The Truth Comes Out

Mark McGwire admits what any (even casual) baseball fan already knew. (AP Photo/Kyle Ericson, File)

Really, Mark?

10 years after it matters, Mark McGwire has finally come clean about something everyone knew, he took steroids.

Despite what former coaches and players say (except for Jose Canseco, whom the media should give a giant apology to), they all knew too.

St. Louis Cardinals' manager - and manager of McGwire in both Oakland and St. Louis - Tony La Russa claims he had no idea that McGwire was using any form of performance enhancing drugs and that he was encouraged that he had stepped forward.

La Russa also plans to still keep McGwire as the hitting coach for the Cardinals despite his recent revelation. Which is a great sign that as long as you admit to something in baseball, you can continue to do whatever it is that you want - without consequence. That is, except for gambling (sorry Pete - you should've found some steroids instead!).

McGwire also says, in his released statement, that he had both good years and bad years on steroids. But he admits taking steroids in 1998, the season he had a really good year and hit 70 home runs.

McGwire also says in his statement that "I wish I had never played in the steroid era" and "I wish I had never touched steroids."

Along with Sammy Sosa and Barry Bonds, he was the head of the "steroid era." Maybe he wishes he would have never, you know, got all roided up, hit a bunch of home runs and made all that money. Or glamorized the effects of steroids by being on T.V. every five seconds in the summer of 1998 - showing every youngster dreaming of being a baseball player that, when you take performance enhancers, you will be loved and celebrated by millions of fans on the way to millions and millions of dollars.

If he is so "ashamed", why not give back all that money he made in endorsements during this time period when he marketed himself as this good, clean and wholesome guy who was just having fun playing the game with his super-best friend Sosa?

What's worse is that the thing baseball purists hold most sacred, the stats, are forever tainted. six of the top 15 home-run hitters of all time have either outright admitted to using steroids, or have serious allegations that they used performance enhancers in the past - Bonds, Sosa, McGwire, A-Rod, Raffy Palmeiro, and Manny Ramirez.

Baseball is definitely on the right track to cleaning up it's image, but the current and former players and coaches that deny they ever knew about anyone using PED's are liars. They insult not only the integrity of the game but, more importantly, the intelligence of the fans.