McGwire admits steroid use

[Shag]

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4816607

NEW YORK -- Mark McGwire finally came clean Monday, admitting he used steroids when he broke baseball's home run record in 1998.

McGwire said in a statement sent to The Associated Press on Monday that he used steroids on and off for nearly a decade.

"I wish I had never touched steroids," McGwire said in a statement. "It was foolish and it was a mistake. I truly apologize. Looking back, I wish I had never played during the steroid era."

McGwire also used human growth hormone, a person close to McGwire said, speaking on condition of anonymity because McGwire didn't include that detail in his statement.

McGwire's decision to admit using steroids was prompted by his decision to become hitting coach of the St. Louis Cardinals, his final big league team. Tony La Russa, McGwire's manager in Oakland and St. Louis, has been among McGwire's biggest supporters and thinks returning to the field can restore the former slugger's reputation.

"I never knew when, but I always knew this day would come," McGwire said. "It's time for me to talk about the past and to confirm what people have suspected."

He became the second major baseball star in less than a year to admit using illegal steroids, following the New York Yankees' Alex Rodriguez last February.

Others have been tainted but have denied knowingly using illegal drugs, including Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa and David Ortiz.

Bonds has been indicted on charges he made false statements to a federal grand jury and obstructed justice. Clemens is under investigation by a federal grand jury trying to determine whether he lied to a congressional committee.

"I'm sure people will wonder if I could have hit all those home runs had I never taken steroids," McGwire said. "I had good years when I didn't take any, and I had bad years when I didn't take any. I had good years when I took steroids, and I had bad years when I took steroids. But no matter what, I shouldn't have done it and for that I'm truly sorry."

Big Mac's reputation has been in tatters since March 17, 2005, when he refused to answer questions at a Congressional hearing. Instead, he repeatedly said "I'm not here to talk about the past" when asked whether he took illegal steroids when he hit a then-record 70 home runs in 1998 or at any other time.

"After all this time, I want to come clean," he said. "I was not in a position to do that five years ago in my congressional testimony, but now I feel an obligation to discuss this and to answer questions about it. I'll do that, and then I just want to help my team."

The person close to McGwire said McGwire made the decision not to answer questions at that hearing on the advice of his lawyers.

McGwire disappeared from the public eye following his retirement as a player following the 2001 season. When the Cardinals hired the 47-year-old as coach on Oct. 26, they said he would address questions before spring training, and Monday's statement broke his silence.

"I remember trying steroids very briefly in the 1989/1990 offseason and then after I was injured in 1993, I used steroids again," McGwire said in his statement. "I used them on occasion throughout the '90s, including during the 1998 season."

McGwire said he took steroids to get back on the field, sounding much like the Yankees' Andy Pettitte two years ago when he admitted using HGH.

"During the mid-'90s, I went on the DL seven times and missed 228 games over five years," McGwire said in the statement. "I experienced a lot of injuries, including a ribcage strain, a torn left heel muscle, a stress fracture of the left heel, and a torn right heel muscle. It was definitely a miserable bunch of years, and I told myself that steroids could help me recover faster. I thought they would help me heal and prevent injuries, too."

Since the congressional hearing, baseball owners and players toughened their drug program twice, increasing the penalty for a first steroids offense from 10 days to 50 games in November 2005 and strengthening the power of the independent administrator in April 2008, following the publication of the Mitchell Report.

"Baseball is really different now -- it's been cleaned up," McGwire said. "The commissioner and the players' association implemented testing and they cracked down, and I'm glad they did."

[Consistent1]

Originally Posted by KC_Connection

Obviously a fan who doesn't understand the history of baseball. Why is steroid use worse than amphetamine use?

That, plus the fact that steroids weren't invented in the 90's like some of these guys seem to imply.

[penchief]

Originally Posted by Consistent1

That, plus the fact that steroids weren't invented in the 90's like some of these guys seem to imply.

So if someone were able to take a substance that gave them the strength to hit a home run every time they stepped up to the plate, that is the same thing as taking an upper because one is exhausted?

Please, the world isn't black and white so we as people have to be able to make distinctions. The inability to to make distinctions between varying degrees of conduct would render objectivity nonexistent.

[Brock]

Originally Posted by penchief

So if someone were able to take a substance that gave them the strength to hit a home run every time they stepped up to the plate, that is the same thing as taking an upper because one is exhausted?

Please, the world isn't black and white so we as people have to be able to make distinctions. The inability to to make distinctions between varying degrees of conduct would render objectivity nonexistent.

Cheating=cheating.

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by Brock

Cheating=cheating.

on this we agree. Taking speed in the 50's and 60's. Steroids in the 90's. Cheating is never acceptable.

[Royal Fanatic]

Originally Posted by KC_Connection

Amphetamines allowed baseball players (and still do allow baseball players) to play the game every single day. Without them, we wouldn't have seen many guys put up the numbers they did or play as long as they did. Actually, I can't think of any drug that would have more of an impact than those things...that's why they were used even more frequently than steroids.

Edit: Both were illegal drugs that players used to enhance their performance, btw. What am I missing here?

Here is what you're missing: Nobody was able to use amphetamines to hit 70 home runs (McGwire), 73 home runs (Bonds), or AVERAGE 60 HOME RUNS PER YEAR OVER A FOUR YEAR PERIOD (Sammy ****ing Sosa).

Before steroids, there were two guys in the entire 20th century who had extraordinary years (obviously Ruth and Maris), and they each hit 60 home runs ONCE in their careers. After steroids, home runs were so cheap that a journeyman like Sammy Sosa could bulk up and crush the home records of the all-time greats.

If you think amphetamines are even in the same ballpark as steroids, you obviously know nothing about baseball.

[Brock]

Originally Posted by Royal Fanatic

If you think amphetamines are even in the same ballpark as steroids, you obviously know nothing about baseball.

They are in the same ballpark. They're both against the rules.

I admit I don't give a shit about baseball's sacred records.

[Royal Fanatic]

Originally Posted by Brock

They are in the same ballpark. They're both against the rules.

I admit I don't give a shit about baseball's sacred records.

Then why are you even in the discussion?

[Brock]

Originally Posted by Royal Fanatic

Then why are you even in the discussion?

Because this discussion isn't about that, dumbass.

[wild1]

Canseco says McGwire still lying

Jose Canseco says Mark McGwire is still lying about his use of steroids and his former manager Tony La Russa isn’t telling the truth either.

McGwire admitted Monday that he used steroids for a decade, including when he hit 70 homers in 1998, but denied Canseco’s claims that he injected himself and McGwire with steroids in bathroom stalls.

“I’ve defended Mark, I know a lot of good things about him,” Canseco told ESPN 1000 radio in Chicago on Tuesday. “I can’t believe he just called me a a liar. Umm, there’s something very strange going on here.

“I even polygraphed that I injected him, and I passed it completely. So I want to challenge him on national TV to a polygraph examination. I want to see him call me a liar under a polygraph examination.”

In Canseco’s 2005 book, “Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant ‘Roids, Smash Hits, and How Baseball Got Big,” Canseco claimed he introduced McGwire and other stars to steroids and performance-enhancing drugs. He wrote about injecting himself and McGwire in bathroom stalls, and how the effects of the drugs were the reason he hit 462 career home runs.

Canseco and McGwire helped lead the Athletics to a World Series sweep in 1989.

“Jose is out there doing what he’s doing, but I’m not going to stoop down to his level,” McGwire told ESPN on Tuesday. “None of that stuff happened. He knows it. I know it. I’m not going to stoop down to that level.”

La Russa was McGwire’s manager for nearly all of his 16-year career in both Oakland and St. Louis. He was also his fiercest defender, especially after The Associated Press reported McGwire used androstenedione during his record-breaking season in ’98. Andro, as it was known, was made a controlled substance until 2004, when it also was banned by baseball.

The manager said he didn’t know until Monday that McGwire used steroids.

“That’s a blatant lie,” Canseco said. “There are some things here that are so ridiculous, and so disrespectful for the public and the media to believe. I just can’t believe it. I’m in total shock. These guys remind me of politicians that go up and just lie to the public and expect to get elected.”

McGwire, who retired in 2001, had been widely ridiculed since he evaded questions before a congressional committee five years ago, repeatedly saying he wasn’t there to address his past. His confession was sparked by the Cardinals’ decision in October to hire him as hitting coach.

Canseco has said he is considering filing a class-action lawsuit against Major League Baseball and the players’ association. He says he’s been ostracized for going public with tales of steroids use in the sport.

“I’ve proved it. I’m 100 percent accurate,” he told the radio station. “I never exaggerate, I told it the way it actually happened. I’m the only one who told it the way it actually happened.”

[wild1]

So, Conseco was right after all in the end about McGwire and roids.

Now he says that LaRussa knew he was juicing and is lying about it. Strange who has the credibility now....

[Frazod]

Originally Posted by wild1

So, Conseco was right after all in the end about McGwire and roids.

Now he says that LaRussa knew he was juicing and is lying about it. Strange who has the credibility now....

Yeah, some vile rat bastard who lines his own pockets by selling his friends and teammates down the river for doing the same thing that MADE HIM RICH AND SUCCESSFUL in the first place is the King of ****ing Credibility in my book.....

[wild1]

Originally Posted by frazod

Yeah, some vile rat bastard who lines his own pockets by selling his friends and teammates down the river for doing the same thing that MADE HIM RICH AND SUCCESSFUL in the first place is the King of ****ing Credibility in my book.....

I don't like the guy either, but it turns out that he was telling the truth on at least some of these topics. Why wouldn't I also believe that his team and manager knew about it all along? McGwire is the one who's been lying about this forever, not Canseco

[Frazod]

Originally Posted by wild1

I don't like the guy either, but it turns out that he was telling the truth on at least some of these topics. Why wouldn't I also believe that his team and manager knew about it all along? McGwire is the one who's been lying about this forever, not Canseco

I think Cansucko would lie, cheat, steal, do anything to anybody, to make a buck.

I know McGwire, Sosa and Bonds did steroids because it's obvious by looking at them - not because of anything this piece of ****ing shit said.

And as far as I'm concerned, taking steroids is much farther down the scumbag ladder than personal betrayal.

[Royal Fanatic]

Originally Posted by Brock

They are in the same ballpark. They're both against the rules.

I admit I don't give a shit about baseball's sacred records.

Originally Posted by Royal Fanatic

Then why are you even in the discussion?

Originally Posted by Brock

Because this discussion isn't about that, dumbass.

So, you think the total obliteration of some of the most revered records in baseball by some drugged-up cheaters ISN'T part of the discussion regarding Mark McGwire and steroid use?

One of the two of us IS a dumbass, that's for sure. But it's not me.

You've already stated that you don't give a shit about baseball's sacred records. That shows that you are, at best, a CASUAL baseball fan, you know nothing about the unique appeal of baseball over other sports, and you should probably refrain from offering an opinion in any thread about baseball.

By the way, why are you so defensive about steroid abusers, anyway? Have you been sticking the needle in your own butt?

[L.A. Chieffan]

LaRussa is as much to blame for roids in baseball as anybody else. Shit, Bash Brothers in the late 80's and then McGwire in the late 90's, and who knows whats going on under his watch now.