I know it’s now old news, but I’ve been meaning to comment on slugger Mark McGwire’s tearful confession the other day about using steroids while a member of the Oakland A’s and St. Louis Cardinals. If McGwire truly believes that his jump from a 40-50 a year home run hitter to a 60-70 one had nothing to do with steroids, then denial is not, as they say, just a river in Egypt.

Note to Mr. McGwire: you may truly believe that your ability to increase your home run production was solely the results of improved hand-eye coordination, a carefully crafted shorter swing, and/or a general maturing as a hitter, but I would respectfully point out the following facts:

1. You say you took steroids because your body was breaking down and they enabled you to heal faster and play through entire seasons, but how could you have hit all those home runs if you hadn’t healed faster through steroids, hmm? Just this fact alone means your argument that steroids didn’t equate to increased home run production holds no water.

2. Isn’t it just possible that your improved hand-eye coordination came as a direct result of taking steroids?

3. Isn’t it just possible that without steroids a dozen or so of those home runs would have been warning-track outs or doubles?

I’m not saying McGwire is a bad person or someone who should be exiled to a Gulag or something. Personally, I have no problem putting Mark McGwire into the Hall of Fame. Steroids or not, his ability to hit that many home runs in a single 162-game season still stands as one amazing accomplishment. However, I would make sure his plaque, and those of other possible HOF-worthy players who played during baseball’s “Steroids Era” (i.e., Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Roger Clemens, etc.), have their own little place in Cooperstown tucked away from those who earned their HOF status without the benefit of PEDs.

—

Pool temp: 51 degrees