McGwire cheered in first public appearance

from espn.com:

"ST. LOUIS -- Mark McGwire received a standing ovation from Cardinals fans Sunday in his first public appearance in St. Louis since admitting he used steroids.

His scheduled news conference, only minutes later, was much more combative.

The second session was shifted to an overcrowded hallway at the last minute, and McGwire evaded questions about the criticism he's received from ex-players. He repeatedly emphasized that he was ready to talk about the game instead of performance-enhancing drugs.

Mark McGwire
Mark McGwire talks with the media after receiving a standing ovation from Cardinals fans in his first public appearance in St. Louis since admitting to using steroids.

"I hope you all can accept this," McGwire said. "Let's all move on from this. Baseball is great right now, baseball is better."

Dressed in jeans, a sweater and running shoes, the 46-year-old McGwire walked on stage to "Welcome to the Jungle" by Guns N' Roses, the hard-rock song played before his at-bats with the Cardinals. The team's new hitting coach was cheered by fans who secured seats as much as 3½ hours earlier.

"I've learned a lot," McGwire told fans. "Especially to kids out there, steroids are bad. I made a huge mistake in my life and it's something I want you guys to learn from. Don't ever, ever go down that road."

Jessica and Sarah Schaaf were in the front row of a downtown hotel ballroom jammed with perhaps 1,000 fans, and wore T-shirts made for the occasion that said "Welcome back, Big Mac Land," with a photograph of McGwire.

"He did wrong," Jessica Schaaf said. "But we still love him."

In a brief appearance on stage, McGwire said he was happy about his chance to put on a major league uniform again. The former home run king headed over to Busch Stadium, just blocks away, for an afternoon hitting session with Colby Rasmus and Ryan Ludwick, and pledged to immerse himself in his new job.

"Like I told them, I'll be the first one in the cage and I'll be the last one to leave," McGwire said. "I'm there for them. I'm there to pass on my knowledge."

McGwire, hired in October, added he had a "huge Rolodex of knowledge" to pass on to Cardinals hitters.

He was supposed to be at a podium minutes later, but when his news conference was moved into a narrow hallway it left reporters jostling for space and shouting questions. The session lasted just more than six minutes before questions were cut off and McGwire was escorted out by security and police through a back door.

A team official called the last-minute switch an "executive decision."

McGwire said he's been "dead honest" in interviews since the admission. But he wasn't interested in rebutting criticism from former Oakland teammate Jose Canseco, who said McGwire is still lying by denying that the two players injected themselves with steroids in clubhouse bathroom stalls.

"I'm not going down that road with Jose," McGwire said. "I'll take the high road with the Jose stuff."

Former Cardinals slugger Jack Clark, who called McGwire a "phony" in a St. Louis Post-Dispatch story last week, was booed in an appearance on the same stage not long before McGwire's appearance.

"I heard he said something, I don't know what he said," McGwire said. "Hey, listen, they have their opinions. I was being as honest as I am."

McGwire denied again that Tony La Russa, his manager virtually all of his career, had any knowledge of his steroids use until the day he went public.

"I kept this to myself," McGwire said. "You know what? I spoke from my heart. I hope you all can accept this, let's all move on from this."

La Russa is ready for the day steroids ceases to be an issue, telling fans that McGwire deserves another chance.

"I'm just here to tell you this is a really good man," La Russa said.

Teammates have consistently been supportive, too. Cardinals slugger Matt Holliday, who has hit with McGwire in prior offseasons, although not this one, said he's never brought up the steroids topic.

"It's not a great situation to be in, but he's dealing with it like a man," Holliday said. "He doesn't have to explain anything to me."

For his part, though, Holliday said he has no interest in performance-enhancing drugs, to the point where he's stopped taking vitamin supplements.

"I'm not willing to take risks," Holliday said. "I'll stick to like a protein shake and that's about it."

General manager John Mozeliak is among those skeptical of McGwire's assertion that he would have been a home run champ even without steroids, but said the team didn't want to coach McGwire on what to say.

"I think that's what he believes," Mozeliak said. "I think when you look at the steroid correlations of strength and speed and what science has proven to date, it has to be factored in.

"He is recognizing it did allow him to be on the field, which obviously would create more opportunities."

McGwire Hall of Fame Bat Going Nowhere

from tmz.com:

"Mark McGwire's steroid revelation isn't resonating in Cooperstown -- officials at the Baseball Hall of Fame confirm McGwire's record setting bat will remain on display ... without any specific reference to his confession.TMZ spoke to a senior director at the HOF who told us they were satisfied with a disclaimer posted in the wing of the Hall where McGwire's 70th HR bat is on display.

The disclaimer mentions "mounting evidence" that some players have juiced up. The disclaimer then turns into buyer beware, noting that the artifacts are displayed "without respect to suspicions" of illegal substance use."

Mark McGwire Admits Using Steroids

from foxnews.com:

"NEW YORK — Mark McGwire finally came clean Monday, admitting he used steroids when he broke baseball's home run record in 1998.

McGwire said in a statement sent to The Associated Press on Monday that he used steroids on and off for nearly a decade.

"I wish I had never touched steroids," McGwire said in a statement. "It was foolish and it was a mistake. I truly apologize. Looking back, I wish I had never played during the steroid era."

McGwire also used human growth hormone, a person close to McGwire said, speaking on condition of anonymity because McGwire didn't include that detail in his statement.

McGwire's decision to admit using steroids was prompted by his decision to become hitting coach of the St. Louis Cardinals, his final big league team. Tony La Russa, McGwire's manager in Oakland and St. Louis, has been among McGwire's biggest supporters and thinks returning to the field can restore the former slugger's reputation.

"I never knew when, but I always knew this day would come," McGwire said. "It's time for me to talk about the past and to confirm what people have suspected."

He became the second major baseball star in less than a year to admit using illegal steroids, following the New York Yankees' Alex Rodriguez last February.

Others have been tainted but have denied knowingly using illegal drugs, including Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa and David Ortiz.

Bonds has been indicted on charges he made false statements to a federal grand jury and obstructed justice. Clemens is under investigation by a federal grand jury trying to determine whether he lied to a congressional committee.

"I'm sure people will wonder if I could have hit all those home runs had I never taken steroids," McGwire said. "I had good years when I didn't take any, and I had bad years when I didn't take any. I had good years when I took steroids, and I had bad years when I took steroids. But no matter what, I shouldn't have done it and for that I'm truly sorry."

Big Mac's reputation has been in tatters since March 17, 2005, when he refused to answer questions at a Congressional hearing. Instead, he repeatedly said "I'm not here to talk about the past" when asked whether he took illegal steroids when he hit a then-record 70 home runs in 1998 or at any other time.

"After all this time, I want to come clean," he said. "I was not in a position to do that five years ago in my congressional testimony, but now I feel an obligation to discuss this and to answer questions about it. I'll do that, and then I just want to help my team."

The person close to McGwire said McGwire made the decision not to answer questions at that hearing on the advice of his lawyers.

McGwire disappeared from the public eye following his retirement as a player following the 2001 season. When the Cardinals hired the 47-year-old as coach on Oct. 26, they said he would address questions before spring training, and Monday's statement broke his silence.

"I remember trying steroids very briefly in the 1989/1990 offseason and then after I was injured in 1993, I used steroids again," McGwire said in his statement. "I used them on occasion throughout the '90s, including during the 1998 season."

McGwire said he took steroids to get back on the field, sounding much like the Yankees' Andy Pettitte two years ago when he admitted using HGH.

"During the mid-'90s, I went on the DL seven times and missed 228 games over five years," McGwire said in the statement. "I experienced a lot of injuries, including a ribcage strain, a torn left heel muscle, a stress fracture of the left heel, and a torn right heel muscle. It was definitely a miserable bunch of years, and I told myself that steroids could help me recover faster. I thought they would help me heal and prevent injuries, too."

Since the congressional hearing, baseball owners and players toughened their drug program twice, increasing the penalty for a first steroids offense from 10 days to 50 games in November 2005 and strengthening the power of the independent administrator in April 2008, following the publication of the Mitchell Report.

"Baseball is really different now — it's been cleaned up," McGwire said. "The commissioner and the players' association implemented testing and they cracked down, and I'm glad they did."