Who do we hate more: Mark McGwire or ourselves?
Good news: I've recovered from watching Bear Grylls give himself an enema on prime time television. So, after four days spent rocking back and forth while curled in the fetal position, let's wash away the memory once and for all (OK, poor choice of words) by talking some ball.
Who do we hate more: Mark McGwire or ourselves?
David Murphy, Daily News Staff Writer
Good news: I've recovered from watching Bear Grylls give himself an enema on prime time television. So, after four days spent rocking back and forth while curled in the fetal position, let's wash away the memory once and for all (OK, poor choice of words) by talking some ball.
1) Fear and Self-Loathing in the post-Steroid Era
Confession: If I walked into a Farmacia in Mexico and discovered an illicit drug that enabled me to block out any and all Mark McGwire coverage, I'd probably take it. Do not get me wrong. Illegal performance enhancing drugs were and still are a serious problem at all levels of sports. Mark Fainaru-Wada and T.J. Quinn, among others, have done some compelling and important reporting on the subject. Problem is, we have passed the stage of revelation, and instead entered an era of, as somebody worded it on Twitter today, "bloviation."
My moral code still has some existential kinks that need to be ironed out, but I know this: Self-righteousness is far more contemptible than steroid abuse. And when I turn on the television and hear various incarnations of, "He's a witch! Burn him!," I find myself scurrying back to the suddenly palatable 24-hour cable news channels.
I did not watch most of the McGwire interview -- call me when Bob Costas grills a politician for an hour about the War in Iraq or Health Care reform -- but of the portion I did see (I read the rest on the transcript), his most genuine moment came when Costas suggested that he had spent much of the past decade "in exile." There were no tears, no sniffles, no mea culpas from a vulnerable slugger -- only a locked jaw and a steely glance that were as real as any moment the camera had captured to that point.
"I wasn't in exile there," McGwire responded. "It's called retirement."
The look of discomfort on Costas' face should have been shared by every rubber-necker who had slowed down his day to gawk at the carnage of another fallen hero. Because it was here where McGwire departed from the script that so many of the lustful had written in his blood. Here, I suspect, was the real moment that many pundits decided that his apology simply wasn't complete enough. They'll pinpoint other reasons, zeroing in on various moments of intellectual dishonesty - that he would not specify what drugs he took, or who supplied them; that he would not acknowledge that they enhanced his game - that will often arise when a man who has always been in complete control of his universe is suddenly asked to bare his sole.
But perhaps his most unsettling admission, the one that really made our blood boil, was this:
"I was happy," McGwire said. "I've been very happy. For somebody to say I was in exile -- I wasn't in exile. I was enjoying my life like everybody should when they retire."
He was happy? He was enjoying life? He didn't spend the last 10 years holed up in a dark room attempting to muffle the sound of the human heart that wouldn't stop beating from beneath his floorboards?
That's not the way it was supposed to go down. Not at all.
This wreck of a human being was supposed to emerge from his hole and squint at the daylight and beg us to take him back. But it wasn't McGwire who was in exile, after all. It was the general public who was in exile from McGwire. And, in the end, isn't that why the flogging feels so incomplete? Sure, he feels terrible that he has tainted his accomplishments. Sure, like any athlete, he believes he would have accomplished them with or without steroids. And sure, he feels horrible about the example that he set for thousands of young amateurs who looked up to him.
But for the past decade, he has been enjoying life in his million-dollar home, playing golf on courses that would not admit you or I, and supporting his family on the tens of millions of dollars he made thanks in part to the contributions of performance-enhancing drugs.
Maybe his drug-use will have unforeseen health consequences down the road. But either the Devil is slow-playing the hell out of this deal, or the pact that McGwire made was actually with himself. They say that character is doing the right thing when nobody is looking. One thing is for sure -- nobody was looking. But what is more "right?" Protecting the integrity of a game by abiding by a rule that was not even significant enough to merit testing (at least the government tries to police speeding, which, by the way, is a factor in 14 percent of all fatal vehicle crashes)? Or attempting to maximize your earning potential so that you might provide the best possible life for you and your family?
It is an individual decision, like Jean Valjean and his loaf of bread, and perhaps that is why fans and media seem so much more appalled at steroid use than current and former ballplayers. One man might view using steroids as cheating the game. Another might view not using steroids as cheating himself and his family.
In the end, the raw-throated commentators marching into town with their torches and broom handles do not care about either. They may claim to feel that McGwire cheated himself or his sport or his fellow players. They may claim that McGwire cheated the fans, the consumers who paid $50 for a ticket in 1998. But was McGwire cheating them, or giving them what they paid to see? Here's an exercise in morality: Find a fan who watched McGwire play 10 games in 1998, when he hit .299 with 70 home runs, and ask him if he would trade that experience for 10 games in 1991, when he hit .201 with 22 home runs. Which consumer - the one who paid to watch him play in '98 or the one who paid to watch him play in '91 - did he cheat?
Maybe it is the media who really feel cheated. Maybe, like a significant other, we found out that Mark McGwire wasn't what we thought he was. But instead of going our separate ways and relishing what it was -- a damn good fling -- we felt compelled to go Carrie Underwood on his ass and slash his tires and pray like hell he ended up spending his life working at a 7-11 and living in a double-wide. Because maybe, just maybe, our issue isn't with McGwire, but with ourselves, and our own self-loathing, our own gullibility, our unhealthy pre-occupation with another man's life, our willingness to build him up into something that he never claimed to be, to force him to wear a crown we badly wanted to bestow, despite plenty of evidence that we were just a stage in his life and not the meaning behind it.
We are the ones who chose to focus on the home runs, and not the fact that many of them sailed into a section of seats sponsored by a fast-food chain. We are the ones who chose to look at Mark McGwire as a hero, and not as a hamburger salesman.
I realize the Hall of Fame counts "integrity" among its qualifications. But the bar for integrity, considering some of those enshrined, is more show-jumping than high jumping. Long-time executive Larry MacPhail, enshrined by the veterans committee in 1978, openly campaigned against the integration of baseball. I'd much rather have McGwire sit at my dinner table, thank you very much. Which brings us to numbers. You say McGwire's statistics are tainted. I ask you which to specify which ones. Only those that were accumulated when steroids were in his system? What about the home runs he hit off of pitchers who themselves used steroids? Surely, you don't think Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte are the only ones out there, do you?
If we are to discount numbers from the steroids era, then voters are going to have a boring couple of decades coming up. But perhaps we should measure players from the steroids era -- any of whom, given the lack of testing, might have been using illegal drugs -- the way we measured those from the segregation era: Against their contemporaries. We did not penalize players from the first half of the 20th century for not competing against black players, even though they could have banded together and demanded social change (back to that definition of character again). And we should not penalize players from the steroids era, even though they could have banded together and done the same.
2) On Brett Myers.
The only remaining piece you can hope for the Phillies to add in the 36 days before pitchers and catchers report is a pitcher who could compete for a job as a starter or, if he fails, provide depth in the bullpen. Cobbling together the various bits of information we have, and you emerge with the following profile of said candidate: A veteran player who is not in the market for a big contract; a low-risk, high-reward player who will have to settle for significantly less than what his market value was at the beginning of the 2009 season; a player who might be able to contribute in the bullpen should he lose out on a starting job to either Jamie Moyer or Kyle Kendrick.
Now, I know what you are thinking - that sounds a hell of a lot like a guy the Phillies used to have. He stood about 6-foot-3, born in Jacksonville, threw a nasty curveball, reveled gleefully in comparing himself to a fictional, beer-swilling, washed-up pitcher with no social graces and the maturity of a 12-year-old. And I know what else you are thinking -- $5 million doesn't sound like a hell of a lot of scratch to gamble on one year of a surgically-repaired Brett Myers, particularly when he'd fill a huge need. Which should answer the question you are asking yourself: He isn't here because the Phillies made the most conscious decision in recent memory to separate themselves from a player. GM Ruben Amaro Jr. has invoked the name of Pat Burrell when explaining the decision to part ways with Myers. But the Phillies' decision to let the long-time left fielder leave via free agency was as much a product of their desire to replace him with Raul Ibanez as it was an interpersonal break-up. The Phillies didn't see the sense in giving what they perceived to be a slow-footed, one-dimensional, defensive liability like Burrell anything approaching the two years and $16 million he eventually received from the Rays. And while the $5 million the Astros gave Myers still might have been a bit north of what the Phillies would have been willing to spend for somebody of his skill set -- you can bet that if they wanted him back, they could have, and would have, had him.
In other words, this wasn't completely a baseball decision. Whether Myers lives up to his proclamation that he is healthy and able enough to win 20 games this season, as he told Houston TV station KRIV yesterday, is only one of the scales upon which the Phillies' strategy must be measured. First, you must decide whether they were wise to let the various complexities of Myers' personality factor into the equation.
At the end of the day it is winning that matters most, and Brett Myers as that 5th starter gives the Phillies a better chance to win than do Moyer, Kendrick, et al. Bad decision here from Amaro. Here's hoping it doesn't come back to bite him.— UncleEddie- That no one on the team seems to miss him should tell you something...— gwfisher
- I'm not self loathing. I remember the 'Roid rage that McGwire exhibited in his funny home run race. I remember the Andro being found in his locker and him being indignant and ranting about his privacy being invaded. Now, I see a guy coming out and copping to what everybody knew because he has something to gain from it. Much like his old pal Jose Canseco. He's an opportunist. That's why he took the 'roids, and that's why he's admitting to taking PED's- so he can get back into baseball. The issue is more around his credibility (not that it really matters to me). Do we think he'd be out talking about his drug use if the HOF and a coaching job were'nt on the line?
- Myers is a clown, which is why they said goodbye. As for Big Mac, well, he would have never stayed in the lineup without steroids, and he is clearly still lying about what he recalls. He's only apologizing because the Cardinals and MLB are making him apologize. It's almost a non-story. But, the best part is that 99% of all of us would have done the same thing, given the swme circumstances. Remember - almost none of what he and others were doing then was illegal then.— Bake McBride
- I have no idea whether the Phils' decision to part ways with Burrell had anything to do with off-the-field considerations, but there was plenty of performance-based evidence to back it up. Heck, it was a no-brainer (meaning that it was an obvious decision, even to me). Myers' 2009 performance wasn't nearly as awful as Burrell's in 2008, so I assume that the Phils had plenty of behind-the-scenes reasons. And the fact that Myers wound up in Round Rock -- oops, Houston -- on a one-year deal says a lot. Josh Hamilton turned his life around; maybe Myers can, too, but he needs to realize that the Phils were sending him a message.— paolibulldog
- Wow David, I thought I was reading Dickens there for a moment!— JBP
Comment removed.- Taking steriods and HGH without a prescription is not illegal?— P Even
- HAHAHAHAHAHAHA MYERS A 20 GAME WINER,HAHAHAHAHAHA THIS GUY REALLY HAVE ¨COJONES¨ TO SAY THAT.— Phillies08
- Myers, like Lidge, lost a couple of MPHs off his fastball last year and finding those lost MPHs is hard to regain at their ages. Looking forward to Madson and Bastardo coming out of the pen and their fastballs setting at 95-96+ on the CBP speed gun. My concern is Lidge. He might be done if he can't get his fastball back to the 95-96 range. Every pitch he throws can't be a slider in the dirt and a hittable 93 mph fastball as it was last season.— Dull
- Dickens does not have that many spelling mistakes— jakejake
How we treat Mark McGwire should turn on one thing in my opinion: was anything he took either illegal or banned by baseball when he took it? What is illegal or banned now shouldn't be the issue. No one should be damned retroactively. The issue, it seems to me, is that McGwire has to come clean and he has to do it now. The question comes down to what did he take and when did he take it? As far as I'm concerned he doesn't have to name names unless he's put before a grand jury. But he owes baseball and its fans a truthful presentation of what he took and when so that we'll know whether he broke the law or broke any baseball rules as they were at the time of his actions. As far as I'm concerned McGwire's behavior when testifying before Congress was intentionally crafted to mislead us. If he won't come clean now I say the hell with him. I'll assume he did something that he knows will get him disqualified from Hall of Fame balloting. But if he tells us what he did and when so that we can see he didn't break any rules, I say the sportswriters should vote him into the HOF. And if we ever find out that he lied when he gave us that information then the HOF should bounce him out the door like a rubber ball.- McGwire has always been a sanctimonious jerk. I remember in 1998, he criticized people selling his home run balls, then as soon as he hit number 62, he was doing a Disney commercial.— JSaq
- David, are you in therapy??????— Mark1npt
- Mac should be required to give back the money he stole the last several years of his career... then we'll see how sorry he is. What a loser!!!— chazjr
- Anyone who's ever been around McGwire has seen him to be a sanctimonious jerk. If you followed him closely enough here in FL every spring you could watch him drive by little kids, ignore little old ladies and be surly with just about everyone to the point of arrogant disdain for any of the paying public. He kept to himself on the ballfield, often hiding out on the backfields or in the batting cages. He'd put in an appearance for a few innings in a game, maybe sign a handful of autographs on his way out of the stadium, most days not....and never even look at any of the fans or kids calling his name. He knew what he was doing was wrong. He knew he was a fraud and he couldn't stomach how the public clamored for his attention. The only time you saw him smile was during an ESPN interview or after a big HR when the TV cameras were on him. Some players are dearly beloved and some are loathed. Put him in the latter category. And no, he's not HOF worthy. He's a .250 singles/HR hitter, who ammassed 90% of his HR totals after he started taking steroids and HGH. Was it illegal at the time? No. Was it morally reprehensible and dishonest, yes. You can't justify his place in immortality with the best of the best no matter how you turn it.— Mark1npt
- Anyone who's ever been around McGwire has seen him to be a sanctimonious jerk. If you followed him closely enough here in FL every spring you could watch him drive by little kids, ignore little old ladies and be surly with just about everyone to the point of arrogant disdain for any of the paying public. He kept to himself on the ballfield, often hiding out on the backfields or in the batting cages. He'd put in an appearance for a few innings in a game, maybe sign a handful of autographs on his way out of the stadium, most days not....and never even look at any of the fans or kids calling his name. He knew what he was doing was wrong. He knew he was a fraud and he couldn't stomach how the public clamored for his attention. The only time you saw him smile was during an ESPN interview or after a big HR when the TV cameras were on him. Some players are dearly beloved and some are loathed. Put him in the latter category. And no, he's not HOF worthy. He's a .250 singles/HR hitter, who ammassed 90% of his HR totals after he started taking steroids and HGH. Was it illegal at the time? No. Was it morally reprehensible and dishonest, yes. You can't justify his place in immortality with the best of the best no matter how you turn it.— Mark1npt
- Anyone who's ever been around McGwire has seen him to be a sanctimonious jerk. If you followed him closely enough here in FL every spring you could watch him drive by little kids, ignore little old ladies and be surly with just about everyone to the point of arrogant disdain for any of the paying public. He kept to himself on the ballfield, often hiding out on the backfields or in the batting cages. He'd put in an appearance for a few innings in a game, maybe sign a handful of autographs on his way out of the stadium, most days not....and never even look at any of the fans or kids calling his name. He knew what he was doing was wrong. He knew he was a fraud and he couldn't stomach how the public clamored for his attention. The only time you saw him smile was during an ESPN interview or after a big HR when the TV cameras were on him. Some players are dearly beloved and some are loathed. Put him in the latter category. And no, he's not HOF worthy. He's a .250 singles/HR hitter, who ammassed 90% of his HR totals after he started taking steroids and HGH. Was it illegal at the time? No. Was it morally reprehensible and dishonest, yes. You can't justify his place in immortality with the best of the best no matter how you turn it.— Mark1npt
- Anyone who's ever been around McGwire has seen him to be a sanctimonious jerk. If you followed him closely enough here in FL every spring you could watch him drive by little kids, ignore little old ladies and be surly with just about everyone to the point of arrogant disdain for any of the paying public. He kept to himself on the ballfield, often hiding out on the backfields or in the batting cages. He'd put in an appearance for a few innings in a game, maybe sign a handful of autographs on his way out of the stadium, most days not....and never even look at any of the fans or kids calling his name. He knew what he was doing was wrong. He knew he was a fraud and he couldn't stomach how the public clamored for his attention. The only time you saw him smile was during an ESPN interview or after a big HR when the TV cameras were on him. Some players are dearly beloved and some are loathed. Put him in the latter category. And no, he's not HOF worthy. He's a .250 singles/HR hitter, who ammassed 90% of his HR totals after he started taking steroids and HGH. Was it illegal at the time? No. Was it morally reprehensible and dishonest, yes. You can't justify his place in immortality with the best of the best no matter how you turn it.— Mark1npt
- The Maris family should DEMAND the HR title revert back to Roger!! And McGwire should honor that. What a tool...if he had never been offered the job from St. Louis, he would have been content to keep perpetuating his lie. Go away!— ehpvirgo
- if he was doing wat everyone was doing in that period of baseball,then why didnt he admit it then?he was a cheat,no better or worse than joe jackson,pete rose...myers was a mistake to let go— soliteryman
- "...would not admit you or I."??? must be a catholic school grad.— kiwi
- Good article about the self righteous windbags that that like to talk about the integrity of baseball and the hall of fame. The current hall of fame election system is like a fraternity meeting where it's easy to "blackball" a Mark McGwire or a Pete Rose. The hypocrisy is evident when you see who is in the hall of fame. Kenesaw Landis!!! Isn't he the guy who banned Jackie Robinson and others from playing in the major leagues?— gjpechul
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- Personally, I'm glad Myers is gone. I hope he turns his life around, but he still seems to have anger management issues and dedication to his profession. Seriously, he spent months rehabbing and goes to a bar an hour away from home and a fight happens to break out but he wasn't involved. How stupid does he think the Ruben and Charlie are? Maybe this will be the wake-up call he needs. At least now when I root against him it helps the Phillies.— kmon
- I am very conflicted about the steriods issue. I agree that some take the issue just to hear themselves pontificate. I also don't know if I wouldn't have done the same thing for all of that money. But your definition of character is what it is all about. I am sure McGwire knew that what he was doing was cheating. It is always in these solitary and brief moments where we have to choose between right and wrong. He chose to cheat. Yes, he has made out financially by his choice but he has to live with all of the other consequences of his actions whether its bloviating or being shut out of the HOF.— Byter
- Oh, one other thing. Let's hypothetically say that McGwire had told everyone before the 1998 season that he was doing steriods. Do you think the fan reaction would be the same as it was? Yes, maybe we did muffle our suspicions because of the excitement, but I dont' think we would have thought it was such a great record if he had admitted it beforehand.— Byter
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- McGuire needs to shed a million more tears before I accept his faux confession. He`s a phoney , a fake and a fraud!— daffydux
- Aaron - Home run King: Maris - Single Season Home run King. Enough said.— Phillyexp
- McGwire cheated everyone in both cases. He admits the Maris boys have 'every right' to feel their father is the legit season HR record holder, why shouldn't we think so, too? I don't care if the pitchers were doing it, too, they cheated on their own records. And David, whatever it is you were smoking, I'd like to get some if you could let me know how to. Buh-bye, Brett, there's way more there than the bar incident last year, this is how the Phillies operate when there's a real problem child still around.— PhillySubsMac
- Can the media please leave ME out of the assumed WE who shed tears of joy over McGwire, Sosa, and Bonds' joint assault on home runs as we previously knew them? I always thought Big Mac was a big fraud. I prefered seeing him suffer through his miserable .202 season, not because of steroids, necessarily, but because I felt he was a one-dimensional player who was also a creature of steroids and had to be stopped. I didn't like his game and what those guys were doing to the more subtle joys of baseball. Today I'm sincerely pleased that he came clean and admitted to the scope of his use. I'm not going to criticize him for his stated motivations and the distinctions he feels they represent. He's still left us with a steroid-fueled assault that robbed Roger Maris of his record and opened the floodgates to Barry Bonds breaking Hank Aaron's record. On the other hand, he's made a bigger step than most of his peers, and he's getting a chance to return to the game he (and we) love. Best of luck to the guy in taking continued steps toward living life at regular size.— frankenslade
- WHO REALLY CARES?? BIG MAC.......SAMMY SOSA..BARRY BONDS..??? WE'RE TIRED OF IT.ANOTHER NEVER ENDING MLB SOAP ORERA...DO WHAT U WANT DO MLB,AND PUT THIS STORY TO REST ALREADY!— t_darb_56
- David; with regards to McWire, that is the best bit or writing I've ever seen on this site. It should be up for a Pulitzer!! A very good piece of writing and no I don't grade writing on spelling mistakes. Lord; if I did that nothing I wrote would withstand scrutiny!— Doubtful
- McGwire said he never told family, friends, teammates. In other words, he knew what he was doing was wrong from the start. And for Tony LaRussa to say he didn't know until yeterday morning means that after Congress and all the controversy, that means he "interviewed" McGwire for the hitting coach position with some real superficial meaningless conversation. This whole thing is a sham, and it will peak when the St. Louis fans sully their reputation by giving this fraud a standing ovation.— KBland
- On McGwire - Dave, why so serious? Are you a newspaper writer novelist who never had time for a wife? He's a cheater. He cheated the game of baseball. Even lawyers disbar those that are found guilty of cheating in law. He needs to be banned from baseball because he cheated baseball. No more, no less. I don't care what he does beyond that. Just stay away from baseball.
- Courageous column, David. How quickly we forget evidence from 1971 that All-American hero Mickey Mantle used steroids much of his career, but never gets bad press about it (even though the dead cannot sue). And where is the indignation over Grover Cleveland Alexander's pitching while drunk a century ago? Nancy Grace or Fox News should be foaming at the mouth about Mantle, Alexander and other transgressors of various stripes.— Delaware Jim
- Murph, why should I hate myself over the McGwire debacle? As a Phils fan, I didn't care one iota about McGwire, Sosa or the "magical" summer of 1998. That fantasy was all created by gullible members of the media. I didn't care if either one broke the Maris record, and quite frankly, got tired of hearing about it as the season wore on. Felt the same way a few years ago when Bonds was chasing Aaron. Anyone with half a brain could see that these guys were dramatically changed physically compared to earlier in their careers. If MLB wanted to collectively bury its head in the sand and ignore the obvious, why should I care? No way do I feel deceived by anything that comes out now.....or even ten years from now. Who cares? I saw it all as it was happening and nobody cared then. What difference does it make now? Final point, when discussing McGwire and how steroids caused him to hit the ball 500 feet plus, how come the only homer the media shows is the line drive homer he hit to break the Maris record that looks like it traveled off of 335 feet? Is there no other video? As far as I'm concerned there are only two players who consistently hit tape measure home runs over the course of their careers and I've been following baseball for 45 years-Dick Allen and Willie Stargell.— Lightning
- While I'll agree that most of the people who cheered McGuire then during his record-breaking campaign are probably the very same people who despise him now 'cause they feel like they have been cheated. But the people's hate, jealously, and so-called hypocrisy is not the issue...those things do not or should not in any way give McGuire a pass for the HOF. No matter what else Canseco tries to add. No matter if McGuire says he's sorry. He can admit to his mistake like the man he is who admits to his mistake. That's fine. He has a duty to apologize to the fans of the game. It's not an issue of whether or not his apology should be accepted. That's up to the individual fan who idolized him. His apology, regardless of how interpreted should not allow him entrance into the HOF....it should not be allowed to excuse him of what he did. He cheated..and when you cheat or lie..there's consequences to pay. That's what we teach our children...the same kids who watch and follow the game. Dave, if you can acknowledge ( or waste time talking about ) the hypocrisy in society against McGuire...surely you can also understand why it would be hypocrisy to allow him in the HOF and have the lessons of consequence lost on young people who both play and watch the game.— tony b
- The ironic thing is as most of my friends enjoyed the summer of 1998 with McGwire and Sosa, that is when I really stopped watching baseball. I knew something was up when TWO guys broke Maris's record in one season???? Once Bonds hit 73, I was done was done with Baseball until they started cleaning up the game a few years ago. It was a joke, and I said at the time that Selig, The Players Union, and the Players were going to have a big mess because Baseball relies on its records to sell its game, and now their greatest record, the HR record, is compromised. Atleast the game is sort of cleaned up today, and Texeria hit 39 HR's to lead the AL, and nobody even hit 50 this year, so the testing is working. Sorry, but I don't feel guilty about 1998, I never rooted for McGwire and Sosa to begin with.— co
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- The Poe allusion notwithstanding, this was a really stupid article. And I'm not referring to "courses that would not admit you or I" (instead of "me") or "palpable 24-hour cable news channels" (did he mean "palatable"?). The content was just dumb. The answer to the headline's question is we hate McGwire more--though "hate" is probably not the right word. We feel contempt for McGwire, as well as disillusionment.— Bartleby
- I don't know which is McGuire's biggest problem...his enormous ego or his incredible state of delusion...they probably feed each other...he's an unlikeable creep now, as he was most of his career...— garyhod
- Is it self-loathing to expect millionaire athletes to play by the rules when you yourself have to play by the rules in your own life every day?— everydayguy
- I will miss Myers nasty hook. When that pitch is "on" he's unhittable. Anyone remember the gem he pitched in Shea in 2008.— Goirish77
- The McGuire/Sosa home run race combined with Ripkin's record setting year brought baseball back from the damage the 94/95 strike caused. Fans didn't care then and a majority still don't care today. If cheaters aren't considered fit for the Hall, what the heck is Gaylord Perry doing in there? Come on, we love the long ball even if the distance is "enhanced" by PEDs, tightly wound baseballs or altered bats. As for Myers, you have to be concerned about a guy coming off hip surgery and shoulder problems, especially when he doesn't take care of himself. Wade is following the same path he followed when he was here and we know where that is going to take him!— Bud
- "But for the past decade, he has been enjoying life in his million-dollar home, playing golf on courses that would not admit you or I...(sic)" should be "golf courses that would not admit you or ME"! Where are your editors? Everyone knows that you use the objective form of the pronoun and not the nominative when used for a direct object, as in this case.— carelessfills
- I know I am in the minority, but I just can't get all worked up over this steriod stuff. Was he cheating ? Maybe, but baseball (and other sports) certainly condoned it. Besides I remember McGwire saying at the time he was playing that yes he used some type of medications, but never went into specifics. The big thing for me, and I am not bent out of shape is that we are taking about a GAME (as in a Baseball GAME, a Football GAME, a Basketball GAME). What happens when my team (Phillies) will or lose is not going to change my life. If it changes yours, then you have some serious issues to work on. Now folks cheating investors, taxpayers, charity contributors, their wives/husbands.... now that is something a lot more serious than a GAME.— mrdip
- Baseball is an icon that expresses American culture. You can't understand America if you don't understand baseball, as I've told foreign friends and colleagues over the years. McGwire and his ilk cheated, lied and sullied the game, pushing it into the mud, and as they did so, they damaged our national fabric and international reputation, ignoring the community obligations that come with their celebrity, lifestyle and pay scale. Thus, they stole from us and our kids something even more valuable than winning. How they played the game is not something we should permit. Baseball, at long last, seemed to recognize this, and has risen in the public eye as a consequence. If McGwire doesn't have the common decency to stay away from the game, the Cards and or MLB should sadly shun this dull-witted offender of our national honor and integrity. David, put that in your pipe and smoke it.— portmatilda
- Bear Grylls, Bob Costas, The Tell Tale Heart, Jean Valjean, and Carrie Underwood all in one post. Wow, that was a ride.— MH
- Whatever, If you didn't know Mark was taking drugs you're as stupid as he is for thinking nobody knew.Dude looked like a freakin balloon animal. If he gets back into baseball and into the HOF, Pete Rose should be allowed in (although I think he should be allowed in anyway).Just because it wasn't illegal or banned by baseball doesn't mean it's right.That era of baseball will be tainted forever. People will always say McGwire has the record, but...same as they did when he got the record.— Phishinmule
- Myers is an inconsistent headcase to be sure, but I keep thinking about two things: his performance as a starter against the Yankees in New York early last season, and his performance as a closer in 07. In theory the Phillies would benefit from Myers at either position--as a #5 starter behind Halliday, Hamels, Blanton, and Happ (what a rotation!) or as insurance for Lidge. In both cases, the pressure would have been on Myers to perform well in a one-year contract, which I'm betting would have done wonders to clear his head. The Phillies obviously had other concerns, which is too bad. He was crazy no doubt, but how many other pitchers go from starter to closer back to starter like he did?— Cheesedog
- Whose this journalist, and what did he do with our Murph?! Great, great post.— Timmy
- portmatilda, re: "Baseball is an icon that expresses American Culture." I agree. And I can't think of a better expression of modern American culture than a roided-up mercenary athlete slugging home runs over Big Mac signs in front of sell-out crowds. Problem is, people still want baseball to represent an American culture that exists only in fairytales and AMC movies, a culture where the pure, righteous ballplayer hustles and grinds his way around the diamond for the love of the game and then plays stickball in the streets with Jerry's Kids on his way home. Hey, I love baseball. It's a great game. The past couple years have been filled with moments that I've been thrilled to cover. And of course I would value a clean player's statistics over McGwire's, and of course I wish we could go back to a day where every player looked like Chase Utley and Jimmy Rollins. I just don't think that steroid use is cause for the holier-than-thou moral brow-beating that guys like McGwire continue to receive. The debate about how to treat his numbers when deciding on the Hall of Fame is a valid one. As I stated - I think all players who competed before steroid testing should be treated the same, but I understand those who disagree. It's the moral screeching that I disagree with.
- David, What you hear is not "moral screeching" but the pain of those who feel that their own sense of honor and integrity has been wounded by a common cheat who was elevated to undeserved hero status. But it's not about McGwire. It's about us. As a people, we are invested in the game far beyond the commercial interests that operate it at the professional level. We have invested our trust in the owners, the umps, and especially the players to play the game hard and fair, to the best of their ability so we can have pride in the "national pastime," and to give us a palpable proxy for the game of life and how Americans think it should be played. I need to note that the scribes also are recipients of that invested trust, something you will, I am sure, agree with if you think hard about it. As to wanting baseball to represent cultural fairy tales, I can only speak for myself but I want mine to be real, gritty, imperfect perhaps but well-played, as in Robin Roberts, Richie Ashburn, Mike Schmidt, Steve Carlton and many others like them, including from the active player crop, say, Rowand and Ruiz just to pick two.— portmatilda
