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."

[Frazod]

Originally Posted by penchief

Well, we know that McGwire padded his career power numbers immensely by juicing.

Speculating that those who didn't juice also may have padded their stats with uppers is niothing more than a justification for something that skewed career stats so dramatically that baseball will be forever marred.
Posted via Mobile Device

I'm not justifying anything. I'm just saying that you know jack shit/nothing about what Mattingly or anybody else did or didn't do to enhance their performance.

It should also be noted that McGwire's roid run with St. Louis resulted in the Cardinals winning ZERO pennants and ZERO world championships. About the only thing that did come from this period (other than a joyous competition with Sosa that revitalized interest in the sport) was a single season home run record that was subsequently broken by Bonds, who will probably come clean about his steroid use about the time the sun goes super nova. You want to put an asterisk by it - fine. Put one by Bonds' as well, and while you're at it, put one by Maris', since he had more games to work with than Ruth did.

[KC_Connection]

Originally Posted by pr_capone

And that is why I hate modern baseball. All people look at anymore are offensive statistics.

Don Mattingly's Resume (13 year career)

* 6× All-Star selection (1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989)
* 9× Gold Glove Award winner (1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994)
* 3× Silver Slugger Award winner (1985, 1986, 1987)
* 1985 AL MVP
* 1993 Lou Gehrig Memorial Award
* New York Yankees team captain (1991–1995)
* New York Yankees #23 retired

McGwire's Resume (18 not 16 year career and a CHEATER)

* 12× All-Star selection (1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000)
* World Series champion (1989)
* Gold Glove Award winner (1990)
* 3× Silver Slugger Award winner (1992, 1996, 1998)
* 1987 AL Rookie of the Year
* 1999 Lou Gehrig Memorial Award
* 1992 Home Run Derby winner
* Major League Baseball All-Century Team

McGwire has double the All-Star numbers but how many of those were influenced by the steroids?

Mattingly has 8 more Gold Gloves

Both 3 time silver slugger winners

Mattingly hold a MLB record with 6 GS in a single season

Learn about Mattingly before you talk like you know something.

#1. Is it just me, or does McGwire's resume look a lot better? Especially when you account for the massive statistical difference.
#2. Mattingly could have taken steroids for all you know, just like everybody else.
#3. McGwire outclasses Mattingly so badly offensively that even the upgrade of Mattingly defensively can't come close to touching McGwire.
#4. Please don't use Gold Gloves as a measure of defense...they are more a measure of good offensive players that "look" good defensively. Jeter, for example, has four of them and he's a poor defensive SS. And the fact that McGwire actually won one should tell you that.

Learn something about baseball history before you go ranting about steroids and cheating in baseball.

[KC_Connection]

Everyone should read this essay, btw: http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/po...es-on-steroids

[Frazod]

Originally Posted by KC_Connection

Everyone should read this essay, btw: http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/po...es-on-steroids

Your link is full of FAIL.

[KC_Connection]

Originally Posted by penchief

Well, we know that McGwire padded his career power numbers immensely by juicing.

Speculating that those who didn't juice also may have padded their stats with uppers is niothing more than a justification for something that skewed career stats so dramatically that baseball will be forever marred.
Posted via Mobile Device

How do you know Mattingly wasn't "naturally" a 15 HR hitter who upped his totals to 25-30 with steroids?

[KC_Connection]

Originally Posted by frazod

Your link is full of FAIL.

Indeed. Try this.

http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/po...es-on-steroids

[DeezNutz]

Originally Posted by KC_Connection

How do you know Mattingly wasn't "naturally" a 15 HR hitter who upped his totals to 25-30 with steroids?

I looked into his eyes in a YouTube video.

[Frazod]

Originally Posted by KC_Connection

Indeed. Try this.

http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/po...es-on-steroids

Better, but I'm not reading all that crap at a quarter 'till midnight. I'll give it a look tomorrow.

[KC_Connection]

Originally Posted by frazod

Better, but I'm not reading all that crap at a quarter 'till midnight. I'll give it a look tomorrow.

It's long, but it's worth it.

[KC_Connection]

Originally Posted by DeezNutz

I looked into his eyes in a YouTube video.

If only baseball allowed highlights on YouTube. Another reason to hate Selig.

[Royal Fanatic]

Originally Posted by CoMoChief

Personally I dont care that hitters use them, because for one, hand eye coordination in hitting a baseball is about 95% of hitting.

FAIL.

Every time I hear this I want to puke. NOBODY says that you turn a bad hitter into a good one by putting him on the juice. But you CAN take a good hitter and turn him into GODZILLA by putting him on the juice.

Barry Bonds was a very good hitter before he started using steroids. For the first 14 years of his career he averaged 31 home runs per year and hit .287. Those are nice numbers, but they're nothing compared to the numbers Bonds put up after he became a steroid user. After he went on the juice, he began one of the most remarkable runs in baseball history. For the next 5 years he averaged 51 home runs per year and hit .341, and he hit that ridiculous total of 73 home runs in 2001. 73 home runs is almost as ridiculous as averaging 51 home runs over a 5-year period when the MOST he ever hit in a season prior to that was 49. And he started this incredible run when he was 36 years old, just about the age when most hitters seriously decline.

You want to talk just about Mark McGwire? OK. For the first 6 full years of his career he hit an average of 36 home runs with a batting average of .247. That includes his phenomenal rookie season when he hit 49 home runs. Then he was injured so often the next 3 years that he contemplated retirement. Then he went on the juice, and for the next 6 years he hit an average of 50 home runs with a batting average of .283.

There's a helluva difference between an average of 36 home runs and an average of 50. 36 home runs is a nice year. 50 home runs used to be an all-time great year until the steroid era screwed up the home run stats forever.

The numbers don't lie. Steroids turn good hitters into all-time great hitters.

Yes, hand-eye coordination is a prerequisite to good hitting. But steroids make a huge ****ing difference. Anyone who doesn't understand that doesn't understand baseball.

And while we're at it, I think Dick Vitale made a great point this morning on ESPN. Mark McGwire is probably more to blame for the steroid era than anyone else. After his success, EVERYBODY started doing it, because they saw what it did for him. Barry Bonds' girlfriend was quoted in The Book of Shadows as saying that Bonds was pissed about all of the love McGwire was getting, and that's why he decided to go on the juice.

It would be a travesty if Mark McGwire is ever elected to the Hall of Fame.

[penchief]

Originally Posted by KC_Connection

How do you know Mattingly wasn't "naturally" a 15 HR hitter who upped his totals to 25-30 with steroids?

You mean other than the obvious visual evidence? Mattingly was a small guy. He was 5'8" and wieghed less than 170 lbs when he first came into the league and probably wieghed about 180 lbs when he retired.

Mattingly was not a HR hitter in the Dave Kingman sense, ala McGwire. Mattingly was a pure hitter who hit the ball hard to all fields and for average. When he was healthy there was probably not a better pure hitter in the game.

As far as defense goes, Mattingly didn't just win 9 gold gloves. He was a spectacular defensive first baseman. Easily the best in the game.

My point is that if steroids not only ballooned McGwires offensive numbers but helped keep him on the field what could they have done for Mattingly's numbers by keeping him healthy and increasing his power numbers? All things being equal, Mattingly was a much better baseball player all-around.

When considering people for the hall of fame, steroid use should be a negative. Because not only are the numbers not authentic but it is unfair to the players that did not take steroids in order to pad their numbers via both increased strength and greater longevity, ala McGwire.

[Cannibal]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

On the home run records, they should go back for statistical purposes and shorten each hit by some measure such as the same ratio (inverted) that the player added in bicep size from the previous year. Then figure out if it would've still been a home run. You can't change the outcome of the game, but you can correct the record book.

That might get a little complicated. In my opinion, an asterisk is going to have to suffice.

[penchief]

Originally Posted by Royal Fanatic

FAIL.

Every time I hear this I want to puke. NOBODY says that you turn a bad hitter into a good one by putting him on the juice. But you CAN take a good hitter and turn him into GODZILLA by putting him on the juice.

Barry Bonds was a very good hitter before he started using steroids. For the first 14 years of his career he averaged 31 home runs per year and hit .287. Those are nice numbers, but they're nothing compared to the numbers Bonds put up after he became a steroid user. After he went on the juice, he began one of the most remarkable runs in baseball history. For the next 5 years he averaged 51 home runs per year and hit .341, and he hit that ridiculous total of 73 home runs in 2001. 73 home runs is almost as ridiculous as averaging 51 home runs over a 5-year period when the MOST he ever hit in a season prior to that was 49. And he started this incredible run when he was 36 years old, just about the age when most hitters seriously decline.

You want to talk just about Mark McGwire? OK. For the first 6 full years of his career he hit an average of 36 home runs with a batting average of .247. That includes his phenomenal rookie season when he hit 49 home runs. Then he was injured so often the next 3 years that he contemplated retirement. Then he went on the juice, and for the next 6 years he hit an average of 50 home runs with a batting average of .283.

There's a helluva difference between an average of 36 home runs and an average of 50. 36 home runs is a nice year. 50 home runs used to be an all-time great year until the steroid era screwed up the home run stats forever.

The numbers don't lie. Steroids turn good hitters into all-time great hitters.

Yes, hand-eye coordination is a prerequisite to good hitting. But steroids make a huge ****ing difference. Anyone who doesn't understand that doesn't understand baseball.

And while we're at it, I think Dick Vitale made a great point this morning on ESPN. Mark McGwire is probably more to blame for the steroid era than anyone else. After his success, EVERYBODY started doing it, because they saw what it did for him. Barry Bonds' girlfriend was quoted in The Book of Shadows as saying that Bonds was pissed about all of the love McGwire was getting, and that's why he decided to go on the juice.

It would be a travesty if Mark McGwire is ever elected to the Hall of Fame.

Exactly. McGwire wouldn't even be sniffing the HOF if he hadn't juiced.

[Consistent1]

I could say a lot about this topic again. I am just going to leave it short this time....some of you guys should stop watching the NFL if your problem with this stuff is so huge. And YES, losing teams take part also...