Coming Clean

Today Mark McGwire publicly acknowledged that he took performance enhancing drugs during his heralded career as one of baseball's greatest sluggers. For someone who grew up admiring and even envying the lives and talents of baseball's best, many of whom are either suspected of or already known to have used such drugs during a time that is now referred to as the "Steroid Era," this is somewhat of a big deal. I remember my brother's "Big Mac" poster that graced our bedroom walls during childhood. I remember being astonished at McGwire's 49 homeruns his rookie season, a major league record to this day. I remember trying to mimic his pigeon-toed stance in efforts to emulate the unique stances and swings of the pros. I remember watching anxiously during the summer of '98 when McGwire and Sosa battled their way towards shattering Maris' season record of 61 homeruns. That season in particular is what many credited to "saving" baseball at the time (following the strike-shortened 1994 season) as McGwire finished with 70 homeruns. Funny how now, baseball is seen as needing to be saved from its steroids scandal - which may have been the very cause for its "salvation" in 1998.
Reading about McGwire's admission, I still find myself rooting for him as I did as a young baseball fan. I believe he's sorry for taking the drugs. I believe he feels that Roger Maris still has the right to be acknowledged as the authentic home run record holder. I believe him when he suggests he would have hit plenty of homeruns without steroids. And I want to believe him that he didn't take them because he wanted to hit homeruns, but because he was tired of being injured, felt pressure to live up to his multi-million dollar contract, and believed steroids was the quickest route to recovery so that he could be swinging again (not that that's a justifiable excuse, but perhaps it's more tolerable). Ironically, I also believe these drugs are what ultimately ended his career early and have shattered his reputation. I think this is an example of a common human tendency to be short-sighted and look for the "quick fix." Too often we fail to take a long-term perspective and be patient in what awaits us. Instead we look for shortcuts or strive for opportunities and outcomes that, in the short-term, will benefit us, even if they may be detrimental in the long run.

McGwire was always one of the "good guys" who Little Leaguers were encouraged to look up to. He showed care and concern for the community. He wasn't flamboyant or brash. He showed courtesy to interviewers. He loved the fans. But I think it's safe to say that most of us watching his career realized something was up when he became huge, when he returned from injury-plagued seasons and all of a sudden wasn't just threatening the 50-homerun barrier but was zooming past 60. There were plenty of people that knew something had to explain this, but at the same time we wanted to see what it would be like to have a new generation of great sluggers that we could call our own, like the Ruths, Williams, Mays, and Mantles of the past. In many ways I think this was a short-sightedness on our part as well. Again, I believe that too often we as humans fall to the temptation to enjoy the present at the sake of the future. As a baseball fan who saw many of his favorite players become mired in steroid controversy, I can reflect on how at the time we as fans loved watching the ball go over the fence or out of the park time and time again. We loved having a figure as big as Babe Ruth that we could say we witnessed during our lives. But 10 years later, we grieve for the loss of a generation of stars whose stats and records will carry asterisks because they felt driven to succeed at the cost of "purity." Six of the top fifteen homerun hitters are now either linked to or suspected of using performance-enhancing drugs. And that doesn't include other stars such as Alex Rodriguez, Roger Clemens, or David Ortiz.

So McGwire may likely go down as a villain in baseball's history books. I fear he'll probably be excluded from the Hall of Fame because of this, even though there are plenty of "villains" already in the Hall. I, for one, would like to see him in the Hall of Fame. I also think that his public acknowledgment and apology should be applauded. Not because he took steroids to get back into the game, but because he had the courage to confront his past and confess his faults. While some still deny or even lie about taking steroids to protect their image, McGwire has given fans an example of what it looks like to humbly accept responsibility for doing the wrong thing and acknowledge that short cuts often come at the cost of long-term rewards...a lesson that I believe Little Leaguers and veterans can all learn from.

To read more about McGwire's admission, read: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4816607