Mark McGwire a phony despite admitting to steroid, HGH use
Mark McGwire still doesn’t get it.
On Monday, he finally admitted what everyone on the planet who cares about baseball knew many years ago — he used steroids and human growth hormone, including during his record-smashing, 70-home run season in 1998.
McGwire claimed he made a foolish mistake and wished he never touched steroids. He apologized to anyone he let down. To his credit, he phoned Pat Maris, the widow of the late Roger Maris. That took guts and showed some class. Who can forget members of the Maris family hugging good-guy McGwire when he supposedly legitimately broke Roger’s single-season home-run record? What a sham. What a phony.
I don’t believe McGwire. I think he’s glad he used steroids because they helped him break records, make lots of money and “earn” lots of awards, including 1988 Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year and Sports Illustrated co-Sportsmen of the Year, with fellow cheater (most of us suspect) Sammy Sosa.
Incredibly, McGwire still won’t admit that using steroids and HGH “on and off” for a decade helped him set those slugging records — despite ample statistical evidence to the contrary. He hit more home runs and had a much better home run-per-at-bat ratio as a user than he had before. Using performance-enhancing drugs probably didn’t improve his hand-eye coordination, but they definitely made him stronger and probably helped to keep him on the field. I don’t know how many HRs McGwire would’ve hit without the help of PEDs, but it would’ve been fewer than the 583 he retired with.
Some people wonder if McGwire would be a legitimate Hall of Famer if he compiled his numbers as a clean player.
The case for him: He had the best HR-per-at-bat ratio in history … he hit at least 30 HRs in 12 of his 16 seasons … he broke Maris’ single-season HR record … he’s eighth on the all-time HR list (583) and ninth in slugging percentage (.588) … he played in three World Series and was on the 1989 world champion Oakland A’s.
The case against him: He had only 1,626 career hits and a .263 career batting average … he couldn’t run at all (12 stolen bases and six triples in 16 seasons) … he wasn’t a good defensive first baseman (although he did win a Gold Glove in 1990) … he struck out a lot (1,596 times in 6,187 official at-bats) … he never was a league MVP … he would’ve hit fewer HRs had he been clean … he hit .217 with five HRs and 14 RBI in 42 postseason games, including a .188 batting average with one HR and two RBI in 13 World Series games.
I believe McGwire had Hall of Fame power numbers worthy of election on the first ballot. But in the four Hall of Fame elections he’s been eligible for, he appeared on only 23.5 percent, 23.6 percent, 21.9 percent and 23.7 percent of the ballots (75 percent required for election), respectively. By clamming up in congressional hearings and denying for so many years that he used steroids, McGwire has turned off more than enough Hall of Fame voters to assure that he’ll never be selected for Cooperstown unless there is a special amnesty election for all players from the Steroid Era.
I give minor props to McGwire for finally telling the truth. He at least admitted he cheated. That’s a big improvement over Barry Bonds, who reluctantly admitted he used steroids but said he didn’t know exactly what he was putting into his body, and a huge improvement over Sosa, who still insists he was absolutely clean for his entire career.
