No Mumbling, Mark: McGwire Must Open Up During Cardinals Introduction

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None of us are fans of harping on the past, but when the past collides with the present, well, then we have an issue.

It’s been four years now since Mark McGwire plopped down in a congressional hearing and stated that he was not there to “talk about the past,” but more specifically, his alleged steroid use and connection to the Steroid Era.

Gee, Mark, what do you think we’ve all gathered around here for?

McGwire evaded Washington in 2005 with the truth still buried deep down in his dark treasure chest of shoddy answers. McGwire had the opportunity to rid himself of the same dirty laundry that has plagued Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, and others, but he didn’t take advantage of it.

Why not? Well, we can only use our imaginations.

But when the St. Louis Cardinals hired McGwire as their hitting coach last month, everything that had been left unanswered suddenly became relevant again. Did McGwire use steroids? If so, what did he use? How did he use it? How often? On and on and on.

Why McGwire choked on his microphone on Capitol Hill is mystifying. The guy had it easy.

After Steve Wilstein of the Associated Press wrote an article in 1998 detailing McGwire’s use of androstenedione, an over-the-counter muscle enhancer, McGwire admitted using “andro.” During the ’98 season, andro was considered legal by U.S. law and Major League Baseball, although it had been banned the NFL, International Olympics Committee, and the World Anti-Doping Agency.

In 2004, the product was defined by Congress as an anabolic steroid.

It wasn’t even Wilstein’s intention to dig up a steroids-related issue regarding the Cardinals’ famous slugger. Wilstein was in St. Louis to cover the epic home run chase that summer between McGwire and Sosa, and only became aware of the andro when a bottle of it was sitting in plain view in McGwire’s locker as Wilstein perused the clubhouse.

Wilstein, believing to be doing his job as a journalist, reported what he saw, and poof…his words were the first needle to puncture baseball’s steroid balloon.

But all McGwire had to do in front of Congress was recount exactly what happened in ’98, and he would have walked out of that court room and enjoyed lunch.

McGwire could have gone before Congress and said the following: “In 1998, I was using a muscle-enhancer called androstenedione. At that time it was legal by MLB and U.S. law. In 2004, androstenedione was determined to be an anabolic steroid by Congress.

"However, at the time of my use, I was not aware that andro was anything more than an enhancer. I am sorry that my era left a blotch on the game of baseball, but as a player I was only doing everything that I could, within the rules, to prepare my body to play every day for an entire season.”

That’s it. If McGwire would have said that then he would have been free. Sure, there would have been subsequent questions, but as long as he didn’t contradict his previous statement, he would have been out of there in no time.

Given the simple fact that andro was considered legal to use at that time, the problem wouldn’t have been McGwire’s any longer. All the public scorn and media fuss would have been directed at MLB and Commissioner Bud Selig for not having stricter policies. A statement like that would have taken McGwire all of what, 30 seconds? How did his lawyer not direct him to do this?

McGwire found the only possible way to hang himself. Say absolutely nothing at all while even projecting a sense of fraudulence and suspicion. But, as McGwire could conveniently say, that’s all in the past. His infamous days in front of Congress are gone.

His re-acquaintance with the trauma that is the public microscope is just beginning.

McGwire could have lived in the shadows for the rest of his life and he wouldn’t have been bothered much. I was happy to let Big Mac be in peace at his home as long as he wasn’t involved in baseball.

McGwire has no place in baseball, and we don’t waste any time remembering his career or speaking of his name .

Sounded pretty fair to me at the time.

As Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak is now learning, that’s fantasyland. With McGwire back in a major league dugout next spring, the Cardinals are trying to come up with a plan to introduce their new hitting coach and deal with all the questions in one big swoop.

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