, but you leak only A-Rod's. Why is that?" Miller said.

The fate of "the list" will be determined next by 11 appeals court judges in California.

If prosecutors are allowed to use the list and bring players before grand juries and trial courts, additional stars might be forced to admit they used steroids.

"It's definitely not fair to just pinpoint one guy," Boston's Kevin Youkilis said. "I don't know if somebody had it in for him. I don't know what because it seems like just to take one name out of that whole group is a little odd to me. If he was named with 10 other players, would that have been fair? I don't know? If they'd have listed all 104?"

Hall of Famer Goose Gossage hopes the list becomes public.

"I want to know who these other 100 guys are," he said. "Let's get it all out in the open. It certainly is not fair to A-Rod or to Bonds. They're dragging A-Rod down."

Rodriguez is to be the headline attraction at the University of Miami's annual baseball banquet Friday night, when the Hurricanes' home park gets renamed in honor of the $3.9 million gift he gave Miami in 2003.

Manager Joe Girardi, speaking on WFAN radio, predicted his players will rally around the three-time MVP. He's spoken with Rodriguez and texted.

"He's been through so much already as a person, as a Yankee, as a baseball player, and I think it's just another challenge for him," Girardi said. "And the one thing that I think Alex loves is challenges."

The list was a spreadsheet seized by federal agents from Comprehensive Drug Testing in Long Beach, Calif., in April 2004. The agents had a search warrant for the testing records of 10 players involved with BALCO. When they saw the spreadsheet, agents obtained additional search warrants, copied the entire computer directory and took the records of all the players.

Test samples and records were to remain anonymous and be destroyed, but MLB and the players' association couldn't arrange for the destruction with the test companies between Nov. 13, 2003 - when the results were finalized - and that Nov. 19, when the union became aware of the subpoena.

The players' association filed motions to get the records back and won in three U.S. District Courts. But a 9th circuit panel reversed in a 2-1 vote in December 2006, a decision the panel mostly reaffirmed in January 2008.

The full 9th Circuit then threw out that panel decision and decided to have 11 judges hear the matter. It included five judges appointed by Bill Clinton, four by George W. Bush and one each by Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. Oral arguments were heard in December, and it's uncertain when a decision will be issued.