Mac admits using steroids...

[STLHAMMER32]

It's interesting to read this thread in its entirety and see the different personalities come through in the responses.

Before fans got mad at baseball players for using PEDs, they were mad at them for making too much money. Well, salaries are higher than ever, but with PEDs taking center stage, you don't hear a peep about the money anymore.

When the PED's issue has faded away, as it will, fans will find something else to get mad at the players about. Getting mad at ball players is a great American tradition as old as the game itself.

I'm guessing that back in the day, the fans were ready to tar and feather Hoss Radbourne for wearing his cap at too jaunty an angle.

Rick
rickjlucas@gmail.com

Its pretty sad but you can see examples in everything....people envy the guy with the big boat and talk about how cool it is and want one....find out the guy works for an oil company and they now despise the guy and say what a lousy boat it is. lol.

Mac and Sosa excite the fans and we all enjoy the long HR's and ignore the huge changes in body size...find out that they used Performance enhancers and now they are despised...

The history of the game is filled with cheaters, racists and people of very questionable character. There was cocaine, amphetamines, cork and spitballs before steroids....players were always looking for an edge....How do we determine a guy using cocaine to get an extra boost to get through a game is worse than steroid use? McGwire was never tested for steroids it was not discouraged but rather ignored...its time to consider it a troubling time in baseball that has ultimately made the sport cleaner...

[NYCrulesU]

I find it amusing how people argue about McGwire and steroids today. If ANYONE sat and watched the 'HR race of '98' and didn't know that both McGwire and Sosa were on steroids, they were simply lying to themselves. What's done is done. People need to let it go.

[Ozric]

I agree that we all need to let this go. It just becomes a bit irritating and difficult to do so when you get called foolish for having an opinion that differs from a homer that champions this guy as being on a noble pursuit for finally admitting that he cheated.

[STLHAMMER32]

I agree that we all need to let this go. It just becomes a bit irritating and difficult to do so when you get called foolish for having an opinion that differs from a homer that champions this guy as being on a noble pursuit for finally admitting that he cheated.

To think Mark is doing this out of arrogance would be foolish.

[Ozric]

To think Mark is doing this out of arrogance would be foolish.

Thanks for proving my point. I'm sorry for having an opinion that differs from yours and I'm glad that you know him personally to ascertain this. His nobility for coming clean should be heralded...

[STLHAMMER32]

Thanks for proving my point. I'm sorry for having an opinion that differs from yours and I'm glad that you know him personally to ascertain this. His nobility for coming clean should be heralded...

I'm not saying he is a great noble person for coming clean. What I am saying is how would admitting steroid use be an act of arrogance...that makes no sense at all. You are saying it is arrogance with no facts at all to support how in the world it would be arrogant.

[Manram]

On the interview he had with Bob Costas he said he could have put up the same numbers without steriods, just that the steroids made his body feel better.

[suicide_squeeze]

On the interview he had with Bob Costas he said he could have put up the same numbers without steriods, just that the steroids made his body feel better.

I don't believe he could have even come close to putting up the same numbers without steroids. Maybe 55 homers in a season......once. As the old saying goes (and from his own mouth)......he was a walking MASH unit. The steroids morphesized him into something he wasn't, and would have never been.

Was Mark McGwire one of the best in his era? Absolutely. He holds THE MLB record for most frequent home runs per at bat in a career.

Does that mean he should be elected into the Hall with all of the other generations of greats? That's the debate we will all see unfold over the next decade or so. It's going to be interesting, but I think he's got a super tough row to hoe after some thought. I just don't understand how you can elect a guy who "did it wrong".

On steroids, he was a daily-fresh living breathing HOUSE on two legs. Christ 'ol mighty.....all he had to do was get the wood on the ball, and it wasn't going to come down via gravity anytime soon. Same goes for Bonds. They were both great hitters. But they chose to cheat. I see trouble for both of them in ever getting elected now.....and in the case of McGwire, I feel badly about it. I like him. I enjoyed that 1998 battle. But the aftermath is painful.

I still consider Hank Aaron the all-time home run leader.

And I still consider Roger Maris the single-season home run leader.


But that's just me. And this McGwire confession, albeit a brave and honorable thing to finally do.....just supports the argument.

[Manram]

That's what i found funny about the interview. He was able to say with a straight face that the believed he could have put up the same stats without steroids.

[STLHAMMER32]

That's what i found funny about the interview. He was able to say with a straight face that the believed he could have put up the same stats without steroids.

You would have to think it helped him get on the field but he did hit 49 his rookie year which probably wont ever be broken...The distance of his Hrs were out of this world so you would have to think a good portion of them would be out anyway. You would think it helped him recover quicker from night to day games and such though. What sucks is that we will never know how much it helped or even hurt him.