Sorry Mark, but your tearful admission to using steroids only made things worse on the PR scale.  And that’s coming from an avid A’s fan who thinks McGwire is basically a good guy at heart.  His problem?  He just doesn’t get it.

McGwire, who has been hired by former manager Tony LaRussa to be the St.
Louis Cardinals‘ hitting coach, had to “come clean” before the 2010 baseball season got underway.  So earlier this week he sat down for an interview with Bob Costas  to set the record straight.  An emotional McGwire did indeed confess to using steroids for several years, starting around 1993, according to the slugger.

OK, fine Mark. The timeline is up for debate – just ask Jose Canseco, who has so far been vindicated for his accusations aimed at other players at every turn – but the part I personally found most comical is McGwire’s claim that steroids didn’t help him hit home runs.  He only used them to help deal with injuries that had slowed his career.

Really Mark? You honestly think the ‘roids DIDN’T have anything to do with your massive power surge into 70 home run territory?  Yeah, pull this finger and a rabbit comes out of my cap.  McGwire once had Popeye forearms on an otherwise normal looking body, albeit a large one. By the end of his career he looked like Paul Bunyan in the batter’s box!  All that added muscle – which no doubt was developed to a great extent by his steroid use - didn’t add considerable power to an already powerful swing?

Please…

I don’t dispute that steroids don’t have much to do with hand-eye coordination, which McGwire claims was the true reason he hit so many home runs. But to think the steroids didn’t add muscle and make it easier to bounce back from the daily grind of nagging injuries, both key factors in being able to hit a baseball a long way, is nothing short of laughable.

I wish McGwire the best in his return to the baseball field.  But if he thinks this interview is going to make life on the road easier now that he has “come clean” to  the fans, he is in for a rude awakening.

So he finally admitted his steroid use, and his confession appeared heart felt.  Was anyone really surprised to learn the Mark McGwire was on the juice when he was at what was arguably his career best?  ”Looking back, I wish I had never played during the steroid era,” he claims.  Maybe so. But is that hindsight or real regret?

One has to wonder when he goes on to basically claim that steroids are not in fact what made him hit those balls out of the park.  ”There’s no way a pill or an injection will give you hand-eye coordination or the ability or the great mind that I’ve had as a baseball player,” he said.  Really?  That kind of arrogance is exactly why I’m glad he’s not in baseball anymore.

I don’t understand this guy.  According to McGwire, he starts taking steroids to “recover from injuries,” and then low and behold, he discovers he plays a whole lot better while he’s on them.  Doesn’t stop, just stays on the juice, keeps hitting the ball out of the park, and now, he willingly admits to the drug use, but in his arrogance he claims the steroids aren’t responsible for his home run record?

The guy was an amazingly talented baseball player, without question.  And the steroids gave him the extra push, the extra edge.  Something that a player of his caliber didn’t really need, but knowingly took advantage of.  Do I want to see him in the Hall of  Fame? No, I want to see that honor go to players that reached great heights, on their own. Those who relied strictly on their talent.  No juice.

How would you feel if McGwire makes it to the Hall of Fame?  Should steroids disqualify good players from this lifetime achievement?