I remember playing baseball video games as a kid and thinking that guys who had 15 homeruns had some power. Lol!!! In the steroid era, 15 homeruns got you sent back to the minors (unless you were Kenny Lofton who went from 1 homerun to 12, in less games between 93-94...oh ya and he gained 15 lbs.)
In that vein I'd like to extend a congratulations to Mark Mcgwire for becoming the St. Louis Cardinals new hitting coach. In honor of his new job, I will poke some fun at the controversy that surrounded his career.
One look at the picture above (and noticing that his forearms w/the Cardinals are bigger than his biceps w/ the A 's) you know that Mcgwire used steroids. Judging by the picture alone, he must have gained 40-50 lbs of pure lean muscle, while dropping major body fat.
Believe it or not, Mcgwire hit 49 HR's as that skinny guy on the left! Of course he hit 52, 58, 70 and 65 as the guy on the right.
There are people who think we need to give Mark Mcgwire the benefit of the doubt on whether or not he used steroids. When you make a "smoking gun" argument in favor of Mcgwire you aren't doing him any favors. First of all, it is all too easy to take a look at him and know that he took something. Because of this, he already is guilty in everyone's mind and that's before the dreadful testimony to congress. in Mark's defense re: congress, everybody there that day had their own angle on how they would approach their testimony and appear steroid free. Palmerio forcefully denied with his famous finger point ( then tested positive shortly after) and Sammy Sosa forgot how to speak and understand English. Turns out Mcgwire was actually the most honest of the bunch that day, but that's because he went with the "Doc in the DeLorean " approach.... only wanting to talk about the future.
Jay Mcgwire (Mark's younger brother) came out and said he introduced Mark to steroids. You see, Jay has recently found god and wants his older brother to repent and come clean. And the only way Jay could think of doing this is by pitching a tell-all book (I think god told him he needed to cash in).
What Jay seems to forget, praising god has never been an issue for Mark. Mark pointed to the heavens (or outer space for you realists) after every home run and award.
Mark Mcgwire apologists need to realize that there is a more sensible approach than to pretend Mark might not have used steroids because there is no "smoking gun". The guy did steroids. Instead I recommend they argue that each baseball era and that era's player's stats should be considered and approached as separate from previous era's and player's stats and voted on accordingly. The question then simply becomes, "Was he one of the best/elite players of his time?"
In this sense I don 't think there is any doubt about it. Mcgwire was arguably the most thrilling hitter to watch of all-time, let alone his era (Bonds an acceptable answer). We sat in awe of his 584 foot homerun off 99mph gas thrower Randy Johnson. We put Mark on the cover of all the magazines as an american hero! Sports Illustrated went as far as making him co-Sportmen of the Year with Sammy Sosa.
So how can the public and the sportswriters turn on somebody so fast and so venomously? I've always wondered about this phenomenon and I think it's simply our human desire for apologies. I really do believe that if Mark Mcgwire came out publicly and admitted steroid use and said he was sorry for using them, the public would have accepted the apology and he just might have been in the hall of fame by now.
On the other side of the token, the public misconception that steroids automatically guarantees extra muscle is ridiculous. I had a roommate who took two cycles of steroids and only gained 3 lbs of pure fat. Why you ask? Because he never worked out and was lazy.
Due to the fact that public perception on steroids is that it equals (=) cheating, athletes feel the desire to deny any allegations in hopes to hold on to the credit they feel they rightly deserve. Bonds didn't deny steroid use because he didn't use steroids; He denied it because people would have taken all of his accomplishments that he worked so hard to obtain, and flush them down the proverbial toilet. Mcgwire didn't admit he "cheated" to congress because all of the love and praise we gave him would all be taken away and his ridiculously sick season of 70 HR's would be given 0 credit. As humans, we have a strong desire to get credit for things we worked hard at. could you imagine if you spent all of your free time trying to make yourself better in the weight room and batting cages, have it pay off only to be told that you would not get any credit for that hard work?
What the writers and fans did to Mcgwire was unfair. First we gave him credit for saving baseball. We gave him sportsman of the year awards, put him on every magazine cover you could think of and even gave him a cameo on Saturday Night Live. All of this affirming to Mcgwire that he was doing the right things, making the right choices and mixing the right steroid-cocktails.
BOTTOM LINE:
Don't give Mark Mcgwire the benefit of the doubt... give him a break.
