Mark McGwire Admits Using Steroids

[LS1Hawk]

Here is his statement:

Now that I have become the hitting coach for the St. Louis Cardinals, I have the chance to do something that I wish I was able to do five years ago.

I never knew when, but I always knew this day would come. It's time for me to talk about the past and to confirm what people have suspected. I used steroids during my playing career and I apologize. I remember trying steroids very briefly in the 1989/1990 offseason and then after I was injured in 1993, I used steroids again. I used them on occasion throughout the nineties, including during the 1998 season.

I wish I had never touched steroids. It was foolish and it was a mistake. I truly apologize. Looking back, I wish I had never played during the steroid era.

During the mid-'90s, I went on the DL seven times and missed 228 games over five years. I experienced a lot of injuries, including a rib cage strain, a torn left heel muscle, a stress fracture of the left heel, and a torn right heel muscle. It was definitely a miserable bunch of years and I told myself that steroids could help me recover faster. I thought they would help me heal and prevent injuries too.

I'm sure people will wonder if I could have hit all those home runs had I never taken steroids. 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.

Baseball is really different now -- it's been cleaned up. The Commissioner and the Players Association implemented testing and they cracked down, and I'm glad they did.

I'm grateful to the Cardinals for bringing me back to baseball. I want to say thank you to Cardinals owner Mr. DeWitt, to my GM, John Mozeliak, and to my manager, Tony La Russa. I can't wait to put the uniform on again and to be back on the field in front of the great fans in Saint Louis. I've always appreciated their support and I intend to earn it again, this time as hitting coach. I'm going to pour myself into this job and do everything I can to help the Cardinals hitters become the best players for years to come.

After all this time, I want to come clean. I was not in a position to do that five years ago in my Congressional testimony, but now I feel an obligation to discuss this and to answer questions about it. I'll do that, and then I just want to help my team.

http://mlb.fanhouse.com/2010/01/11/m...cid=webmaildl1

[BurninrubberGT]

I love how they admit It, but try and throw in an excuse why they used them, anyway everyone already knew he took them

[GP99GT]

this just in, the pope is catholic, and bears indeed DO **** in the woods

[edpontiac91]

YES, I agree that using steroids was wrong. Let's go back to the season that he did break the home run record of Roger Maris. As he got closer and closer to that mark, just about anybody who liked baseball was glued to the TV and on the day he broke it, with Maris's family in the seats, it was really exciting. It gave baseball a huge boost in the ratings and was the talk around every water cooler. Should he not have started the drugs, YES, but once the genie was out of the bottle, the fame and glory was all that mattered. Now five years of lying about not using them does not help the matter.

[WildBillyT]

NO ****.

Does not matter if you used them for recovery or not.

I actually figured most of these guys were doing it for that reason anyway...

[Jersey Mike]

meh, he made the game more interesting and exciting. I could give a hoot if he was on roids--NFL/NBA/MLB/NHL/Boxing/Wrestling, it's about entertainment. I was entertained.

Sucks that he won't be in the Hall of Fame now that he put it on record.

[NastyEllEssWon]

this comes at no surprise.

[bad64chevelle]

Originally Posted by Jersey Mike

Sucks that he won't be in the Hall of Fame now that he put it on record.

Not really, I think these guys should lose record they set. I think Bonds definitely should lose his record!

[Savage_Messiah]

I want to come clean. I was not in a position to do that five years ago in my Congressional testimony, but now I feel an obligation to

perjurysaywhat?

[Mike]

Originally Posted by Jersey Mike

meh, he made the game more interesting and exciting. I could give a hoot if he was on roids--NFL/NBA/MLB/NHL/Boxing/Wrestling, it's about entertainment. I was entertained.

Sucks that he won't be in the Hall of Fame now that he put it on record.

he already didn't get enough votes to remain on the ballot, so this wont change anything

Originally Posted by Savage_Messiah

perjurysaywhat?

he had to let the statute of limitations run out on any criminal drug offenses. and he never committed perjury, he just kept refusing to answer any questions, as is his civil right

[Squirrel]

ugh.. i hope this is only like a 2 day long topic, i dont wanna hear mike and mike and skip talk about this for the next 3 weeks

[BonzoHansen]

turn off espn, problem solved.

[MonmouthCtyAntz]

Kinda had it pegged when him and Sammy Sosa both came back 40 pds heavier from the off season lol.

[MonmouthCtyAntz]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/mul...content.1.html

Little Mcgwire throughout the years.

[LTb1ow]

So he used roids, who cares?

[MonmouthCtyAntz]

Originally Posted by LTs1ow

So he used roids, who cares?

Dont think anyone does except for the MLB and old school fans.

[NastyEllEssWon]

lol mlb really doesnt care....as for old school fans....thats a joke....juice has been around for a loooooong time....hell even ruth used performance enhancing drugs.....cocaine is a helluva drug

[LTb1ow]

[WildBillyT]

Originally Posted by NastyEllEssWon

lol mlb really doesnt care....as for old school fans....thats a joke....juice has been around for a loooooong time....hell even ruth used performance enhancing drugs.....cocaine is a helluva drug

Some form of anabolic steroids have been around since at least the 1940s. Modern stuff is a lot more potent though. Just like other drugs.

[Jersey Mike]

The question no one on ESPN is asking is, if the same enhancements were available to the veterans during their prime years, would they have turned them down? Or, going off what WBT said (above), if there was the same extensive regulation and testing back then as there is now, how many sports figures would we not have in the history books right now?

(Rhetorical)

[LTb1ow]

But any one could theoretically get a hold of them and use steroids, so why is it such a huge deal?

If you choose to endanger your life over a paycheck, so be it.

[qwikz28]

hadn't he already admitted to using this stuff:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Androstenedione

[SteveR]

Is this REALLY news? He's a juicehead. Then the Cards hire him as the hitting coach lol Who wants to bet on the percentage of Cardinals that'll be adding 40 pounds of muscle in this off season?