BY ANDREW LEVENGOOD
Lions’ Pride Staff Writer

In 2005, McGwire refused to answer questions about steroids and PED’s in front of congress along with other accused steroid users. Though his admittance was in no way surprising, it did shed light on when and how he used drugs and the reasons for doing so.

McGwire claims he used performance enhancing drugs to rehabilitate his body from injury, but he admits to continuing to use steroids after he was healthy. He claims that during his most successful seasons in the mid-nineties he only used steroids for four week periods, including in 1994 after the All-star break because he was “breaking down”. McGwire also claims that his homerun hitting ability comes directly from God and that steroids could in no way improve his hand-eye coordination.

Despite this claim, McGwire called the widow of Roger Maris, the man whose single season homerun record was broken by McGwire, to apologize. Many people, including the Hall of Fame voters, feel that Mark McGwire has disgraced baseball and does not deserve to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Despite this the St. Louis Cardinal’s hired the beleaguered slugger as their new hitting coach (which prompted his admittance).

The few people who still appreciate McGwire include current Cardinal manager Tony LaRussa, who himself has come under fire for not only hiring McGwire but also for his time managing McGwire, and his steroid using teammate Jose Canseco in Oakland.

Many fans feel that both LaRussa and Commissioner Bud Selig, amongst others, simply ignored the steroid problem in the nineties, thus staining the game of baseball. One of McGwire’s reasons for using steroids was that MLB was not testing for it; this is something former Cardinal Andy Van Slyke finds offensive.

Van Slyke told ESPN that this logic “is like saying I was driving drunk because on this highway they had nothing for me to blow into”.
Some students would agree.

“Someone who uses performance enhancing drugs shows a lack of integrity,” junior A.J. Humphrey commented.

Former Cardinal Jack Clark stated that during Cardinal’s events in which he and Mark McGwire both appear, “I’m not going to say hello. I’m not going to shake his hand. He’s a sad excuse for a player in the industry of baseball. Just seeing him in uniform makes me throw up. He should not be in baseball. He should be banned from baseball more than ever.” Clark along with other former players are disillusioned with McGwire’s antics, Clark also referred to McGwire as “creepy and phony” and that he should have to use all the money he earned(along with other steroid users) to build a Hall of Shame.

Overall, it seems the general view of the fans is that in many ways, Mark McGwire disgraced the game of baseball and its fans, However, it has been made clear that the fault does not solely rest upon his shoulders, but also the managers, general managers, and owners who all ignored what is arguably worst scandals in sports history.