It would have sounded a lot better five years ago

Attention, Tiger Woods and Roger Clemens: Don’t wait five years, like Mark McGwire, before coming clean.

That would seem to be the message that arises out of McGwire’s admission today – after all these years – that he did indeed use steroids and was benefitting from the bottle when he broke Roger Maris’s home-run record in 1998.

In other news, today is Monday and Sarah Palin is joining FOX news.

This is newsworthy only because it’s McGwire admitting what everyone knew, or at least strongly suspected at the time – although steroids back then were not illegal in baseball. If there were any doubts about his use of performance-enhancing drugs, they disappeared after he got up and stonewalled the U.S. Congress five years ago with his nonsense about “not (being) here to talk about the past.’’

Imagine if he had simply ‘fessed up back then. It would be very old news by now.

Barroid Bonds, David Ortiz, Alex Rodriguez, Manny Ramirez, Rafael Palmeiro and all kinds of other superstar juicers, proved or suspected, have come along since then. If McGwire had faced his music when he had the chance, asking for forgiveness and pretending to want to help the kids stay away from PEDs and so on, it would be pretty much a non-issue.

He said that returning to baseball, as a hitting coach with St. Louis, makes him want to “come clean’’ and how steroids were “a mistake’’ and so on. That’s all fine; if he feels better about himself by getting this off his chest, he’s entitled. It would be interesting to hear why he decided to go silent and seal himself off from most of the world for the past few years, but that was his right, too.

Anyway, Clemens has been doing the same thing since repeatedly putting his foot on his mouth about PED use, which is basically denying and hiding. Palmeiro is doing the same thing. Woods so far is merely hiding, although there’s a big difference between the ballplayers and Woods. The players are all retired and Woods, obviously, still is in the theoretical prime of his career. (Still, people will want Woods to address the issues that have arisen in his personal life, particularly the sexcapades that blew apart his marriage and family-man image, and nothing for him can ever return to normal, or even close, until he deals with it publicly and the sooner the better.)

How much of McGwire’s admission now deals with his reaction to his continued poor showing in the annual Hall of Fame vote (about 25 per cent, after four years on the ballot) is not knowable yet. Clemens has three more years until he gets on to the ballot and Palmeiro goes on next year. (Clemens has another complicating issue, though; that little matter of the investigation into whether or not he lied to Congress.) How voters will react, if they react at all, to a player admitting PED use and asking for forgiveness, remains to be seen. It will be one more can of worms opened on the issue.

Comments

[Thane]

Palmero, Clemens, et al will be watching the 2011 and 2012 balloting very closely. If McGwire gets in (or at least gets a significant boost in balloting) expect lots more admissions. If he stays stuck under a third, expect lots more silence.

[chris]

Andy Pettitte is the template for how you handle accusations of using performance enhancing drugs. Come clean about it in your own words, right from the get go, and apologize for doing so. Mark McGwire instead tried to sweep it under the rug, even in front of Congress. Now, five years later, he says he did it. Sorry Mac, a little late and a dollar short. You come off looking like Pete Rose.

[Jack Palmer]

I don't know how Major League Baseball could rationalize not letting someone who bet on baseball into the HOF,but would let someone who lied to congress in.

[wilfrid]

Some of us didn't need to hear the admission five years ago, nor do we need to hear it now. It was obvious to us then, and we didn't need the media to confirm it. To think that an aging monster like McGwire was the greatest homerun hitter of all-time was obviously fraudulent. Oh, and by the way, there were two of them fighting for the all-time record the same year. My, oh my, isn't baseball just wonderful. The owners as well as the players scammed the paying public, and the media reaped the rewards. Sadly, the fans will continue to pay...so they should stop complaining about the silliness of Cooperstown. What suckers we sports fans are ....

[Pete]

Proof positive that "coming clean" doesn't make anything right. It may start the process of healing in the public mind, but for a long time there will be no forgiveness. Same thing for Tiger. Do you really think that things will ever return to "normal" for him? His image is shattered and no amount of contrite news conferences can ever change that.

[Bruce Robb]

Obviously Bud looked at this year's HOF voting - only one player admitted. What does the future look like? Slim pickings. All the best players are admitted or strongly suspected Steroid Users. Bud is hoping that SOMEONE in the near future can get voted in. Here's a suggestion - all the baseball writers up McGuire's votes next year, giving all the other cheaters the idea that if they fess up, they will be forgiven too. Then after they have all admitted to it - Barry and Roger included - don't vote them in. And after that, we'll all start a serious asterisk campaign.

[Robert]

I'm baffled how a seemingly informed and intelligent baseball writer can say something like "although steroids back then were not illegal in baseball." That is just so incredibly wrong, it's like Perkins and other writers want to be able to justify steroid use. Fact One: 7 June 1991, Commissioner Fay Vincent sends a memo to all teams stating "This memorandum sets forth Baseball's drug policy." Further, "The possession, sale or use of any illegal drug or controlled substance by Major League players or personnel is strictly prohibited.... This prohibition applies to all illegal drugs ... including steroids or prescription drugs for which the individual in possession of the drug does not have a prescription." Fact Two: 15 May 1997, Commissioner Bug Selig sends a memo reissued Vincent's statement on Baseball's drug policy and stated that any players in violation "risk permanent expulsion from the game." Clearly, steroids were illegal in the sport in every way imaginable. A lack of testing does not equate with legality.

[J]

I don't Woods deserves to be in the same company. What he did doesn't effect "the game" he played, while it is cheating it is of a different sort.