Sports Arena
McGwire’s Lament
One last strikeout from a steroid era chump — who could have been a contender.
(Page 2 of 2)
It is apparent that steroids probably gave McGwire, and others, an extra edge, but not the whole of their powers. Had he stayed clean, his home run total might be a fraction lower — or perhaps a fraction higher, injuries being a side effect. We will never know, which is the historical (as aside from the human) tragedy of the steroid era. Baseball, a game of such measured precision, has lost a generation of data to the ambitions of men whose egos wrestled with their sense of honor and won.
McGwire could do much to restore his reputation and his honor by making himself the leading anti-steroid advocate among former professional athletes. He could, and should, make anti-doping the mission of the remainder of his life. His message: This, kids, is where doping gets you — shunned and crippled, with a promising career ended before it had to be, and the knowledge that immortality is forever out of reach.
That choice would do much to make up for the choice that got him here. Barring that, however, his integrity remains in question, apology notwithstanding. But as he said, he is a product of his era. And if that is all he is, then can we really expect any more from him than an apology of dubious selflessness, fingers crossed that one day a ticket to Cooperstown can be bought so cheaply?
About the Author
Andrew Cline is editorial page editor of the New Hampshire Union Leader. His Twitter ID is @Drewhampshire.
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susan bisceglia| 1.12.10 @ 7:13AM
cheating does not mean nothing to you look at the clintons how madame fee fee hillary clinton wanted to be president the clinton' s did everything to try to get obama out of there that is what is wrong with america the mighty think they can do anything and get away with everything mark was afraid of going to jail if he did not come clean and you admire him you and others are crazy jose canseco can not come back to baseball a mark mguire can that is wrong jose brought baseball to there knees like monica did with the pimp bill clinton and jose gets nothing unreal
L. Ross| 1.12.10 @ 10:40AM
Punctuation. Use it. The Shift Key. It lets you make letters capitals. Use that to.
saberzedge| 1.12.10 @ 9:19PM
Yes, Susan. I lost interest very quickly, although what you said seems applicable. Your run-on paragraph, with no punctuation, made my dyslexic mind spin in anguish.
JP| 1.12.10 @ 7:27AM
During the last 15 years I've grown weary of professional sports in gerneral, and MLB in particular. McGwire's mea cupla aside, there is an unwritten rule in MLB that dictates players need every edge available to pad thier stats in thier run for the grand-prize: THE BIG CONTRACT. For most players, there have only one shot. That magical period where youth and expirience come to together at the right time (the final year of thier first or second contract). With the right numbers thier agents can pry millions in guarenteed money from owners. Most players will do anything to get there.
Pingback| 1.12.10 @ 8:55AM
McGwire’s Lament links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Ken (Old Texican)| 1.12.10 @ 9:23AM
I am copy/pasting this comment from the blog on home run kings. The blogs here don't last long and I wanted to follow up with with you folks who are working with a kid or grandkid.
Line-shot doubles...are king!
See guys, RBIs also include one's own flat feet, heh, so homeruns are neat...but.
George Will wrote "Men At Work". Probably one of the coolest books on MLB I've ever read. The consensus he gathered from star pitchers, past and present, was that the most "feared" hitter in history was Hank Aaron.
Everyone probably knows he hit a slew of homeruns in his career,
But!
They tended to be line-shots that got out of the park.
He would also insert a gazillion screaming doubles off the fences...in any park. Doubles often spark rallies as well.
I was just trying to make that point in the blog.
Brute strength is not the answer. The ability to "crack the whip" on a ball is the answer.
Best regards all
RAMIII| 1.12.10 @ 1:55PM
As usual you are correct sir. Home runs without the other hits (esp. doubles) are just "single" RBI's. The pitchers feared hitters like Rod Carew, because a man on base is a potential run and often a double down the line would clear the bases.
PittsburghPete| 1.12.10 @ 12:15PM
MLB will never be redeemed until it 'fully' acknowledges its PED transgressions. Every time they pull the McGwire or Selig act out it simply reaffirms that MLB is degenerate.
Cpm| 1.12.10 @ 1:15PM
McGwire knows the only shot he'll have at the Hall of Fame is with a mea culpa, but it probably won't be enough.
txb4ever| 1.12.10 @ 2:07PM
I have no problem with pro-athletes doing whatever they think is necessary to gain an edge. It's their life, their bodies, and their choices.
Players of every era have tried to do one thing or another to keep them on the field or to give themselves an advantage.
I do have a problem with a guy who, like Clinton , tries to excuse his own behavior by tainting everyone else in order to maintain his legacy. "Hey, it was the steriods era and I just did what everyone else did. Now I'm ready for the Hall of Fame." Simply disgusting.
Richard Baker| 1.12.10 @ 3:40PM
L. Ross:
susan bisceglia seems to think that she's the new e.e. cummings. Either that or incredibly lazy or uneducated. cummings was know for some interesting poetry. This one isn't.
Ken (Old Texican)| 1.12.10 @ 4:58PM
One of my faorite quotes from Babe Ruth.
A young newspaper reporter was given an interview with the great man ...and asked: "Sir, what is it like to be considered one of the best athletes in the world?"
As some of you might know, the Babe replied: "Athlete? Athlete? bud I ain't no athlete...I'm a ball-player."
heh!
Pingback| 1.13.10 @ 1:01AM
Twitter Trackbacks for The American Spectator : McGwire's Lament [spectator.org] on links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
JmsA| 1.13.10 @ 9:28AM
How pathetic; at least Canseco owned up to it without crying.
Jim| 1.13.10 @ 4:55PM
To Marks credit he is at least now trying to do the right thing. Sheeeez, can't we give him a little bit of a break.
Richard Baker| 1.13.10 @ 5:55PM
Correction:
cummings was known, not cummings was know
boys3rsk| 1.13.10 @ 10:05PM
Mark McGwire is the typical cheater , loser, lier and coward like Sosa, Bonds, Rodriguez, Clemons,ect. They do steroids behind everybody's back , and get as big as a house, and lie about it. They also like Bonds, get furious when you call them on it. They continue to lie, because you have to be a MAN, to have COURAGE and honor and do the HONORABLE thing, and not do steroids. Now they blame it on the "steroid times" and everyone was doing it!!LIES, because I have to believe there were some who were NOT DOING IT!! These are little boys who have to CHEAT and then either they don't want to talk about it, or like Sosa , can not remember how to speak english, ect., because they know they are COWARDS!! I love baseball, but these LOSERS and I am including Selig, have ruined our wonderful game of baseball all because of GREED!! I seriously doubt it will ever be clean again. Mickey, Babe ,Maris and all the other great ballplayers are rolling over in their graves !!! Sad!!
Frank Moore| 1.14.10 @ 10:51AM
I get a real kick out of people who act as though MLB's problems with performance enhancers (at least, what we now have come to think of as performance enhancers) started in the 1990's.
The fact is that baseball has been chock full of stimulant use and abuse for decades. Willie Mays and Hank Aaron took amphetamines, drugs proven to have more of an effect in game performance than anabolic steroids. Not only are they respectively #4 and #2 in career HR totals, both are in the Hall of Fame.
Sandy Koufax and Bob Gibson were pumped so full of Cortisone (another steroid) and other pain killers that they were practically numb the day after a game. Both of them are in the Hall of Fame.
Pud Galvin used to drink a concoction of animal testosterone before every game he pitched. He's in the Hall of Fame.
People need to get off their high horses and accept the fact that use of performance enhancing substances have been as much a part of American professional sports history as gambling on the outcomes of the games has been.
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Converse | 8.11.11 @ 10:00PM
is good