In a story about as shocking as the day Rosie ODonnell came out of the closet, today St. Louis Cardinals hitting coach and former home run champ Mark McGwire confessed he took steroids during his major league career, including 1998. Which of course is the year that JD Drew first played major league baseball…oh and he and some crazy black guy hit a bunch of home runs.
McGwire said he also used human growth hormone, and he didn’t know if his use of performance-enhancing drugs contributed to some of the injuries that led to his retirement, at age 38, in 2001.
“That’s a good question,” he said.
He repeatedly expressed regret for his decision to use steroids, which he said was “foolish” and caused by his desire to overcome injuries, get back on the field and prove he was worth his multimillion salary.
“You don’t know that you’ll ever have to talk about the skeleton in your closet on a national level,” he said. “I did this for health purposes. There’s no way I did this for any type of strength use.”
I’ll give him credit for this though: McGwire actually called the family of Roger Maris to tell them first and apologize!
McGwire hit a then-record 70 homers in 1998 during a compelling race with Sammy Sosa, who finished with 66.
On Monday, McGwire called Pat Maris, the widow of Roger Maris, who had held the home run record with 61 in 1961, and admitted taking steroids.
“I felt that I needed to do that,” McGwire told Costas. “They’ve been great supporters of mine. She was disappointed and she has every right to be.”
Told by Costas that certain Maris family members have said that they now consider Roger Maris’ 61 the authentic home run record, McGwire responded: “They have every right to.”
When asked by Costas why he preferred to stand for the interview, McGwire replied “Are you kidding? I’ve had more things poke me in the ass than Paris Hilton. I don’t really poop any more, it just kinda ‘sweats’ out of me back there.”
We here at PK aren’t hypocrites though. We advocated that Big Mac come out and just say what everyone already knew. Stop acting like we are all morons and just say it! He did. We are cool now. We aren’t going to be like some of the press that urged him to come out only to kick him in the jimmy when he finally did.
Stop by any time for a beer Mac!
Quotes and video clips via ESPN