Although I'm getting a few "shut up and talk about the Mets"type comments, I think this topic falls into the "and frankly anyone else" clause of the blog. If you're bored with McGwire skip this one and scroll down to some good quality chop-busting below.
Here's Tom
Shannon,
Well done, young man. I’m glad that while you still questioned McGwire yourself, you also pointed out all the hypocrites who today are saying McGwire didn’t apologize properly enough for them are many of the same ones who lived off ’98 vicariously (that is what sportswriters do, live off someone else’ accomplishments, while having none of their own) . I won’t go into this, other than to say that this is a good man who made a bad mistake and as a human being who has made my share, I will not get into “judge and jury” on him. Selig, and Fehr and Orza of the Players Association are as much to blame as anyone for this whole situation. Also, I don’t see anyone reminding people that Big Mac donated, what, $1 Million off the top of his contract for three years to Battered Children’s funds. Or that he had a 2-year multi-million dollar contract offered to him after 2001and retired instead. He could have fleeced the Cards for a couple of more seasons if he chose to, but did not. So, you can dislike him or be disappointed by him, but you cannot demonize him, as the weakest parts of the media and the ever-growing moron part of the public will now try to do. Mark McGwire thrilled millions. No sportswriter ever did that. That joy in 1998 was real, it doesn’t change in retrospect, as some have comically tried to claim. Finally, I thing the famous words of Teddy Roosevelt are most relevant today:
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
And here's Adam
I am fully aware that Mark McGuire, even before yesterday's admission, had used some sort of PED. Even if he had done what I've heard some NFL players do, which would be to stay one step ahead of the banned substance list, I knew, and was and still remain a fan.
McGuire never played for a team I rooted for, even as an "out of town" second team to our Amazin's. However, There are a few moments in baseball history when I can tell you exactly where I was when it occurred.
I can tell you exactly where I was, down to the place where I was sitting (not just "in my living room") when Mookie hit the roller up the first base line, when Ripken broke the streak, and when McGuire hit 62. I have no idea where I was when he hit 70, nor when Sosa hit 62 or 66.
Did McGuire break a rule of Major League Baseball? Yes. Did he cheat? I don't know but I don't think so. Does he belong in the Hall of Fame with the rest of the 500 Club? Yes.
Is there anyone in the Hall of Fame that has thrown a spitball since Burleigh Grimes? Have you heard of Don Drysdale or Gaylord Perry? They cheated. They went out and did something ON THE FIELD that was against the rules of legal play, and knowing this, the sportswriters still elected them to the Hall of Fame.
As Tommy LaSorda has said in many interviews, hitting a baseball is the hardest thing to do in professional sports. Otherwise, why would people think you were great for doing it just 3 out of every 10 times you tried?
I don't think any PED makes you able to see the ball or hit the ball any easier than someone who never took as much as a multi-vitamin. If they come out with something like that, let me know, I'll be 40 in a couple of years and would like to get a jump on the rest of the guys in the local softball league.
Thanks for a great blog, keep it up.
Adam
This picture is of the all time leader in home runs for the Mets. He hit the ball 900 feet while weighing 110 pounds.
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