McGwire admits to roids

[Guest The Situation]

NEW YORK (AP)—Mark McGwire’s voice repeatedly cracked with emotion during a telephone interview with The Associated Press as he recounted telling his wife, parents and son that he had used steroids.

 

St. Louis Cardinals' Mark McGwire acknowledging the crowd at Busch Stadium, during a post-game ceremony where he received The St. Louis Award from the City of St. Louis, after hitting two home runs during the Cardinals' final game, to set a new major league single-season home run record with 70 home runs. McGwire has finally come 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, Jan. 11, 2010, that he used steroids on and off for nearly a decade and he was apologizing.

 

During a 20-minute phone call Monday, McGwire says he called commissioner Bud Selig and Cardinals manager Tony La Russa earlier in the day to personally apologize.

 

McGwire says that when he used steroids, he never imagined he would have to talk about it to national media.

 

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=Ap.eoI_Z.Qllted0dqIKiM85nYcB?slug=ap-steroids-mcgwire&prov=ap&type=lgns

[xx.]

I'm shocked, I would have never guessed. WHAT WAS HE THINKING?!?!?

[MainEv3nt]

lol we posted at same time, someone can jus lock or delete my thread

[Guest The Situation]

I beat you by a min. haha

 

Not so old after all.

[Phightins]

In other news, the sky is blue.

 

But seriously, I am happy for him as a person for coming clean although it is probably too late to help him win over a lot of people. Also, I have always thought that he and Sammy Sosa both have gotten a pretty rotten deal. Obviously it is hard to sugar-coat the fact that they used steroids, but lets face it, they did exactly what Bud Selig and Major League Baseball wanted them to do and as a result they saved baseball. Now, they get thrown under the bus.

 

But this is definitely a positive step. Wonder if other guys will follow Mac's lead and come out now.

Edited January 11, 2010 by Phightins

[Guest The Situation]

I really wanna see Bonds admit.

[Cobb]

In other news, the sky is blue.

 

But seriously, I am happy for him as a person for coming clean although it is probably too late to help him win over a lot of people. Also, I have always thought that he and Sammy Sosa both have gotten a pretty rotten deal. Obviously it is hard to sugar-coat the fact that they used steroids, but lets face it, they did exactly what Bud Selig and Major League Baseball wanted them to do and as a result they saved baseball. Now, they get thrown under the bus.

 

But this is definitely a positive step. Wonder if other guys will follow Mac's lead and come out now.

This.

 

Good to see him man up. I just wonder who will be the next person to do as he did?

[fish7718]

Must have been watching the hall of fame pass him by which made him do it.

[Phightins]

Must have been watching the hall of fame pass him by which made him do it.

 

Harold Reynolds made a good point on MLB Network. If he was not coming back into the game as a hitting coach, he probably would not have said a word. But now that he's back in the public eye for the first time since his playing days, there was probably a lot of pressure on him to do this.

[Guru]

I really wanna see Bonds admit.

Same. But he won't.

[Warren2ThaG]

Strike all the records from the record books.

 

McGuire, Sosa, Clemens, Bonds, etc....

[Phightins]

Strike all the records from the record books.

 

McGuire, Sosa, Clemens, Bonds, etc....

 

I disagree. Baseball needs to admit players to the hall of fame based on numbers, and just move on and make sure that a "steroid era" doesn't happen in the future. It is impossible to "clean up" the Hall entirely so baseball just needs to bite the bullet, admit they [expletive]ed up by allowing this to happen, and move on. It is not like Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Barry Bonds, Rafael Palmeiro, etc are the only ones in the history of baseball with "hall of fame" numbers who have cheated. In the 50's and 60's the performance enhancers were cocaine and amphetamines, and you can bet your [expletive] that players in that era were abusing as well.

 

And is this any less fair than the segregation era? I would argue it is not. I do not have any specific examples, but I bet you could go through the Hall of Fame and find pitchers from that era with borderline HOF numbers that absolutely would not have made it had they had to face Negro League players and other foreigners and truly the world's best players, not just the world's best white players. Also look at a guy like Jamie Moyer. Is he a hall of famer if he pitches in that era? Garrett Anderson, Bernie Williams, Manny Ramirez, and Carlos Delgado each have over 75 RBIs against him. Obviously none of this is possible to prove and it is a stretch, but I would argue that this is just as unfair of an advantage. If general managers from the segregation era are allowed in the hall of fame (they are), then so should Mark McGwire. Just my 2 cents.

 

Bottom line: one way or the other the Hall of Fame is [expletive]ed, so people need to just accept this, allow players into the hall based on numbers and nothing else, and continue to move forward to assure that nothing like this ever happens again.

[ChosenOne]

:o Well this was a surprise.

 

No it wasn't everyone knew it and I think he was better off just keeping his mouth shut on this issue.

[Phightins]

:o Well this was a surprise.

 

No it wasn't everyone knew it and I think he was better off just keeping his mouth shut on this issue.

 

I don't think he had a choice.

[EastCoastNiner]

I just think that there is a lot of hypocrisy and a big gray area when it comes to steroids.

 

Who's to say that protein shakes and drinks like Gatorade aren't performance enhancing?

 

It's dumb, because those things are performance enhancing, so I don't like how there's a major gray area when it comes to performance enhancing products.

[Dash]

Time for ESPN to go on and on and on about another baseball star on steroids. -_-

[Teletopez]

“I’m tired of justifying what I’ve said,” Canseco said. “I’ve polygraphed, I’ve proven that I’m 100 percent accurate. I never exaggerated. I told it the way it actually happened. I’m the only one who has told it the way it actually happened. Major League Baseball is still trying to defend itself. It’s strange. All I have is the truth, and I’ve proven that.”

 

Canseco also took issue with Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig, who Canseco always has claimed knew about the sport’s steroid problem and looked the other way during the era.

 

“I think eventually Bud Selig has to resign,” Canseco said. “This is far from over. There’s a list out there of [103] players. The last five to eight years there may have been some players elected to the Hall of Fame that were on that list. Nonetheless, if that list is not divulged, there will continuously be players who are inducted into the Hall of Fame who will probably be on that list.”

 

Link

[EastCoastNiner]

I honestly think that people were using steroids back when Roger Marris and Mickey Mantle played.

 

Roger Marris missed the 1961 World Series because of a "sudden illness", which occurred after he went to a doctor that gave him a "shot", which is thought to be amphetamines and steroids.

 

A 23 and 22 homerun jump in a few seasons.....hmmmm.......

[fly3rs18]

I honestly think that people were using steroids back when Roger Marris and Mickey Mantle played.

 

Roger Marris missed the 1961 World Series because of a "sudden illness", which occurred after he went to a doctor that gave him a "shot", which is thought to be amphetamines and steroids.

 

A 23 and 22 homerun jump in a few seasons.....hmmmm.......

 

 

i agree. well i dont know anything about that event, but i agree with the idea. players have always and will always try to find any possible advantage that they can get. right now we have no idea how many players are using hgh and other drugs which dont show up in tests. sure eventually we will find a way to test for it, but by that time there is going to be a new undetectable steroid. its never gonna end, and probably has been going on for a long time

 

back in the late 90's and up until recently steroids were allowed. there were no rules against any of it. how can you punish someone for something which was allowed? its just stupid, especially when it is nearly impossible to find every, or even majority, of the players that did it

[fish7718]

Anyone who is mad and doesn't believe Arod Mark Sammy Barry Raffy and Clemens are not hall of famers is a hypocrite. Not only were they probably a fan of these guys at one time but these guys saved the sport. It probably would have come back eventually but the sport was at an all time low in the late 90's and the HR race brought a lot of fans to the game. I remember it being one of the things that helped bring me into watching the sport.

[Phightins]

Anyone who is mad and doesn't believe Arod Mark Sammy Barry Raffy and Clemens are not hall of famers is a hypocrite. Not only were they probably a fan of these guys at one time but these guys saved the sport. It probably would have come back eventually but the sport was at an all time low in the late 90's and the HR race brought a lot of fans to the game. I remember it being one of the things that helped bring me into watching the sport.

 

The people who REALLY piss me off are the ones who say "they cheated the game, they disgraced the game, blah blah blah". They did precisely what "the game" wanted them to do. I also happen to think that Mark McGwire would be a hall of famer even without the steroids, despite most "experts" saying otherwise. I know for certain that Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, and Roger Clemens would be, and they sure as hell better wind up there. The common argument against McGwire is that he was a "one trick pony" who could only hit homeruns (which I do not disagree with) and that the steroids are what made his homerun numbers astronomical. Well all I have to say is that if Andre Dawson is a hall of famer, then so is Mark McGwire steroids or not.

 

I just love the self righteous writers who say none of them should be in the Hall. Keeping these guys out of the hall of fame will make the hall an even bigger joke than it currently is.

[fish7718]

The people who REALLY piss me off are the ones who say "they cheated the game, they disgraced the game, blah blah blah". They did precisely what "the game" wanted them to do. I also happen to think that Mark McGwire would be a hall of famer even without the steroids, despite most "experts" saying otherwise. I know for certain that Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, and Roger Clemens would be, and they sure as hell better wind up there. The common argument against McGwire is that he was a "one trick pony" who could only hit homeruns (which I do not disagree with) and that the steroids are what made his homerun numbers astronomical. Well all I have to say is that if Andre Dawson is a hall of famer, then so is Mark McGwire steroids or not.

I just love the self righteous writers who say none of them should be in the Hall. Keeping these guys out of the hall of fame will make the hall an even bigger joke than it currently is.

Yeah I've been saying the same exact thing. I do agree McGwire is probably the least most impressive of the 500 homerun club steroids or not. Factor in steroids and then it's real cloudy. However, if Dawson with a .330 OBP made it then he def is in. Only problem with that is, then a lot of players playing now should be hall of famers.