A friend was asking for my take on Mark McGwire confessing his steroids use. My overall stance has not changed a whole lot since I last touched on this: I would vote these players into the Hall of Fame and not worry about whether their numbers were artificially inflated.
As for McGwire’s actual confession? I’m not impressed for two main reasons.
1. I don’t like the “I’m the real victim here” attitude. It’s not 100% untrue that he played during a time when it was “accepted” that you were using, but to assign the blame elsewhere isn’t something he should have done in his statement. You need your statement to be short: admit it, take responsibility, and leave it to your agents to get in the media guys ears behind the scenes about how you’re the real victim. We’re all happier that way.
2. All of the reasons that he’s coming forward benefit good ole’ Mark.
- becoming a hitting coach in for the Cardinals and this will make being around the clubhouse (and press) on a day-to-day basis much easier
- he thinks this will help his Hall Of Fame odds. he’s hoping that this will earn him the Andy Pettite “aw, give the poor guy a break” treatment. and maybe it will.
- we’re all supposed to see him as a victim of his time and a genuinely lovable guy. if someone admits their faults: you like them more. it’s human nature. the only problem is, when the admission is coming after a month of crafting your apology with your consultants, it doesn’t come off quite the same way, mark.
I do believe that he genuinely is embarrassed and really wishes that this wasn’t the way things played out. When he talks about phone calls to tell his kid the truth, I absolutely believe he was sincerely crushed. When he talks about how he “absolutely” could have broken the homerun record without them, he’s kidding nobody but himself.
In the end though, I don’t have that big of a problem with him using steroids, but if you want me to come away from your confession liking you more – you’re missing the mark by a lot.
“Voting shall be based upon the player’s record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character and contribution to the team(s) on which the player played.”
I don’t see how he qualifies on the integrity and sportsmanship front. He did knowingly cheat for 10 years. I care more about integrity and sportsmanship than I do about numbers. And I also think his lack of integrity will be remembered far longer than his numbers… cheating is the highlight of his career.
Good post.
Whhhhhhhhhhhat? I’d argue that the pitchers were also on the juice so it’s not fair to only blame the batters… HOWEVER, the whole era phucked itself, in my mind, to hold any records. Dead serioius now, if you were face to face with one of Roger Maris’s childern, would you really be able to say that you feel Mac deserves to be in the HOF? That he broke Roger’s record fair and square? He HUGGED that family after doing it too…sad. Finally, one last reason it was good for Mac was because of the statue of limitaions. 5 years, wow – that’s convenient for Mark!
@Ben – I can’t argue: very poor sport + low integrity, BUT I personally think the numbers far outweigh them.
His numbers are the best (or darn close) to the best in history and I don’t feel like it’s the writers place to judge someone’s moral status. I also don’t think the writers have any business being the voters in the modern age anyway but maybe that’s a different post.
Like you said though, his integrity and the surrounding circumstances will always be remembered and associated with his numbers… and as long as that’s true: I think you’ve gotta put him in there and just have that be part of the story.
@NateDiggity – If hugging were part of the HoF criteria, you’d be on the ballot in 2012, but unfortunately it’s not so high on the list.
Along the lines of what you’re saying though: you don’t know who was juicing and who wasn’t. Sucks for the people that had the deck stacked against them but thems the breaks I guess. I really don’t think we can have a 20 year void in people getting into the Hall (some of them are already in!) and even the guys that we’re “sure are clean”… we shouldn’t be so sure about.