Mark McGwire Gives Baseball the Middle Finger
God bless journalism. Without it, we wouldn’t have gems like the one we got from Mark McGwire yesterday courtesy of The Athletic. In a single interview he gave a big middle finger to the Maris Family, baseball fans, scientists and basically everyone with common sense.
In an interview with Jayson Stark, McGwire takes an efficient shot at everyone above by saying he, “didn’t need to,” take PEDs to hit 70 homers in 1998. McGwire supports his opinion by pointing to his amazing natural abilities as a home run hitter. His bravado continues as he talks about his mental tenacity and the type of hitter he became. Come on, Mark. You’re better than that.
Let’s break this down. First, mental tenacity. Not to take a cheap shot, but McGwire is quoted as saying his worst season in baseball also happened to be the year he was divorced. A season in which he hit .201 and was benched the last game of the season by Tony LaRussa, so he didn’t go below the Mendoza Line.
The pressure of a failing relationship is enough to make anyone crack. There’s no judgement here, but it would be naive for me to think his 1992 season of resurrection was due strictly to a new girlfriend and not his new muscles.
Now lets look at the science side. McGwire was a physical freak. No doubt. Although he’s admitted to sporadically taking PEDs in the 80s, let’s assume he didn’t. He burst on to the scene with 49 homers in his rookie season. As we know now, steroids aren’t just about turning into the Hulk. They’re about overall recovery.
If showing up is 80 percent of life, McGwire was not holding up his end. Injury riddled seasons in 1993 and the shortened 1994 season saw McGwire hit just 18 total home runs. Let’s keep in mind that those seasons happened during his age 29 and 30 seasons. A time when a player is supposed to be essentially at their peak.
McGwire has already broken out the double birds, let’s see how he flips us off next. I’ll use my personal favorite line, it involves McGwire’s rationale for his steroid usage. Look at this excerpt:
“I think we all wish (testing) went on when we had played. But unfortunately, it didn’t.” If there had been testing, he said, there’s “no way” he would have used a single performance-enhancing drug.
Are you serious? That’s not even as eloquent as the “Everyone else was doing it, so I had to,” argument. Teenagers have better rationale, “Well, I wish there wasn’t drinking at that party, but unfortunately there was. If there was a parent to tell us not to drink, then there’s no way I would have.” Give me a break.
His approach was survival of the fittest. McGwire saw an opportunity to make himself better, stronger, and healthier. He took this opportunity and if it was you or me, we probably would have, too. Just don’t assume we’re morons, Mark. You “wishing” there was testing is total crap. If there was testing McGwire might not have played past 1991.
Although science, fans and common sense took a kick to the face, the people who had to eat the largest portion of this turd sandwich are the Maris kids.
Part of the heartwarming story of McGwire and Sammy Sosa’s magical chase was their interaction with the family of the long-standing single season home run king, Roger Maris. They were involved, sitting close to the action as McGwire approached their dad’s record. When McGwire did hit number 62, it’s this iconic image that lasts in ours heads. For McGwire to assume he would “cleanly” be able to accomplish what Maris did is either foolish, disrespectful or both.
The Steroid Era is what it is. McGwire found that quickly as he was on the front end of the punishment doled out by the Cooperstown voters. That is his burden for his use of PEDs.
Personally, if that’s what baseball allowed, then we should assume the whole field was tainted. It’ll allow you to take the best players from that era. I just ask the era’s players, particularly those who admit to using steroids, to shut up because you can’t compare yourself to someone who was clean.
