McGwire admits steroid use

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NEW YORK -- Mark McGwire finally came clean, 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 he used steroids on and off for nearly a decade.

"It's very emotional, it's telling family members, friends and coaches, you know, it's former teammates to try to get hold of, you know, that I'm coming clean and being honest," he said during a 20-minute telephone interview, his voice repeatedly cracking. "It's the first time they've ever heard me, you know, talk about this. I hid it from everybody."

McGwire said he also used human growth hormone, and he didn't know if his use of performance-enhancing drugs contributed to some of the injuries that led to his retirement, at age 38, in 2001.

"That's a good question," he said.

He repeatedly expressed regret for his decision to use steroids, which he said was "foolish" and caused by his desire to overcome injuries, get back on the field and prove he was worth his multi-million dollar salary.

"You don't know that you'll ever have to talk about the skeleton in your closet on a national level," he said. "I did this for health purposes. There's no way I did this for any type of strength use."

McGwire hit a then-record 70 homers in 1998 during a compelling race with Sammy Sosa, who finished with 66. More than anything else, the home-run spree revitalized baseball following the crippling strike that wiped out the 1994 World Series.

Now that McGwire has come clean, increased glare might fall on Sosa, who has denied using performing-enhancing drugs.

"I wish I had never played during the steroid era," McGwire said.

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."

Baseball commissioner Bud Selig also praised McGwire, saying, "This statement of contrition, I believe, will make Mark's re-entry into the game much smoother and easier."

McGwire 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 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."

"That was the worst 48 hours of my life," McGwire said.

La Russa immediately praised McGwire's decision to go public.

"His willingness to admit mistakes, express his regret, and explain the circumstances that led him to use steroids add to my respect for him," the manager said.

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 off-season 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. "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 offence 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."

I don't think anybody should be surprised at all, but it finally came out...several years too late to save his reputation.

Finally. Now can we move on from this shit.

I don't care what anyone says he is still one of the best baseball players of all time.

That being said, the steroid era has turned out to be "who wasn't on the juice" instead of who was on the juice.

stl311 wrote:

I don't care what anyone says he is still one of the best baseball players of all time.

That being said, the steroid era has turned out to be "who wasn't on the juice" instead of who was on the juice.

I don't care either. You can put an * by his records or whatever, but I really do not care. It was wrong, a lot of players did, but it is time to get past it. Mark's roid feuled homerun derby may have saved baseball, so a lot of people are going to have to accept blame for the steriod era. Like the Commish did not notice jack up guys, hitting a ton of homers? Please.

stl311 wrote:

I don't care what anyone says he is still one of the best baseball players of all time.

Really? :S Outside of just whacking out homers, what else was he good at? Wasn't fast, didn't play great defense, couldn't hit for average. He was all about homers and lots of them and it's obvious where those homers came from at this point.

Concrete Jesus wrote:

Mark's roid feuled homerun derby may have saved baseball, so a lot of people are going to have to accept blame for the steriod era. Like the Commish did not notice jack up guys, hitting a ton of homers? Please.

Actually, the Bud Selig noticed it and wanted to test players for steroids, but the player union refused it in their CBA negotiations. This was back in the early to mid 90's I believe.

Well, many people knew of this and did nothing, so there is a a lot of blame to go around. Do you think this admision will help get him into the HOF next year?

He hit homers and for a long time, and up until 94 he was a great infielder. Sure he wasn't quick, but he did some awesome things on the diamond.

You will never find a better baseball story than the year that Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire faced off for the home run record AND the right to win the NL Central.

Good stuff.

Concrete Jesus wrote:

Well, many people knew of this and did nothing, so there is a a lot of blame to go around. Do you think this admision will help get him into the HOF next year?

It's so hard to say. He receives about 25% of the votes annually and those people use the reason that there isn't any proof that he did steroids (outside of you know...common sense). Now that he's admitted to using them, you could either see those guys not voting for him (which I would say is unlikely) or they'll come up with some bullshit reason to keep doing it anyways.

While I don't think he'll get in for a while, his 15th and last opportunity will probably be the only real shot he has at making it. I think Mac will be the poster boy for the steroid era. If Mac gets in, you'll see guys like Bonds, Clemens, Sosa, etc. get a fair shot. If Mac continues to fall well short, I think you can expect the same for the aforementioned names.

stl311 wrote:

You will never find a better baseball story than the year that Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire faced off for the home run record AND the right to win the NL Central.

It was a great story and it really revived baseball, but in retrospect, maybe that was a bad thing. For baseball to have to say that the best it can produce is a battle of 2 steroid users, I don't think that's the image MLB wants.

Another story I would put up there though would be the Red Sox's first WS win in God knows how many years. Especially coming back from being down 3-0 against their rivals, the Yankees. I think that's probably a much better story to market.

I think Barry Bonds is the greatest hitter of all-time and I think he should be in despite his roid use. I am not saying what he did was right, but he is still best hitter I have ever seen. No hitter change other teams game plan the way Bonds did. 7 time MVP and all of his other accolades out weight his roid use in my book. I still do not think that being strong is what made him a great hitter and I am not sure if his power really came from his muscle, if you understand that at all. There is far more to hitting home runs then strength. Sure, that helps, but you don't see body builders playing baseball do you?

Concrete Jesus wrote:

I think Barry Bonds is the greatest hitter of all-time

Ken Griffey Jr. is the correct answer

Concrete Jesus wrote:

I still do not think that being strong is what made him a great hitter and I am not sure if his power really came from his muscle, if you understand that at all.

I would partly disagree with that. He was able to hit at a .300 mark or so for his career, but his swing mechanics heavily favoured fly balls. When you have the type of upper-cut swing that he does, it's muscle that determines how hard and how far the ball goes. By comparison, Albert Pujols has a more level swing which produces more line drives and he generates his power from turning over his wrists, so steroids would help him less.

Concrete Jesus wrote:

There is far more to hitting home runs then strength. Sure, that helps, but you don't see body builders playing baseball do you?

Well that would probably be because the muscles hinder their range of motion and they'll have bad batting mechanics. The fluidity of their swing would basically be non-existent because their muscles would get in the way.

What the hell happened to Sammy Sosa? There is no way he was not being juiced and he got away with. Everyone talks about Bonds, McGwire, Clemens, and all, but they don't seem to mention Sosa at all.

I guess there are just bigger fish to fry. That and Sosa never really broke any big records and always lived in the shadow of Big Mac. I'm sure people already have their doubts about him after the corked bat situation, so it's not like he's completely off the hook.