Jan

12

Mark McGwire and the MLB Network

Posted by Greg | Filed Under News | 4 Comments

I couldn’t let the evening pass without commenting on Mark McGwire’s sad but admirable admission of steroid use and his fascinating interview tonight on MLB Network.

When I was a kid, my dad back in Oklahoma used to listen to an old country singer named Roy Acuff. Frankly, I hated his music but I remember an Acuff album called, “I can forgive but I can’t forget”. That was a philosophy I could appreciate then, and after I read McGwire’s admission earlier today and watched his extended interview tonight on MLB I felt forgiveness (not forgetfullness) was the right approach.

Then I looked up the quote and found that it actually comes from a minister in the 1800s, Henry Ward Beecher, who said:  “I can forgive, but I cannot forget, is only another way of saying, I will not forgive. Forgiveness ought to be like a cancelled note – torn in two, and burned up, so that it never can be shown against one.”

Will we forgive Mark McGwire or simply forget?

Bob Costas proved once again tonight in his interview with McGwire that he is among the greatest baseball journalists of all time. The MLB team of analysts who critiqued the interview afterward were less impressive with the exception of Harold Reynolds and Peter Gammons (of course).

What does Cape Nation make of all this?

Comments

4 Responses to “Mark McGwire and the MLB Network”

  1. Andrew on January 12th, 2010 9:30 am

    Good for him. He did this at the right time, when the hot stove is mostly cooled and the Hall of Fame voting is over.

    However, like most people, I don’t think he was entirely honest. I think honesty is a key part of curtailing steroid use in baseball. Before MLB (at USC, Team USA, and in the Alaska Baseball League), McGwire hit for average and power. In MLB, he maybe had 5 out of his 16 seasons where he ended the year with a respectable average (‘87, ‘92, ‘96, ‘98, ‘99). But, 11 out of his 16 seasons had high HR totals. The other seasons were compromised due to injuries.

    He mentioned taking steroids in small doses, and didn’t correlate the usage to his HR totals or his injuries. I’d like for him to do that, and to partner with other steroid users to speak openly to young athletes. It doesn’t have to be public, and it would certainly change his image.

    I think he’ll make a great hitting coach. But, there’s nothing he can do to get into the Hall of Fame.

  2. Dave on January 12th, 2010 11:47 am

    McGwire had to make the decision to go public before he signed on as a coach with the Cardinals. Certainly he knew there would be a media circus awaiting him in every city the Cards visited.

    McGwire seems a bit disingenuous when he refuses to say much about how his use of steroids affected his homerun totals.

    In general, Americans are a very forgiving people… even if the apology doesn’t come in a timely manner. When Andy Pettitte came clean, he saved himself a lot of scrutiny. Roger Clemens would have done well to follow Pettitte’s lead.

  3. Dave on January 12th, 2010 12:27 pm

    I should not have said McGwire “seemed a bit disingenuous.” McGwire is outright delusional if he believes that he would have hit 70 homeruns at the age of 35. Also, let’s not forget that he has been greatly assisted in his delusional ways by a manager who was found inebriated and asleep at the wheel of his vehicle which was idling, but still in drive, at the time.

  4. Andrew on January 13th, 2010 9:13 am

    @Dave Agreed.

    Here’s a story that interviewed a doctor of sports medicine regarding McGwire’s claim that he used steroids to fight off injuries:
    http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2010/01/steroid_mcgwire_and_injuries.html

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