Mark McGwire Admits to Roid use

[rwarn17588]

Bill James is a very bright man and you cannot question his passion for the game and technically, he is correct.  But, one person's opinion on it doesn't make it so one way or the other, no matter how respected a baseball insider he or she is.  Ultimately it's up to the fans.  If the majority of them think it's cheating, then it's cheating.  Only time will tell how kind history is to McGwire and the rest of the guys who played in the day of 'roid ball.  What I'm hearing is even if it wasn't "illegal" at the time, it still was not within the spirit of the rules because supposedly guys like Roger Maris and Babe Ruth didn't have the advantage of steroids.

Babe Ruth had the advantage of using a corked bat. Technically, he's more of a cheater than McGwire ever was, since using corked bats was specifically against the rules.

[cannon_fodder]

So the argument is even though it is illegal and against mlb policies... because it wasn't enforced consistently it isn't cheating?  That argument fails to persued me.  If it wasn't cheating he would not have lied to mlb, the press, his fans and congress for more than a decade.

Without knowing the full corked bat reference, I will point you to a littany of studies (including mythbusters) that show a corked bat is not an advantage. 

Iim not singling mac out and I'm sure his conduct was not unique and that his skills were at least as important as his roid/hgh enduced muscles... but doing something illegal to gain a competetive advantage is pretty much the definition of cheating.

[Hoss]

So the argument is even though it is illegal and against mlb policies... because it wasn't enforced consistently it isn't cheating?  That argument fails to persued me.  If it wasn't cheating he would not have lied to mlb, the press, his fans and congress for more than a decade.

Without knowing the full corked bat reference, I will point you to a littany of studies (including mythbusters) that show a corked bat is not an advantage. 

Iim not singling mac out and I'm sure his conduct was not unique and that his skills were at least as important as his roid/hgh enduced muscles... but doing something illegal to gain a competetive advantage is pretty much the definition of cheating.

No, the argument is that, at the time, it was NOT illegal in the sport to use it.  It is now.  Should have been at the first sniff it was being used.  That was baseball's fault for failing to be pro-active about PEDs early on.

[RecycleMichael]

The performing enhancement drug that Mark McGwire took was Androstedione. It was not illegal nor banned from Major League Baseball until 2004 and Mark had been retired for five years.

[rwarn17588]

The performing enhancement drug that Mark McGwire took was Androstedione. It was not illegal nor banned from Major League Baseball until 2004 and Mark had been retired for five years.

McGwire didn't retire until after 2001, but regardless, there was a gap between McGwire's tenure and baseball making steroids and andro illegal.

I think the greater point being lost is that steroid-using ballplayers are being ripped for using a substance that wasn't illegal in baseball at the time, while ignoring that Babe Ruth used corked bats, where were definitely illegal when he played and are still illegal today.

(As an aside to cannonfodder, whether using corked bats helps a hitter -- the evidence is mostly inconclusive, mainly because there's a placebo effect involved -- is immaterial in the era when Ruth used them; there was no such technology to measure the effect, and the belief there was an advantage remains widespread to this day. See Sammy Sosa.)

I'm not defending the use of steroids. But it seems there's a great deal of gaping inconsistencies and ignoring of facts in the arguments about ripping into steroids-using ballplayers.

[Hoss]

The performing enhancement drug that Mark McGwire took was Androstedione. It was not illegal nor banned from Major League Baseball until 2004 and Mark had been retired for five years.

That was the one we knew about at the time.  It seems in his disclosure he took steroids as well.  Costas asked him in retrospect if the bottle of Andro that reporters saw in his locker was a decoy.  I thought his answer was a little weak.

[cannon_fodder]

I wasn't aware the drugs he used were neither illegal nor against the law.  If such is the case, why did he lie about it for so long?  (Not saying you wrong, I admit my ignorance.  Just curious)

[RecycleMichael]

His use of Andro was also prescribed by his doctor as treatment for a back injury.

I think it doesn't matter if it was a steroid or not or whether it was legal or not. By the time he got to Congress, it was illegal and considered a performance enhancing drug.

He was embarrassed. He took a drug that made him bigger and stronger (technically, it didn't make him stronger, it allowed him to work out longer and more often). He knew that this revelation was bad.

We don't respect the shortcut. It is like rich people... we generally respect a businessman who made his fortune more than a kid who enherited it or a wife who married it.

[Hoss]

His use of Andro was also prescribed by his doctor as treatment for a back injury.

I think it doesn't matter if it was a steroid or not or whether it was legal or not. By the time he got to Congress, it was illegal and considered a performance enhancing drug.

He was embarrassed. He took a drug that made him bigger and stronger (technically, it didn't make him stronger, it allowed him to work out longer and more often). He knew that this revelation was bad.

We don't respect the shortcut. It is like rich people... we generally respect a businessman who made his fortune more than a kid who enherited it or a wife who married it.

Let's also keep in mind, RM, that by the time he got to Congress (2005) he'd been retired 5 seasons.  He also indicated that his attorney advised him that if he brought up the fact that he did use anabolic steroids, he'd likely face some kind of legal action (which was evidently not the case, so he spoke to a congressional member of the panel and the allegedly agreed to not talk about the past).  So I believe he was in fear of being arrested, something the other 'outers' (Canseco) didn't have happen to them.