The Right Thing for Mark McGwire*

Mark McGwire, who some years back embarrassed himself in front of our country’s highest legislators, says now the time is right for him to come clean and admit that he used steroids to enhance his physical abilities during his incredible home-run slugging seasons. In particular, he used steroids when he broke the HR record.

Admission is the first step.

I have two more suggestions:

First, McGwire needs to ask the Commissioner to remove his name from HR records and wipe his name clean out of the books. His enhanced body lifted his performance ability beyond what was expected of him, and also what the game and record books request — just for a player to compete his best level his body can offer. No more. No less. He gave us “more.” If he really is confessing, then he will not himself want to live with his name on the record books.

Second, the Commissioner needs to — indeed must — assess McGwire’s offenses and assign a penalty. It is not enough for McGwire simply to offer this late-in-the-game and just-before-he-becomes-a-coach apology. Something has to be done to exact justice to the game, to the fans, and to the teams that lost games because McGwire was ramped up on drugs. We will be glad to forgive McGwire but I think he should be willing to remind the fans that he participated in the steroid era. Would it be too much to ask that on the back of his jersey we add an asterisk? McGwire*

From SI.com:

“I used steroids during my playing career and I apologize,” McGwire said in his statement. “I remember trying steroids very briefly in the 1989/1990 off season and then after I was injured in 1993, I used steroids again. I used them on occasion throughout the nineties, including during the 1998 season. I wish I had never touched steroids. It was foolish and it was a mistake. I truly apologize. Looking back, I wish I had never played during the steroid era.

“I’m sure people will wonder if I could have hit all those home runs had I never taken steroids. I had good years when I didn’t take any and I had bad years when I didn’t take any. I had good years when I took steroids and I had bad years when I took steroids. But no matter what, I shouldn’t have done it and for that I’m truly sorry. Baseball is really different now — it’s been cleaned up. The Commissioner and the Players Association implemented testing and they cracked down, and I’m glad they did.”

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