Surprise, Surprise: McGwire Admits Steroid Use

[Chris_Moderato]

The Link (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4816607)

[Hillbilly]

Cardinal fans, rest easy. He admitted it and the world DIDN'T come to an end. Imagine that! You can put aside your unwavering denial and come back to the real world...finally.

[FrankEC]

In other news, Columbus was right. The world is indeed round.

[Dreamscape]

Deep down, he's wondering if admitting it will help his HOF chances.

[bravos4evr]

I bet Larussa gives him an AB during September roster expansions now! Try and buy him 5 years for the writers memories to lapse a little.... I just don't see how they keep Mcgwire out if they are going to put Bonds and A-rod and others in.... Not to mention, that his roid use only made his 450 HR's into 500 footers!

[Hobbes]

I just don't see how they keep Mcgwire out if they are going to put Bonds and A-rod and others in....
Bonds and A-Rod are multi-dimensional players that are generally regarded to have put together HOF-caliber careers before they started with steroids (particularly Bonds).

McGwire was fairly one-dimensional and it is by no means clear that his career was HOF-worthy before he started juicing. I could easily see both of them getting in and McGwire being shut out.

[GeneGarberForPrez]

Interesting article (http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ti-mcgwire011109&prov=yhoo&type=lgns) by Tim Brown at Yahoo Sports. I generally agree with most of what he writes, and this is no exception.

You know what would have been more impressive? Had McGwire in the five years since he ducked questions from Congress come clean not for his own benefit but for the good of the young men about to make the same awful choice he did. He could have announced it on the Taylor Hooton Foundation website, raising money and awareness for anti-steroids education. Instead, we get a statement serving himself and his new career as a hitting coach, just in time for his return from hiding and the season.

[The Rap]

To me it was a self serving move which is why I have stopped believing anything these guys say. I hope when Sosa is next someone asks him how come he learned English so well since the congressional hearings.

[bravos4evr]

I dunno, Mcgwire hit 49 his rookie year as a skinny little guy(relative to how huge he became) he may have been somewhat one dimensional, but his career OPS is friggin .982!!!!! Thats pretty mammoth....it's actually .017 points higher than A-rods career OPS..... He got on base a ton, and hit a ton of HR's... he juiced, so did Bonds and A-rod and Sosa and Palmeiro..... Bonds may have been a HOF player before he juiced, but He juiced nonetheless... I'm sorry but Mcgwire is being persecuted because he listened to his lawyer at the hearings( and maybe he shouldn't have but should that preclude one from getting in the HOF?). Bonds has never admitted to the public he did roids, yet he's the one guy everyone assumes will get in..... Not to mention all the pitchers that juiced....
Way I look at it, IF the BBWA are not going to say, "no bonds, no arod, no clemens no Palmeiro, no sosa no.....etc" then you have to put Mcgwire in there. It's either all or nothing. ( not to mention guys like Thome, and Manny and almost every slugger out there. Heck what about Frank Thomas?)

[Andy G.]

Since Eddie Murray hit his 500th homerun in '96, these are the players who have reached that mark...
Barry Bonds
Ken Griffey Jr.
Sammy Sosa
Mark McGuire
Alex Rodriguez
Rafael Palmeiro
Jim Thome
Manny Ramirez
Frank Thomas
Garry Sheffield

This is 40% of the of the 500 Home Run Club. :no: All but three of them(Griffey, Jim Thome, Frank Thomas) have allegedly tested positive for steroids or admitted to taking them.

Carlos Delgado is only 27 homeruns away from 500. As far as I know he's never been said to have tested positive.

If Chipper can somehow play the rest of his contract, including the option year in 2013, and average 20 homeruns a year during that time, he would join that list. Or he could play three more years and hit 25 a year to get there. The only thing that could make me think Chipper juiced is that he played in this era, and he's had all these injuries. All these other players have been linked somehow, yet Chipper's never been alleged to have tested positive or been pointed at by Canseco or anybody else. I think the injuries are mostly based on genetics and bad luck, and I see no evidence in his career that there was an unnatural boost in his power numbers.

[Hobbes]

I dunno, Mcgwire hit 49 his rookie year as a skinny little guy(relative to how huge he became) he may have been somewhat one dimensional, but his career OPS is friggin .982!!!!! Thats pretty mammoth....it's actually .017 points higher than A-rods career OPS..... He got on base a ton, and hit a ton of HR's... he juiced, so did Bonds and A-rod and Sosa and Palmeiro..... Bonds may have been a HOF player before he juiced, but He juiced nonetheless... I'm sorry but Mcgwire is being persecuted because he listened to his lawyer at the hearings( and maybe he shouldn't have but should that preclude one from getting in the HOF?). Bonds has never admitted to the public he did roids, yet he's the one guy everyone assumes will get in..... Not to mention all the pitchers that juiced....
Way I look at it, IF the BBWA are not going to say, "no bonds, no arod, no clemens no Palmeiro, no sosa no.....etc" then you have to put Mcgwire in there. It's either all or nothing. ( not to mention guys like Thome, and Manny and almost every slugger out there. Heck what about Frank Thomas?)
I'm not saying it's right or wrong for Bonds and A-Rod to get in and McGwire not, only that I could easily see it happening. I think it is easier for voters to write off McGwire's credentials as the result of his juicing, whereas it's easier to see the other two as players who had the credentials anyway, then juiced to augment them.

At some point the writers are going to have to come to grips with this steroid era and decide what to do with such players. Do you keep them all out, or let them all in? If you keep out the known juicers, what do you do with suspected-but-unconfirmed users?

Once Bonds opens the doors I think you'll see most of these players being begrudgingly put in, and the HOF will have to acknowledge the controversy somehow in the exhibits.

[luvdembravos]

If the HoF opens its doors to known juicers, it might as well open its doors to Pete Rose as well. Forgive everyone.

[Lauren T.]

I received this press release last night from MLB Network, releasing some key questions and answers from the interview with Bob Costas last night. Thought I'd share...

QUOTES AVAILABLE FROM EXCLUSIVE MARK McGWIRE INTERVIEW WITH BOB COSTAS ON MLB NETWORK

Costas Gets First TV Interview with McGwire Since Admitting Use of Performing Enhancing Drugs During His MLB Career

Secaucus, NJ, January 11, 2010 – Quotes are available from Mark McGwire’s exclusive in-depth television interview with MLB Network’s Bob Costas that took place live today at 7:00 p.m. ET about McGwire’s admission of using performance enhancing drugs during his career. This is the first television interview granted by McGwire since he admitted using PEDs in a statement earlier today.

Highlights of the interview are below:

ON WHEN EXACTLY HE USED STEROIDS:
“I believe it was the winter of 1989 into 1990. I was given a couple of week’s worth, tried it, never thought anything of it. I just moved on from it. But as far as using it on a consistent basis, it was the winter of 1993 into 1994.”

ON WHETHER HE THINKS HE WOULD STILL HAVE PERFORMED AS WELL WITHOUT STEROIDS:
“I truly believe so. I believe I was given this gift. The only reason I took steroids was for my health purposes. I did not take steroids to get any gain for any strength purposes… I’ve always had bat speed. I just learned how to shorten my bat speed. I learned how to be a better hitter. There’s not a pill or an injection that is going to give me -- or any athlete -- the hand-eye coordination to hit a baseball. A pill or an injection will not hit a baseball.”

ON EXACTLY WHAT PERFORMANCE-ENHANCING DRUGS HE TOOK:
“The names I don’t remember. But I did injectables. I preferred the orals. The steroids I did were on a very low dosage. I didn’t want to take a lot of it. I took very, very low dosages, just because I wanted my body to feel normal. The wear and tear of 162 ballgames and the status of where I was at, and the pressures that I had to perform, and what I had to go through to try and get through all these injuries, it’s a very, very regrettable thing.”

ON REGRETTING HIS STEROID USE:
“I wish it never came into my life. But we’re sitting here talking about it. I’m so sorry that I have to. I apologize to everybody at Major League Baseball, my family, the Marises, Bud Selig… Today was the hardest day of my life.”

ON CALLING ROGER MARIS’ WIDOW THIS MORNING:
“Well, I think she was shocked that I called her. I felt good…I felt that it was…that I needed to do that. They’ve been great supporters of mine. She was disappointed. She has every right to be. And I couldn’t tell her how so sorry I was.”

ON THE EVENTS LEADING UP TO THE 2005 CONGRESSIONAL HEARING:
“So, 2005…Flying back there…I was ready, willing, and prepared to talk about this. I wanted to talk about this. I wanted to get this off my chest… My lawyers, Mark Bierbower and Marty Steinberg -- I meet them back there. We talked about the situation. Marty, a former federal prosecutor, laid out a couple of scenarios. ‘If you go out there, and talk about this without protection, there’s a very good chance of a possible prosecution, or grand jury testimonies.’ So, we talk to – we were in meetings downstairs with Congressman Waxman, and… Congressman Davis… my lawyers were downstairs trying to get immunity for me. I wanted to talk. I kept telling myself, ‘I want to get this off my chest.’ Well, we didn’t get immunity. So here I am in a situation where I have two scenarios, where a possible prosecution or possible grand jury testimonies. Well you know what happens when there’s a prosecution? You bring in your whole family, you bring in your whole friends, you bring in ex-teammates, coaches, anybody that’s surrounding you. How the heck am I gonna to bring those people in for some stupid act that I did? So you know what I did? We agreed to not talk about the past. And it was not enjoyable to do that, Bob.

ON HIS TESTIMONY BEFORE CONGRESS IN 2005:
“I’m gonna tell you right now, standing up there – or sitting up there, listening, the Hooten family or the other families behind me that lost their loved ones… And every time that I kept on saying “I’m not talking about the past,” I hear these moans. It was killing me. I was not gonna lie. I was not going to lie. I wanted to tell the truth, but because of the position I was in; to protect my family, to protect me, I decided that I would take the hits. I think anybody’s going to take the hits. I’ve been taking hits for five years…doesn’t feel very good.”

ON THE HALL OF FAME:
“I’m not here doing this for the Hall of Fame. I’m doing this for me, to get this off my chest. I played this game of baseball because I was given the ability to play. If I’m lucky enough to get in there, that’s just icing on the cake. But I played this game because I loved it.”

ON WHAT HE’D TELL CARDINALS PLAYERS ABOUT STEROIDS:
“It was the stupidest thing I ever did. There’s no reason to even go down that road. It’s an illusion. And look what I have to do. I‘m sitting here by a stupid mistake.”

ON POTENTIALLY BEING FORGIVEN BY FANS AND OTHERS:
“Well, I’m asking for a second chance. I hope they give it to me. Because you know, I have a lot to offer. I have a whole rolodex of things that I love to teach hitters, and I can’t wait to get to spring training. I can’t wait to teach, and it’s just, it’s always been a passion of mine so it just came to a head this last October when Tony sent me a text to see if I’d consider being a hitting coach.”

[Agent-X-]

I'm not saying it's right or wrong for Bonds and A-Rod to get in and McGwire not, only that I could easily see it happening. I think it is easier for voters to write off McGwire's credentials as the result of his juicing, whereas it's easier to see the other two as players who had the credentials anyway, then juiced to augment them.

At some point the writers are going to have to come to grips with this steroid era and decide what to do with such players. Do you keep them all out, or let them all in? If you keep out the known juicers, what do you do with suspected-but-unconfirmed users?

Once Bonds opens the doors I think you'll see most of these players being begrudgingly put in, and the HOF will have to acknowledge the controversy somehow in the exhibits.

If I recall correctly, though, A. Rod has been juicing most or all of his professional career. I recall seeing all the years that he claimed he juiced, and it goes all the way back to his earliest seasons. It's kind of hard to say his credentials predate his juicing when he's juiced for so long. The same goes for McGwire, and I think the same should apply to Bonds.

Simply, these guys have put together careers, in the same era, that only used to happen once in a great while before the juicing craze. They took 500 homers and made it seem like the cutoff line to even get into the HOF.

[Dreamscape]

If I recall correctly, though, A. Rod has been juicing most or all of his professional career. I recall seeing all the years that he claimed he juiced, and it goes all the way back to his earliest seasons. It's kind of hard to say his credentials predate his juicing when he's juiced for so long. The same goes for McGwire, and I think the same should apply to Bonds.

Simply, these guys have put together careers, in the same era, that only used to happen once in a great while before the juicing craze. They took 500 homers and made it seem like the cutoff line to even get into the HOF.
A-Rod only admitted to using from 2001-2003, after he signed that insane contract. I don't think he used his whole career.

[The Rap]

If the HoF opens its doors to known juicers, it might as well open its doors to Pete Rose as well. Forgive everyone.

But at least make them admit their wrongdoing and ask for forgiveness? That is the key problem with Rose; a retention of his arrogance where he believes he is bigger than the game. I believe he will be voted in posthumously asSelig and Vincent who were both very close to Giamatti blame Rose for the death of their friend.