Posts Tagged ‘Mark McGwire’
Sports Illustrated photos of McGwire in his rookie year and his final year. Posted on Twitter today by @si_vault (and used without permission).
“Baseball is really different now — it’s been cleaned up,” McGwire said. “The commissioner and the players’ association implemented testing and they cracked down, and I’m glad they did.”
Translation: “I’m glad they did because this way no one will ever know the kind of pure bliss I had from breaking the Roger Maris’ home run record when everyone thought I was the cat’s ass.”
Until they test for HGH, until blood gets drawn to determine whether there are players using illegal, performance-enhancing drugs or supplements, well then there’s no way you can tell me that baseball has “been cleaned up”. Maybe there are less steroids (or at least less steroids that could be detected) than there were in 1998, but there’s too much other stuff players could be doing to call the game “clean”.
I wanted to greet the news of Mark McGwire admitting to steroid use with a huge yawn but I’ll admit to being a bit annoyed with it. When he had something to lose, or so he thought, in that Congressional hearing, he just kept falling back on not being there to “talk about the past”. When he could have actually tried to help MLB with this issue, he decided to keep his yap shut. Now that he saw he got less than 25% of the Hall of Fame vote this year, now that he has another job in MLB, he wants to make nice with the world so people don’t throw things at him when he visits opposing teams and the writers might actually consider voting for him, he admits to what we all knew he did. What’s the thought process there? “Well they forgive Alex Rodriguez and they don’t even like him! It’s Mark McGwire’s time to be forgiven – they want to love me again!”
I haven’t loved you for a long time, Mark. And your wildly belated admission to something everyone already knew about you doesn’t endear you to me any more.
According to an MLB Network tweet, Bob Costas will be interviewing McGwire tonight at 7 ET. I’m torn between wanting to watch it in hopes that maybe I’ll actually find some emotion for him that isn’t indifference or annoyance and just ignoring it because running to MLBN the day you make the announcement feels too planned to me. How convenient for him that he can just jump on tv and start the “Forgive Me” tour.
I don’t want him to ask my forgiveness because I don’t think it’s up to me to offer forgiveness. I can not like him and not get past what he’s admitted to doing without anyone else being bothered. I’m sure he isn’t worried about some Red Sox fan in Boston thinking he’s an arrogant jerk. Then again, I also don’t think breaking the rules, benefiting greatly from doing so, lying about it for years and then crawling back just so you can continue to benefit from breaking the rules (because 1998 was the bread and butter of his career) is any reason for anyone to welcome him back with open arms.
How welcoming would baseball fans, the media and ESPECIALLY MLB be if Mr. Barry Bonds had made this announcement today?
Had to make a last minute edit and add Curt Schilling’s comments about this:
Other than admitting it five years ago, he did it perfectly.”
See, to me, the whole not admitting it five years ago thing is kind of a big deal. He had a chance to come clean and help deal with this in MLB and hid like a frightened child. He gets no kudos from me for speaking up now.
A photo I took of Kyle this past May at Pawtucket
It’s 2am (well 3am when I’ve finished writing this) and I’m wide awake and watching the MLB Network. On October 29, 2009, Bob Costas had a sit-down interview with Bud Selig and the MLBN is re-airing it right now. The only thing compelling me to watch this is that I can’t sleep and with 1000 channels there really isn’t anything better on at 2am.
Selig is one of those people I can’t stand to look at. That isn’t to say I think he’s repulsive looking, it’s to say when I look at him my first thoughts go to something along the lines of my being glad I wasn’t next to him because I’d want to punch him in the face. I’m not proud; I genuinely despise him.
When Bob Costas had the nerve to ask him about Mark McGwire coming back to baseball, all Selig could do was bang his own drum about all the wonderful things he’s done to get steroids out of baseball. When Costas pointed out there is no test for HGH, Selig sidestepped the question and kept talking about how few players tested positive for steroids this year. No acknowledgment that HGH exists and is most likely being used by plenty of players. Until Selig is willing to answer to that, he can go fry his ass. I’m unimpressed with his supposed desire to keep baseball clean. As long as the money is coming in, he’s just happy no one is getting caught. (Incidentally, I’m against Mark McGwire coming back to baseball. His whole “I’m not here to talk about the past” crap in front of Congress has put him in a spot where I don’t think he deserves to be rewarded with a job in MLB.) Given Tony LaRussa is one of his pals, Bud doesn’t see the problem. Don’t ask him about Rafael Palmeiro or Barry Bonds, though, by his own admission, he only wants to deal with McGwire. This entire interview is a waste of Bob Costas’ time – unless his desire was to make those of us who despise Selig despise him just a little bit more. Christ on a cracker he’s now defending why the Yankees needed a new stadium. He’s the person for which the phrase “makes me stabby” was coined. He also said that the owners of the Pirates have done a great job with the team. I think for that statement alone he should be stripped of his commissionerdom. The only thing keeping me watching now is Bob Costas teasing me by saying the show will end with Selig talking about “his plans for riding into the sunset”.
On a more cheerful note, Kyle Snyder started for the Lobos de Arecibo on Saturday night and he pitched quite well – getting the win, striking out 7 out of 19, giving up 2 walks and 1 earned run on 3 hits in five innings. Special thanks to friend of the blog Andy for making sure I’m getting the updates on Kyle’s time with the Wolves. It’s been interesting trying to get any info past box scores from MLB.com – but I’m working on it. Here’s hoping Kyle has more success this winter.
I was remiss in not congratulating Jason Bay on his Silver Slugger. I’m very pleased for him because he definitely earned it (unlike a shortstop who won a Gold Glove this year)…and I hope the Jason Bay contract saga is over soon – regardless of how that goes.
Okay, Selig claims when he’s 78 (three more years!!!) he’s done so he can go write a book and teach. I’m never one to wish away time but, damn, I’m throwing a party in 2012!!!!
Things not related to the ALCS that are pissing me off this week:
* Steve Phillips is addicted to sex. Stunned. I’m stunned, I tell you. To think, instead of facing up to the fact that his ego is such that he enjoys cheating on his wife with subordinates, he announces to the world that he’s a sex addict, goes into “rehab” for it and will most likely come out to the welcoming arms of a job. Nice work if you can get it, huh?
* Bill Madden is a rumor-mongering ass and no one except Matt O’Donnell at Fenway West, has called him on it. According to Madden, the Red Sox “have apparently decided not to try to re-sign Jason Bay”. Does he offer any proof of this? Any quotes? Any facts at all? No. What he does offer is his belief that Jason Bay’s rep “Scott (Avenging Agent) Boras” had a bad relationship with the Red Sox. That’s his proof the Sox aren’t going to re-sign Bay. The worst of it being, surprise surprise Bill, Jason Bay’s agent is Joe Urbon. Whoops. Madden wrote this piece on Saturday and it’s been up ever since with no corrections. The New York Daily News, your leader in spreading misinformation. The kicker is that so many blogs have picked up on Madden’s piece and are quoting it as fact. It annoys me to no end that professionals can just throw out rumors, stating them as fact, and not have to be responsible to anyone to report the actual truth. I have no bloody idea if Theo plans to make Bay an offer that will woo him into staying in Boston – neither does Bill Madden.
* Tony LaRussa gives Mark McGwire a job. Yeah, yeah. McGwire never admitted to anything (he wasn’t there to talk about the past, dammit) and he didn’t get “caught” or “outed” (unless you count Jose Canseco)…but the fact remains that when most people think of Mark McGwire, they think of steroids. What better way to show folks that MLB is serious about cleaning up the sport than bringing Mark McGwire in to be the Cardinals hitting coach? How long into the season (or maybe just into spring training) will we finally get Mark in front of a microphone admitting to all he has been accused of, begging forgiveness and thanking LaRussa for his chance to get back into baseball?
* JD Drew. Folks, he isn’t a murderer. He hasn’t been outed for cheating on his wife or using PEDs. I’ve never heard one fan ever claim he blew off an autograph request. And, believe it or not, he’s a pretty solid player. Yes, he has a huge contract that was totally overblown and never probably should have seen the light of day – but it did. YEARS ago. Build yourselves bridges and get the hell over it, people. JD Drew isn’t the devil. You just want to paint him that way so you can entertain yourself in the off-season.
Four? I only came up with four?
I think that’s because in the back of my brain I keep looking ahead on the calender to tomorrow. AKA: The 5th Anniversary of the night our lives TRULY changed forever. More on that next!
