I don't think anybody will be surprised by Mark McGwire's admission (see link below) today that he used steroids during his playing career. Almost 9 years after he retired, he finally came clean about his use of steroids, beginning in 1989. Now, as most people know, I am a huge Cardinals fan, and was a huge McGwire fan after he was traded to the Cardinals in 1997. I remember going to St. Louis for the first time in 1999 and watching McGwire launch balls during batting practice into the 3rd deck at Busch stadium with little effort. It still remains one of the most amazing sporting spectacles I have ever seen. As we have learned lately, steriod usage during this time in baseball was rampant, with confirmed use by Jose Canseco, Ken Camminiti, Andy Pettite, Alex Rodriguez, Mark McGwire, and Rafael Palmerio, just to name a few, and it is highly likely that others such as Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, and Sammy Sosa were also using steroids. As a baseball purist, I feel this drug use tainted the game, but so many players were using them, that it is hard to determine what to do with the statistics during this era. Although I do not condone the use of steroids, there is some good that can come out of these admissions. Hopefully McGwire will use his platform as a star athlete and current hitting coach of the Cardinals to educate young athletes on the many dangers of steroid use (see second link below) and how it is a shortcut to success. If he will continue to answer all questions about his past usage, and become a spokeperson against the use of sterioids, then I think he deserves our forgiveness and the right to continue his professional career now as a hitting coach. Hopefully others that have made this mistake will also come clean and speak out against steroids.Mark McGwire comes clean
Dangerous effects of steroids
