Mark McGwire stepped up to the plate one last time and hit it out of the park. His admission to steroid use is a welcome one in my book. It doesn't wash away his troubling appearance before Congress but it closes yet another chapter in baseball's troubling PED era. It helps fans come to terms with the rampant cheating.
I can still recall vividly watching McGwire's final day home run rush on the scoreboard at Kauffman Stadium as the Royals closed out their season against the White Sox. The scoreboard operators made sure to keep the crowd clued in his Big Mac's final push to 70 home runs for St. Louis.
The amazing home run battle that summer between the Cardinals' McGwire and Sammy Sosa of the Chicago Cubs did a lot to erase the painful memories of the 1994 baseball strike. That strike drove me away from the game I loved. Even the homerun dramatics of 1998 only did a little to melt the icy chill between myself and our once national pastime.
The fact that the use of steroids by baseball players seemed to escape the media for so long is stunning. Afterall everyone knew that sports like pro football, cycling along with track and field had long engaged in the use of performance enhancing drugs. How writers failed to notice the fact that Barry Bond's neck had tripled in size in a couple of years made me chuckle. Anyone with a clue knew what was going on.
McGwire's confession as he prepares to join the Cardinals as their hitting coach should send a signal to the other high profile "cheats." Bonds, Sosa, Clemons, among others need to come clean. Sorry, I couldn't resist the pun.
Welcome back to baseball Mark McGwire. Hopefully the game's writers will forgive and forget and welcome you to Baseball's Hall of Fame.
I'm glad he came clean. I wish the others would, too. I just can't see putting Big Mac into the Hall of Fame. In my opinion, it sends the wrong message to our kids and future players.
ReplyDeleteSeemed like he came clean, but not really. For him to think his ability to hit home runs was not enhanced by steroids either means he's a very ignorant person, or else thinks we're all very ignorant people.
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