McGwire admits the obvious: he used steroids -The iPINIONS Journal

Disgraced former baseball player Mark McGwire finally admitted yesterday that steroids fueled his stellar career, which was highlighted by the 1998 season when he out-juiced Sammy Sosa to become home-run king. Fittingly, he was dethroned by another juiced-up superstar, Barry Bonds, in 2007.

Unfortunately, this admission is every bit as tainted as McGwire’s home runs. For it’s clear that he finally made it, not because his conscience compelled him to, but because it was a necessary precondition to his not only being allowed back into baseball (as a hitting coach for the St. Louis Cardinals) but also being considered (more favorably) for the Hall of Fame.

Not to mention that this oaf is still dissembling by insisting that he took the steroids to help him get over injuries, not to help him hit home runs.

In any event, what I wrote on this subject three years ago seems even more relevant today:

Even though his name will likely appear on the ballot in years to come, it’s highly unlikely that anyone who voted against [his admission to the Hall of Fame] this year will ever change his mind unless McGwire admits publicly what every sports fan knows: that he relied on a stealth cocktail of steroids to slam many of his home runs.

Indeed, if McGwire finds the courage to make this admission, as other players like Jose Conseco have done, I think his chances of being inducted would increase immeasurably. After all, I suspect that most members of the Baseball Writers Association of America feel as I do, namely, that the use of steroids alone should not preclude induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame. However, crying and lying about it before a Congressional Committee (as McGwire did) should be as automatic a disqualifier as hitting over 500 home runs is a guarantee.

Therefore, I hope other notorious steroid abusers like Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa will find McGwire’s fate instructive and confess their sins long before they become eligible for induction (five years after they retire). After all, I’m sure they do not want to join the rogue’s gallery – headed by Pete Rose – of Baseball MVPs who will be wandering outside the Hall for the rest of their lives simply because they refuse to come clean (in Rose’s case about gambling on Baseball games).

Besides, what have they got to lose? Since, after Congress gave Rafael Palmeiro a walk – despite clear and convincing evidence that he perjured himself – no Baseball player faces any legal jeopardy for admitting that he took steroids; provided, however, that he was not also involved in trafficking the stuff.

[McGwire rejected by Baseball Hall of Fame for lying about steroids, TIJ, January 10, 2007]

And, at the risk of seeming even more prescient than usual, the way Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig greeted McGwire’s belated admission affirms everything I said back then: