Mark McGwire Admits Using Steroids During Record Home Run Season

Mark McGwire decided to come clean and finally admitted using steroids throughout his career, including the year he broke the single-season home run record.

McGwire had basically fallen off the map since dodging the steroid question in front of a congressional committee in March 2005. Now that the former Major League Baseball player is preparing to coach this season for the St. Louis Cardinals he must have thought it was best to address the issue prior to the season to avoid a media circus when spring training starts (Google Alex Rodriguez).

During an interview with the Associated Press, McGwire apologized. “The toughest thing is my wife, my parents, close friends have had no idea that I hid it from them all this time,” said McGwire. “I knew this day was going to come. I didn’t know when.”

McGwire went on to admit using steroids and HGH throughout a decade and during the time he broke Roger Maris’ home run record in 1998.

“I wish I had never touched steroids,” McGwire said. “It was foolish and it was a mistake.”

According to the AP, McGuire called Commissioner Bud Selig, St. Louis manager Tony La Russa and Maris’ widow, Pat to personally break the news then called the AP for the interview.

“It was a wrong thing what I did. I totally regret it. I just wish I was never in that era,” he said.

McGwire finished his career with 583 home runs, tied for eighth on the all-time list. His record of 70 home runs in 1998 only held up for three years then it was surpassed by Barry Bonds’ 73 homers in 2001. In addition, his resume includes 1987 AL Rookie of the Year and 12 trips to the All-Star Game.

Ironically this admission comes just days after the latest Hall Of Fame vote that saw McGwire get a mere 23 percent vote, well below the 75 percent necessary to make it to Cooperstown.

“This has nothing to do with the Hall of Fame,” he said. “This has to do with me coming clean, getting it off my chest, and five years that I’ve held this in. 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. “I was always the last one to leave. I was always hitting by myself. I took care of myself.”

He said he first used steroids between the 1989 and 1990 seasons, after helping the Oakland Athletics to a World Series sweep when he and Jose Canseco formed the Bash Brothers.

“When you work out at gyms, people talk about things like that. It was readily available,” he said. “I tried it for a couple of weeks. I really didn’t think much of it.”

He said he returned to steroids after the 1993 season after being told steroids might speed his recovery.

“I did this for health purposes. There’s no way I did this for any type of strength purposes,” he said.

McGwire’s 70 homers in 1998 was part of a head-to-head battle with Chicago Cubs Sammy Sosa who finished with 66. Sosa, like McGuire, has brushed off and denied using steroids thus far and was reprimanded when he was caught using an illegal bat around that same time.

Selig praised McGwire, saying, “This statement of contrition, I believe, will make Mark’s re-entry into the game much smoother and easier.” If anyone knows about damage control it’s Selig. The commissioner has had his hands full over the years with the New York Yankees’ Alex Rodriguez admitting using steroids, Bonds facing criminal charges accused of lying when questioned about steroids and Roger Clemens currently being investigated for possibly lying to Congress concerning his involvement in steroid use.

Rafael Palmeiro is another player who denied using steroids but then tested positive for one later that year.

“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.”

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A-Rod finally admits syringe use

TAMPA - Alex Rodriguez, following in the past footsteps of teammates Jason Giambi and Andy Pettitte, kick-started the New York Yankees training camp with a press conference regarding steroid use.Last season, Pettitte stepped up to the mics and said, “I never did it (injections) to get an edge on anyone. I did it to get off the DL”.

This year, in a highly-publicized media session, A-Rod stepped up to the plate against a standing room only crowd of 150-200 media members who were hoping to get an opportunity to pitch a few questions at one of MLB’s biggest stars.

A-Rod started the session reading a written statement before taking questions. “Like everyone else, I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life”, said Rodriguez. “The only way I can learn to handle them is to learn from them and move forward”.

After referring to the substance he had injected as an “energy booster”, the 2003 MVP went on to say, “My cousin would inject it in me. We consulted no one it was pretty evident we didn’t know what we were doing. I stopped taking it in 2003 and haven’t taken it since”.

It seemed like a lot of work, setting up additional satellite trucks and sophisticated equipment at Steinbrenner Field just to watch a guy read a statement then avoid a few reporter’s brush-back deliveries and foul off a few of the curveball questions.

Many people will want to elaborate on some of the vague responses he gave throughout the session and how his statements are changing over time. During his interview with Peter Gammons last week, A-Rod said he did not remember being injected but in today’s statement he mentions taking the syringe.

Today, Rodriguez said when he used the substance from 2001-03, he did not believe it was anything illegal and he thought it was an energy booster.

Many of the media and fans believe the player’s recent admissions are only occurring because he was out-ed and A-Rod fielded that exact question, “If your name was never revealed in the SI report, would you have come out on your own?” one reporter asked.

“I haven’t thought about it”, said A-Rod. “But I’m her to share my story and put it out there and hopefully I can put this behind me and my teammates don’t have to carry the burden of answering all the questions for me”.

Chances are, after fouling off a bunch of the questions and leaving the media wanting more, A-Rod and his Yankees should expect to field a lot more questions on the topic.

Copyright © 2009 – Sports Climax

Aaron says Bonds should keep HR record

ATLANTA - As the Barry Bonds’ March 2 trial grows closer and pieces of the prosecutors’ case against MLB’s home run record- holder continue to go public, if there was any doubt whether Hank Aaron supports Bonds as home run king, those questions may have been answered.

In an interview Aaron this week with the Atlanta-Journal-Constitution, the retired player made his opinion clear saying the HR record belongs to Bonds and should not be taken away.

“In all fairness to everybody, I just don’t see how you really can do a thing like that and just say somebody isn’t the record holder anymore, and let’s go back to the way that it was,” Aaron told the AJC.

“If you did that, you’d have to go back and change all kinds of records. It (the home run record) is probably the most hallowed record out there, as far as I’m concerned, but it’s now in the hands of somebody else. It belongs to Barry.”

“Really, it’s sort of a tricky call when you start going down that road of who is legitimate,” Aaron added in the interview.

These are strong points made by one of baseball’s greatest players of all time. If Bonds is stripped of the record, does that force MLB to strip A-Rod of his MVP award he won in 2003 and Roger Clemens, if convicted, of his laundry-list of strikeout records and seven Cy Young awards.

The list would go on and on. Major League Baseball would have to rewrite their record books and Cooperstown would have to apply asterisks to or garage sale many of their memorabilia displays.

Copyright © 2009 – Sports Climax

All charges against Bonds should be dropped!

Full story here

Judge Susan Illston dropped three of the charges against ex-San Francisco Giants slugger, Barry Bonds, lightening the load of perjury charges he will be facing in his upcoming March trial.That’s a decent start but it’s time to drop the remaining 10 charges as well, unless the government charges everyone else who has outright lied in front of Congressional committees.

Bonds has been singled out, period!

In March 2005, Rafael Palmeiro pointed his finger at a Congressional committee to emphasis his statement and said these words, “I have never used steroids. Period!”

In a blood test that followed later that season, the potent anabolic steroid, stanozolol, was detected.

Doesn’t that indicate Palmeiro’s statement to the committee may have been a lie?

Questions followed and Palmiero was quick to use the name-dropping defense. Political contribution records show that on July 23, 2003 and August 17, 2004, the ex-Texas Ranger slugger donated $2,000 each time to the Bush/Cheney campaign.

Battling the media’s direct hammering of questions about the statements he made in front of Congress, Palmeiro said he was “a personal friend of President George Bush”.

Shortly after, the Palmeiro scenario was quickly brushed under the rug.

Roger Clemens had a similar response as Palmeiro. When Clemens was questioned under oath by a Congressional committee about steroid use, he responded, “I know the ex-President Bush and he was able to find me when I was hunting so . . . ”

What is with the name-dropping! It has no relevance whatsoever to whether or not these guys took a needle full of illegal substances in the glutes from a trainer.

Mindy McCready recently was interviewed about her affair with Clemens. Her statements as well as photos of a party at Jose Canseco’s home all contradict Clemens’ testimony.

Hard not to wonder what the hold-up is on pressing charges on these other players who have appeared in front of Congress and had questionable interviews.

It’s time to charge all of these players or drop all the charges against Bonds.

Full Story Here

Copyright © 2008 – Sports Climax