If I read the article on espn correctly he said that he used roids to help with injuries so he could recover faster and also prevent them occurring. If thats the case I dont buy it.
Why don't you buy it? Steroids are ridiculously good at injury recovery and prevention, and McGwire basically lost multiple seasons to injuries early in his career. I seriously doubt the mass and strength gains weren't at least part of his motivation, but this is a guy who hit 49 home runs as a relatively skinny rookie. I don't think he felt like he needed more power to compete; staying on the field was his major issue.
He said he started using steroids in 1989/1990, in the years before then he played 151, 155, 143, and 156 games in 1990. Those arent exactly injury plagued seasons. So his story doesnt fit in that regard, not to mention it shows that hitting 40, 32, 33, 39 home runs clearly wasnt enough for him. I am aware how steroids are effective in regards to recovering from injury, I just dont buy that it's thee only reason that he decided to use, especially in 1989 clearly, and continue to use them. I just dont buy it. He turned his career around and started to stay healthy, then he said he stopped. Why did he start back up?
In this world there are many people that lead clean lives that are nice people, and there are people that lead clean lives that are complete jerks. There are 'nice' people in this world that break the same laws that bad people do, but nice or not, theyre still a criminal, and hes still a cheater.
Assuming he's being honest, the brief 89/90 usage was probably due to Canseco's recommendation - that guy was like the Johnny Appleseed of steroid use. Then he stopped, and a few years later came the injuries and the regular use. I think the key to his statement is "I told myself it was to help with injuries". People tend to rationalize doing things they know are wrong; sounds like what he did. So I guess we probably agree he actually used for both injuries and strength, I just think he did tell himself it was only for the injuries and the power was just his own abilities.
And yeah, he was still a cheater as a player, no matter what face he puts on it now. But so is almost every great player from that era. So baseball and its fans will have to take a more nuanced view of the individual offenses, or else reject an entire generation of stars not named Griffey, Thomas, or Maddux.
fair enough TP's to be both you and Redz. This admission and regret on his part just seems like its being made for all the wrong reasons to me. This just seems like a flat out attempt at pity to me. If any kind of user, whether it be drugs, alchohal, steroids, gambling. If theyre coming clean it's 'This is me, I'm a user, Im sorry for those Ive hurt, theres no excuse, please forgive me.' It'd definetly not suppose to be, 'Hey Im sorry, but I did it for these reasons, and I was telling myself I was doing it for this reason, theres no excuse.....buuut those are my excuses, I wish I wasnt in this era. Please feel sorry for me and vote.'
i know I'm being overly critical, I just have no sympathy for these players. I feel sorry for the players who played legit baseball during this era and had accomplished careers because theyre tarnished now, and if I was them Id be offended and p---ed if I heard McGwire say "I wish I didnt play in this era." because theyre the ones with the real regret of having to play in that era.
