Mark did steroids?
January 12, 2010Well, he finally did it. Mark McGwire came out and admitted he used steroids. And to his credit, he didn’t half admit it either. He flat out came clean.
I don’t really know how to weigh in on this. First off, let me say that Mark is a great guy and was an excellent teammate. I’m happy for him that he’s made this statement. He must feel like a thousand pound gorilla is off of his back. I’m also happy that he’s back in baseball as the hitting coach for the Cards.
Whoa!
Mark’s smart, by making this admission, he just made his job about a million times easier. Can you imagine the grilling he was gonna take from the press if he hadn’t put some closure to this?
Hopefully something good will come of this. Maybe it will pave the way for other ball players to come forward, and in doing so, change the game. It’s a long shot, but maybe. If you would like to read more about McGwire’s statements, click here.
By the way, do you remember the blog post I wrote about the weird tendency of athletes who are juicing to be photographed with no shirt on? In the “Geez, Put Some Clothes On” post, I basically say that a half nude photo of an athlete is pretty good indicator that the guy is using performance enhancing drugs. This isn’t a “for sure”, but pretty close. So even though this upcoming Vanity Fair cover photo was actually shot in 2006 (he’s much bigger now), it’s the classic roid-athlete-shirt off for the magazine image. Like I said, not “for sure”, but definitely raises another red flag for me.
Uh oh Tiger.
Hi Brent, Great to read your story on McGwire…Im with you! He’s been such a class act…Im glad he is over this..so is everyone else. What I always tell people is as you and I know as ex players, we were always trying to improve our game and Mark had no idea the impact the steroids would give him. You and I know it has long been said that Baseball Players should never lift as it tightens you up…well we saw Brian Downing and Ed Ott come in and do well so it gave others ideas that lifting was good! Well here we are today knowing what impact it gave all of us. Congrats to Mark for admitting this, but again he at the time did nothing wrong, only tried to improve his game and performance and how he felt. Unlike another guy who did it blatantly after in SF.
While I still think it comes years too late, it’s good to see a candid/full disclosure on McGuire’s part…rather than the ridiculous tap-dance that A-Rod did when he ‘fessed to up to his PED use. St. Louis fans are a forgiving lot, although it’s probably not a wise idea to test that forgiveness by admitting to little bits and pieces of history. Come clean now, ride out a few bumpy weeks until spring training, and then see how quickly all is forgiven when he steps on the field for their home opener.
As a guy who put in 15 clean years, how do you feel about voting admitted PED users into the HOF? Is there a point where their achievements overshadow their use? Yes, he used steroids…but he still had to do all of things you need to do in order to stand in the batter’s box and hit 580 home runs, which is a truly exceptional feat. Is there enough natural ability in that feat that it warrants recognition in the HOF? I’m still of the opinion that it shouldn’t.
No to the Hall of Fame for Mark if I’m voting. It’s unfair to all those who made it on their own two feet. I think you, like a lot of folks, are missing the point when you say “yes, he used steroids…but he still had to do all of the things you need to do in order to stand in the box and hit 580 homers.” The simple fact is, he would’ve never been able to hit all those homers without the drugs. The massive strength made up for many technical shortcomings (balls hit off center still went a mile) not to mention the ENORMOUS mental edge he gained from using. Steroid guys show up to the park like its the first day of the season EVERY day! I don’t know how to quantify what that means statistically…but it’s seriously significant.
Don’t get me wrong, I used that point to simply frame the question: do PED’s diminish all of a player’s accomplishments? There are some who argue that there’s still an element of skill that PED’s can’t help you attain, and that element of skill can’t be discarded when evaluating a player’s success on the field. One of my favorite broadcasters (and someone you know well), Mike Krukow, drives me nuts every time he tries to defend Barry Bonds’ place in the record books. He’ll gloss over the “alleged” PED use and instead focus on the work put in studying the opposing pitchers, knowing tendencies, having an exceptional eye…blah blah blah…and that the latter is a considerable enough achievement to excuse the former.
Much to my chagrin, there will probably never be a way to remove individual accomplishments by tainted players from the record books. Devising a fair way to do that is unrealistic. But exclusion from the HOF, let’s hope that can be a penalty that the egregious cheats can’t escape. If personal integrity, and integrity to the game itself, are criteria for admission, then I find it hard to believe that anyone can make a case for McGwire to be in the Hall (Bonds too, for that matter).