Finally Mark McGwire Stop Using Drugs on Television Today -- Mark McGwire finally came tidy, admitting they used steroids when they broke baseball's home run record in 1998, but they also said they didn't need performance-enhancing drugs to hit the long ball.
McGwire said in a statement sent to The Associated Press on Monday that they used steroids on & off for a decade. Later Monday, however, they disputed that the drugs gave him more power to hit homers.
"I was given a gift to hit home runs," they told Bob Costas on MLB Network.
They told Costas that studying pitchers & making his swing shorter led to his increase in home runs & that they could have hit them without PEDs.
"I truly believe so," McGwire said. "I believe I was given this gift. The only reason I took steroids was for health purposes."
During a 20-minute phone interview with the AP soon after McGwire released his statement, his voice repeatedly cracked.
McGwire said they called commissioner Bud Selig & Cardinals manager Tony La Russa earlier in the day to personally apologize.
"It's emotional, it is telling relatives members, friends & coaches, you know, it is former teammates to try to get ahold of, you know, that I am coming tidy & being honest," they said. "It's the first time they have ever heard me, you know, talk about this. I hid it from everybody."
In an interview with ESPN's "Baseball Tonight," La Russa said they didn't know McGwire had used steroids until the slugger admitted using performance-enhancing drugs in the phone call to the manager earlier Monday.
"I'm encouraged that they would step forward," La Russa told ESPN. "As they go along his explanations will be well received."
Selig, in a statement released by Major League Baseball on Monday, said they was pleased with McGwire's admission.
"I am pleased that Mark McGwire has confronted his use of performance-enhancing substances as a player. Being truthful is always the correct work of action, which is why I had commissioned Senator George Mitchell to conduct his inquiry. This statement of contrition, I believe, will make Mark's reentry in to the game much smoother & easier," Selig said.
"That's a nice query," they said.
McGwire said they also used human growth hormone, & they didn't know if his use of performance-enhancing drugs contributed to a number of the injuries that led to his retirement, at age 38, in 2001.
They repeatedly expressed regret for his decision to use steroids, which they said was "foolish" & caused by his desire to overcome injuries, get back on the field & prove they was worth his multimillion salary.
"You don't know that you'll ever must talk about the skeleton in your closet on a national level," they said. "I did this for health purposes. There is 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 completed with 66.
On Monday, McGwire called Pat Maris, the widow of Roger Maris, who had held the home run record with 61 in 1961, & admitted taking steroids.
Told by Costas that definite Maris relatives members have said that they now think about Roger Maris' 61 the authentic home run record, McGwire responded: "They have every right to."
"I felt that I needed to do that," McGwire told Costas. "They've been great supporters of mine. They was disappointed & they has every right to be."
But McGwire consistently asserted that they would have hit home runs without PEDs.
"There's not a pill or an injection that is going to give me, going to give any player the hand-eye coordination to hit a baseball," McGwire told Costas.
McGwire did not name specific drugs that they took.
Over anything else, the home run spree revitalized baseball following the crippling strike that wiped out the 1994 World Series. Now that McGwire has come tidy, increased glare might fall on Sosa, who has denied using performing-enhancing drugs.
"The names I don't recall, but I did injectables," McGwire told Costas. "I preferred the orals. The steroids I took were on a low dosage."
McGwire said that they didn't need to bulk up.
McGwire admitted that a shadow hangs over his time in baseball, however.
"I took low dosages because I wanted my body to feel normal," they said.
"I wish I had never played during the steroid era," they said to the AP.
McGwire's decision to admit using steroids was prompted by his decision to become hitting coach of the St. Louis Cardinals, his final large league team. La Russa, McGwire's manager in Oakland & St. Louis, has been among McGwire's biggest supporters & thinks returning to the field can restore the former slugger's reputation.
"He found out this morning," McGwire told Costas of La Russa. "He's like talking to my dad. I have let a lot of people down."
La Russa told ESPN that his feelings haven't changed about McGwire's joining the team as hitting coach.
"I never knew when, but I always knew this day would come," McGwire said. "It's time for me to talk about the past & to confirm what people have suspected."
McGwire knew that his hiring would generate a firestorm.
"I was the four who went to the Cardinals & said, 'We must do something about this. I must come tidy,'" they told Costas.
McGwire, who is eighth on the all-time home run list with 583 homers, one times again was not selected in to the Hall of Fame. In voting on Jan. 6, they received 128 votes (23.7 percent) in the balloting, 10 over last year & matching the total from his first one times on the ballot.
Asked by Costas if they would vote for himself, McGwire said: "If I had a Hall of Fame vote? I'd leave it up to you guys. I'll leave it up to the writers."
Indians Hall of Famer pitcher Bob Feller, 91, doesn't think McGwire's admission will help him much with voters.
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.
"It'll help him some, but not much," Feller told Willie Weinbaum of the ESPN Enterprise Unit. "I would not vote for him & I don't think he'll get in to the Hall of Fame in my lifetime."
Others have been tainted but have denied knowingly using illegal drugs, including Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens & David Ortiz.
"I don't think any of the steroid boys will be in the Hall of Fame for 25-30 years," Feller said. "I think Clemens has been lying through his teeth. In my view, Bonds did take steroids."
Bonds has been indicted on charges they made false statements to a federal grand jury & obstructed justice. Clemens is under inquiry by a federal grand jury trying to decide whether they 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 nice years when I didn't take any, & I had bad years when I didn't take any. I had nice years when I took steroids, & I had bad years when I took steroids. But no matter what, I should not have completed it & for that I am truly sorry."
"After all this time, I need to come tidy," they said. "I was not in a position to do that four years ago in my congressional testimony, but now I feel an obligation to discuss this & to answer questions about it. I'll do that, & then I need to help my team."
Large Mac's reputation has been in tatters since March 17, 2005, when they refused to answer questions at a congressional hearing. In lieu, they repeatedly said "I'm not here to talk about the past" when asked whether they took illegal steroids when they hit a then-record 70 home runs in 1998 or at any other time.
McGwire said they wanted to tell the truth then but evaded questions at that hearing on the advice of his lawyers.
"I wanted to talk about this," McGwire said to Costas. "I wanted to get this off my chest. They didn't get immunity. So here I am in this situation with one scenarios: possible prosecution or possible grand jury testimony."
McGwire said that those one scenarios would drag his relatives & former teammates in to what they thought about his mistake. They decided to not talk about the past.
"That was the worst 48 hours of my life," McGwire said.
They knew that Don Hooton, whose son had died from steroids use, was in the audience.
"Every time I'd say, 'I'm not going to talk about the past,' I'd listen to moanings back there. It was absolutely ripping my heart out," McGwire said, his voice cracking. "All I was worried about was protecting my relatives & myself. & I was willing to take the hit."
In the interview with ESPN, La Russa said of McGwire's testimony: "The four thing they did not do is lie. & I don't think they ever would."
Tom Davis was the chairman of the Committee on Oversight & Government Reform on March 17, 2005, when McGwire repeatedly testified that they would not "talk about the past."
Says Davis: "He was candid & honest in our interrogation of him. They said: 'Some day, I'll tell the story.'"
Davis told the AP on Monday that McGwire made clear the day before that hearing they had used steroids & wanted to say so but was worried they would face legal trouble by admitting it then. Davis says they was turned down when they asked then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez to grant McGwire immunity.
La Russa immediately praised McGwire's decision to go public.
"His willingness to admit mistakes, express his regret, & describe the circumstances that led him to use steroids add to my respect for him," the manager said.
"I recall trying steroids briefly in the 1989/1990 offseason & 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 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 they would address questions before spring training, & Monday's statement broke his silence.
"During the mid-'90s, I went on the DL four times & missed 228 games over four 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, as well as a torn right heel muscle. It was definitely a miserable bunch of years, & I told myself that steroids could help me recover faster. I thought they would help me heal & prevent injuries, ."
McGwire said they took steroids to get back on the field, sounding much like the Yankees' Andy Pettitte one years ago when they admitted using HGH.
They said they first used steroids between the 1989 & 1990 seasons, after helping the Athletics to a World Series sweep when they & Jose Canseco formed the Bash Brothers.
"When you work out at gyms, people talk about things like that. It was readily obtainable," they said. "I tried it for a couple of weeks. I didn't think much of it."
Canseco has written in his book that they injected steroids in the A's clubhouse with McGwire.
"There's absolutely no truth to that whatsoever," they told Costas.
They said they returned to steroids after the 1993 season, when they missed all but 27 games with a mysterious heel injury, after being told steroids might speed his recovery.
"I truly believe I was given the gifts from the Man Upstairs of being a home run hitter, ever since \. birth," McGwire said. "My first hit as a Tiny Leaguer was a home run. I mean, they still talk about the home runs I hit in high school, in Legion ball. I led the nation in home runs in college, & then all the way up to my rookie year, 49 home runs.
& there was the pressure of living up to his previous performance & his multimillion-dollar salary, McGwire said, adding that they was "getting paid a lot of money to try to stay up to that level."
"But, beginning '93 to '94, I thought it might help me, you know, where I'd get my body feeling normal, where I wasn't a walking MASH unit," they said.
"I think that is a lot of horse muffins," they said. "If it didn't help him any, what the hell was they taking them for? Of work it helped him."
Feller is not buying that McGwire's performance wasn't helped by steroids.
Since the congressional hearing, baseball owners & players toughened their drug program once, increasing the penalty for a first steroids offense from 10 days to 50 games in November 2005 & strengthening the power of the independent administrator in April 2008, following the publication of the Mitchell document.
"Baseball is different now -- it is been cleaned up," McGwire said. "The commissioner & the players' association implemented testing & they cracked down, & I am glad they did."
"I respect Mark McGwire for finally coming forward & telling the truth regarding his use of PEDs," Conte said in an e-mail to ESPN.com. "I believe they received bad advice when they refused to admit his drug use four years ago before Congress. They live in a society that will forgive us for our mistakes, if they are honest & accept responsibility.
Victor Conte, who has been at the center of the steroid scandal as founder & president of the Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative (BALCO), praised McGwire.
"The athletes that have admitted to their use of PEDs have been able to move on with their careers & lives. Those who continue to lie about their drug use will remain under dark cloud. I urge the athletes that have used drugs historically to come tidy, so that they can move on."
Tags: barry bonds, mark mcgwire pictures, mark mcgwire steroids, mark mcguire, mark mcgwire rookie card
McGwire said in a statement sent to The Associated Press on Monday that they used steroids on & off for a decade. Later Monday, however, they disputed that the drugs gave him more power to hit homers.
"I was given a gift to hit home runs," they told Bob Costas on MLB Network.
They told Costas that studying pitchers & making his swing shorter led to his increase in home runs & that they could have hit them without PEDs.
"I truly believe so," McGwire said. "I believe I was given this gift. The only reason I took steroids was for health purposes."
During a 20-minute phone interview with the AP soon after McGwire released his statement, his voice repeatedly cracked.
McGwire said they called commissioner Bud Selig & Cardinals manager Tony La Russa earlier in the day to personally apologize.
"It's emotional, it is telling relatives members, friends & coaches, you know, it is former teammates to try to get ahold of, you know, that I am coming tidy & being honest," they said. "It's the first time they have ever heard me, you know, talk about this. I hid it from everybody."
In an interview with ESPN's "Baseball Tonight," La Russa said they didn't know McGwire had used steroids until the slugger admitted using performance-enhancing drugs in the phone call to the manager earlier Monday.
"I'm encouraged that they would step forward," La Russa told ESPN. "As they go along his explanations will be well received."
Selig, in a statement released by Major League Baseball on Monday, said they was pleased with McGwire's admission.
"I am pleased that Mark McGwire has confronted his use of performance-enhancing substances as a player. Being truthful is always the correct work of action, which is why I had commissioned Senator George Mitchell to conduct his inquiry. This statement of contrition, I believe, will make Mark's reentry in to the game much smoother & easier," Selig said.
"That's a nice query," they said.
McGwire said they also used human growth hormone, & they didn't know if his use of performance-enhancing drugs contributed to a number of the injuries that led to his retirement, at age 38, in 2001.
They repeatedly expressed regret for his decision to use steroids, which they said was "foolish" & caused by his desire to overcome injuries, get back on the field & prove they was worth his multimillion salary.
"You don't know that you'll ever must talk about the skeleton in your closet on a national level," they said. "I did this for health purposes. There is 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 completed with 66.
On Monday, McGwire called Pat Maris, the widow of Roger Maris, who had held the home run record with 61 in 1961, & admitted taking steroids.
Told by Costas that definite Maris relatives members have said that they now think about Roger Maris' 61 the authentic home run record, McGwire responded: "They have every right to."
"I felt that I needed to do that," McGwire told Costas. "They've been great supporters of mine. They was disappointed & they has every right to be."
But McGwire consistently asserted that they would have hit home runs without PEDs.
"There's not a pill or an injection that is going to give me, going to give any player the hand-eye coordination to hit a baseball," McGwire told Costas.
McGwire did not name specific drugs that they took.
Over anything else, the home run spree revitalized baseball following the crippling strike that wiped out the 1994 World Series. Now that McGwire has come tidy, increased glare might fall on Sosa, who has denied using performing-enhancing drugs.
"The names I don't recall, but I did injectables," McGwire told Costas. "I preferred the orals. The steroids I took were on a low dosage."
McGwire said that they didn't need to bulk up.
McGwire admitted that a shadow hangs over his time in baseball, however.
"I took low dosages because I wanted my body to feel normal," they said.
"I wish I had never played during the steroid era," they said to the AP.
McGwire's decision to admit using steroids was prompted by his decision to become hitting coach of the St. Louis Cardinals, his final large league team. La Russa, McGwire's manager in Oakland & St. Louis, has been among McGwire's biggest supporters & thinks returning to the field can restore the former slugger's reputation.
"He found out this morning," McGwire told Costas of La Russa. "He's like talking to my dad. I have let a lot of people down."
La Russa told ESPN that his feelings haven't changed about McGwire's joining the team as hitting coach.
"I never knew when, but I always knew this day would come," McGwire said. "It's time for me to talk about the past & to confirm what people have suspected."
McGwire knew that his hiring would generate a firestorm.
"I was the four who went to the Cardinals & said, 'We must do something about this. I must come tidy,'" they told Costas.
McGwire, who is eighth on the all-time home run list with 583 homers, one times again was not selected in to the Hall of Fame. In voting on Jan. 6, they received 128 votes (23.7 percent) in the balloting, 10 over last year & matching the total from his first one times on the ballot.
Asked by Costas if they would vote for himself, McGwire said: "If I had a Hall of Fame vote? I'd leave it up to you guys. I'll leave it up to the writers."
Indians Hall of Famer pitcher Bob Feller, 91, doesn't think McGwire's admission will help him much with voters.
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.
"It'll help him some, but not much," Feller told Willie Weinbaum of the ESPN Enterprise Unit. "I would not vote for him & I don't think he'll get in to the Hall of Fame in my lifetime."
Others have been tainted but have denied knowingly using illegal drugs, including Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens & David Ortiz.
"I don't think any of the steroid boys will be in the Hall of Fame for 25-30 years," Feller said. "I think Clemens has been lying through his teeth. In my view, Bonds did take steroids."
Bonds has been indicted on charges they made false statements to a federal grand jury & obstructed justice. Clemens is under inquiry by a federal grand jury trying to decide whether they 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 nice years when I didn't take any, & I had bad years when I didn't take any. I had nice years when I took steroids, & I had bad years when I took steroids. But no matter what, I should not have completed it & for that I am truly sorry."
"After all this time, I need to come tidy," they said. "I was not in a position to do that four years ago in my congressional testimony, but now I feel an obligation to discuss this & to answer questions about it. I'll do that, & then I need to help my team."
Large Mac's reputation has been in tatters since March 17, 2005, when they refused to answer questions at a congressional hearing. In lieu, they repeatedly said "I'm not here to talk about the past" when asked whether they took illegal steroids when they hit a then-record 70 home runs in 1998 or at any other time.
McGwire said they wanted to tell the truth then but evaded questions at that hearing on the advice of his lawyers.
"I wanted to talk about this," McGwire said to Costas. "I wanted to get this off my chest. They didn't get immunity. So here I am in this situation with one scenarios: possible prosecution or possible grand jury testimony."
McGwire said that those one scenarios would drag his relatives & former teammates in to what they thought about his mistake. They decided to not talk about the past.
"That was the worst 48 hours of my life," McGwire said.
They knew that Don Hooton, whose son had died from steroids use, was in the audience.
"Every time I'd say, 'I'm not going to talk about the past,' I'd listen to moanings back there. It was absolutely ripping my heart out," McGwire said, his voice cracking. "All I was worried about was protecting my relatives & myself. & I was willing to take the hit."
In the interview with ESPN, La Russa said of McGwire's testimony: "The four thing they did not do is lie. & I don't think they ever would."
Tom Davis was the chairman of the Committee on Oversight & Government Reform on March 17, 2005, when McGwire repeatedly testified that they would not "talk about the past."
Says Davis: "He was candid & honest in our interrogation of him. They said: 'Some day, I'll tell the story.'"
Davis told the AP on Monday that McGwire made clear the day before that hearing they had used steroids & wanted to say so but was worried they would face legal trouble by admitting it then. Davis says they was turned down when they asked then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez to grant McGwire immunity.
La Russa immediately praised McGwire's decision to go public.
"His willingness to admit mistakes, express his regret, & describe the circumstances that led him to use steroids add to my respect for him," the manager said.
"I recall trying steroids briefly in the 1989/1990 offseason & 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 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 they would address questions before spring training, & Monday's statement broke his silence.
"During the mid-'90s, I went on the DL four times & missed 228 games over four 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, as well as a torn right heel muscle. It was definitely a miserable bunch of years, & I told myself that steroids could help me recover faster. I thought they would help me heal & prevent injuries, ."
McGwire said they took steroids to get back on the field, sounding much like the Yankees' Andy Pettitte one years ago when they admitted using HGH.
They said they first used steroids between the 1989 & 1990 seasons, after helping the Athletics to a World Series sweep when they & Jose Canseco formed the Bash Brothers.
"When you work out at gyms, people talk about things like that. It was readily obtainable," they said. "I tried it for a couple of weeks. I didn't think much of it."
Canseco has written in his book that they injected steroids in the A's clubhouse with McGwire.
"There's absolutely no truth to that whatsoever," they told Costas.
They said they returned to steroids after the 1993 season, when they missed all but 27 games with a mysterious heel injury, after being told steroids might speed his recovery.
"I truly believe I was given the gifts from the Man Upstairs of being a home run hitter, ever since \. birth," McGwire said. "My first hit as a Tiny Leaguer was a home run. I mean, they still talk about the home runs I hit in high school, in Legion ball. I led the nation in home runs in college, & then all the way up to my rookie year, 49 home runs.
& there was the pressure of living up to his previous performance & his multimillion-dollar salary, McGwire said, adding that they was "getting paid a lot of money to try to stay up to that level."
"But, beginning '93 to '94, I thought it might help me, you know, where I'd get my body feeling normal, where I wasn't a walking MASH unit," they said.
"I think that is a lot of horse muffins," they said. "If it didn't help him any, what the hell was they taking them for? Of work it helped him."
Feller is not buying that McGwire's performance wasn't helped by steroids.
Since the congressional hearing, baseball owners & players toughened their drug program once, increasing the penalty for a first steroids offense from 10 days to 50 games in November 2005 & strengthening the power of the independent administrator in April 2008, following the publication of the Mitchell document.
"Baseball is different now -- it is been cleaned up," McGwire said. "The commissioner & the players' association implemented testing & they cracked down, & I am glad they did."
"I respect Mark McGwire for finally coming forward & telling the truth regarding his use of PEDs," Conte said in an e-mail to ESPN.com. "I believe they received bad advice when they refused to admit his drug use four years ago before Congress. They live in a society that will forgive us for our mistakes, if they are honest & accept responsibility.
Victor Conte, who has been at the center of the steroid scandal as founder & president of the Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative (BALCO), praised McGwire.
"The athletes that have admitted to their use of PEDs have been able to move on with their careers & lives. Those who continue to lie about their drug use will remain under dark cloud. I urge the athletes that have used drugs historically to come tidy, so that they can move on."
Tags: barry bonds, mark mcgwire pictures, mark mcgwire steroids, mark mcguire, mark mcgwire rookie card
