Yesterday, the headlines were saturated with the news of former slugger Mark McGwire’s confession. 

Over ten years after his magical 70-homer season, Big Mac admitted that he took steriods for numerous years.  But, even during his tear-filled revelation, McGwire’s ego still stood in the way of the truth. 

McGwire claimed that he began taking the drugs in 1993 – a claim which one can easily see the benefits of through his increased home run production during the following years.  But during his confession, McGwire did not admit to trying to enhance his performance.  He stated that he took them solely to keep himself healthy enough to be on the field (more on this in a minute).  In fact, the 12-time All-Star said that he did not feel that he benefited from an increase in strength from using the performance enhancing drugs.

The only reason I took steroids was for my health purposes. I did not take steroids to get any gain for any strength purposes…I’ve always had bat speed. I just learned how to shorten my bat speed. I learned how to be a better hitter. There is not a pill or an injection that is going to give me the hand-eye – or give any athlete – the hand-eye coordination to hit a baseball. A pill or an injection will not hit a baseball.

This has been the typical defense of those who (to some degree) defend baseball players, and the steroid era, in general.  And what a stupid defense it is.  Maybe the drug doesn’t give you the skill to hit the ball, but it surely makes it go a lot further when you do connect.  And for a guy who already had a pretty good track record for hitting home runs before he got juiced, you could have easily anticipated the enormous success that McGwire had in the late 90′s.

McGwire’s no dummy.  He had to know that if he had the ability to hit 49 bombs as a rookie in 1987, PEDs could definitely push him to compete for the single-season record (that was formerly held by Roger Maris).  All it takes is for 10 warning track fly balls to travel about 10 to 15 feet further.  If steroids can turn marginal players into power hitters, then they can certainly put a few more feet onto some fly balls.

The 1998 home run race is now memorable for all the wrong reasons.

Big Mac also mentioned that he only enlisted the help of steroids for health reasons.  He said he was frustrated by his inability to stay on the field for full seasons.  But what he seems to not understand is that even that reason is not an excusable one.  Injuries are part of the game, and they are something that almost every player has had to deal with and battle through.  For McGwire, the PEDs proved to keep him healthy enough to have several super-productive seasons (including two seasons in which he combined to hit 135 home runs).

Finally, McGwire’s timing leaves a lot to be desired.  It’s surprising that he waited so long – he effectively let the public form their own opinion regarding his integrity.  When Bash Brother Jose Canseco ratted him out (saying that he actually injected the steroids in McGwire’s butt), we didn’t think much of it…mainly because of Canseco’s reputation at the time.  McGwire’s lack of response during the Bonds spectacle could have been an indicator of some guilt. 

Finally, it was McGwire’s congressional testimony that was indicting:

“I’m not going to go into the past or talk about my past. I’m here to make a positive influence on this…My lawyers have advised me that I cannot answer these questions without jeopardizing my friends, my family and myself…” 

At that point, it seemed obvious that he (and many others) had plenty to hide.

And five years later, he was still hiding.