No one that pays attention to baseball was surprised by Mark McGwire’s revelation that he used steroids. However, I was surprised by his claim that his use was not cheating because he only used the steroids to feel healthy through the season. He did not, he claimed, gain any hitting benefits.
Even if, in the unlikely event, that the only benefit he gained from steroid use was his ability to play instead of being out due to injuries, he still cheated. Simple as that. Injuries are part of sports. The rules say no steroids. Players that followed the rules and thus were out due to injuries were at a disadvantage. Roger Maris did not use steroids.
McGwire cheated. Cheaters should not hold records nor by in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
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All the big sluggers were using steroids. SO WHAT? Home run hitters are great for business and all involved knew what was goin’ on, from the ball girls to the owners.
People pay big money to see us play and if were out with injuries, no one gonna make a special trip to the park to see my back-up center fielder. That means no beer, hotdog, peanut, souvenirs, and parking revenues multiplied by 30 days equals alota of dough.
Besides, all of us would have hit the homers without the steroids, the ball just wouldn’t have gone as far. We have that God given talent.
Do you really think if Arnold the Terminator or Lou “the Hulk” Ferrigno were baseball players, they could hit homers? I doubt it..It’s all eyes, wrists , and timing with a few needles thrown in…
McGwire used steroids – yup. (Took him a while to fess up, but whatever… prolly took a while for his cojones to get back to normal size too… but I digress)
Did he cheat? Baseball didn’t ban steroids until after he quit playing. Plus, as previous comment mentions, no direct benefit to HR hitting from PEDs. It’s timing, hand/eye coordination, and talent.
McGwire’s got HOF talent – I say let him in.
S