McGwire Avoiding MLB's Steroid Investigation

[The Voice of Reason]

Although Big Mac does have one thing going for him - He's received the full support of Floyd Landis.

 

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/5848686?FSO1&ATT=HMA

[RynoRules]

Well, I guess the good thing ishe never flatly denied using them like Palmeiro did. What he said was tantamount to an admission, though I'd have a much greater degree of respect for him if he just came clean (no pun intended).

[Big Fergie J]

I have zero respect for Mr. Mark McGwire.

 

That being said he is well within his rights to not co-operate w/ MLB's investigation.

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

McGwire will have to restore some of his credibility if he ever plans to enter Cooperstown without a ticket.

 

Based on a recent Rob Neyer article and poll of HOF voters, McGwire won't even sniff fifty percent of the vote, much less the 75% needed for induction.

[CubsBullsBears]

He said he refuses to discuss what he did, but he said he will stay active in promoting kids to not use drugs. And in Canseco's book, it says he took the juice and used the andro as a distraction in 1998, and that he was really on the juice.

[jjgman21]

McGwire will have to restore some of his credibility if he ever plans to enter Cooperstown without a ticket.

 

Based on a recent Rob Neyer article and poll of HOF voters, McGwire won't even sniff fifty percent of the vote, much less the 75% needed for induction.

 

but the question is not what the vet's committee thinks, at least not for a number of years. what is important is what the writers think.

[The Voice of Reason]

Let the record show that Big Mac also won the prestigious MSNBC Whiner of the Week award.

 

 

 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3298669/

[soccer10k]

McGwire will have to restore some of his credibility if he ever plans to enter Cooperstown without a ticket.

 

Based on a recent Rob Neyer article and poll of HOF voters, McGwire won't even sniff fifty percent of the vote, much less the 75% needed for induction.

 

but the question is not what the vet's committee thinks, at least not for a number of years. what is important is what the writers think.

 

Did you read the Rob Neyer article that Vance is talking about? Neyer was talking about writers (granted, some of them didn't have HOF votes) and not the Veteran's Committee.

 

I doubt McGwire gets elected next year.

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

McGwire will have to restore some of his credibility if he ever plans to enter Cooperstown without a ticket.

 

Based on a recent Rob Neyer article and poll of HOF voters, McGwire won't even sniff fifty percent of the vote, much less the 75% needed for induction.

 

but the question is not what the vet's committee thinks, at least not for a number of years. what is important is what the writers think.

 

Did you read the Rob Neyer article that Vance is talking about? Neyer was talking about writers (granted, some of them didn't have HOF votes) and not the Veteran's Committee.

 

I doubt McGwire gets elected next year.

 

Exactly. The writers seem unwilling to vote McGwire in. I'll be shocked if he actually gets more than 40% of the vote in January.

[badgercub]

What percentage of the vote is needed to stay on the ballot?

[soccer10k]

What percentage of the vote is needed to stay on the ballot?

 

5%

[illiniredbird]

Let the record show that McGwire did not use steriods...It was pure redheaded power.

[snoodmonger]

pretty silly if he's not in the hall.

[illiniguy]

Let the record show that McGwire did not use steriods...It was pure redheaded power.

Bwhahaha, that stuff is so overrated. Murton can't even hit 10 homers with it.

[jjgman21]

McGwire will have to restore some of his credibility if he ever plans to enter Cooperstown without a ticket.

 

Based on a recent Rob Neyer article and poll of HOF voters, McGwire won't even sniff fifty percent of the vote, much less the 75% needed for induction.

 

but the question is not what the vet's committee thinks, at least not for a number of years. what is important is what the writers think.

 

Did you read the Rob Neyer article that Vance is talking about? Neyer was talking about writers (granted, some of them didn't have HOF votes) and not the Veteran's Committee.

 

I doubt McGwire gets elected next year.

 

Exactly. The writers seem unwilling to vote McGwire in. I'll be shocked if he actually gets more than 40% of the vote in January.

 

read your post wrong. for some reason HOF voters translated into Hall of Famers who vote for other Hall of Famers in my brain. sorry about that.

[RynoRules]

pretty silly if he's not in the hall.

 

I assume you say this because there is no hard proof that he cheated? Or b/c lots of people were cheating and he was best of the cheaters?

[DanzaSlap]

Apparently, they aren't offering McGwire immunity to deal with this commission. I don't really understand that. I mean, if I'm McGwire, I admit nothing either and wouldn't cooperate. Sure, it's bad on the public image, but at least he didn't perjure himself.

 

I don't understand why they don't just start offering immunity in exchange for testimony from players. If the goal is to clean up baseball, then let's not worry about any legal complications that may arise from their testimony and just hear what they have to say. After all, criminal charges aren't really what we're after here.

 

Personally, my guess is they aren't offering immunity to McGwire and others because Selig would rather come back to the public with a, "Well, we tried to investigate, but were stonewalled," excuse, rather than having a player testify and talk about just how widespread the use of performance enhancing drugs was (and perhaps still is).

[wolf stansson]

It'll be interesting to see what actually happens.

 

I remember when he retired me and a lot of other Cardinals fans were commending him for walking away from 24 mil left on his contract because he couldn't hack it anymore. More likely is he knew the jig was about up and he walked away before the storm hit. Everyone was mystified why he completely isolated himself from the Cardinals and baseball in general. Now we have a pretty good idea why.

[oldstyle81]

pretty silly if he's not in the hall.

 

yep because we should let people who not only break drug laws but also destroy a sport by cheating into a place where greats like ruth, banks and dimaggio are?

[oldstyle81]

Apparently, they aren't offering McGwire immunity to deal with this commission. I don't really understand that. I mean, if I'm McGwire, I admit nothing either and wouldn't cooperate. Sure, it's bad on the public image, but at least he didn't perjure himself.

 

I don't understand why they don't just start offering immunity in exchange for testimony from players. If the goal is to clean up baseball, then let's not worry about any legal complications that may arise from their testimony and just hear what they have to say. After all, criminal charges aren't really what we're after here.

 

Personally, my guess is they aren't offering immunity to McGwire and others because Selig would rather come back to the public with a, "Well, we tried to investigate, but were stonewalled," excuse, rather than having a player testify and talk about just how widespread the use of performance enhancing drugs was (and perhaps still is).

 

 

in order to perjure yourself, you actually have to lie, Mcgwire at the hearing never said anything and pleaded the 5th. this baseball investigation has no teeth whatsoever because the only thing the players are going to get after they say, yes i took steroids is, "thank you for your time"

[NewUserName]

I think it is amazing what the truth will do for you. Does anyone in the media even remember that Jason Giambi is a admitted user? Not publicly but to a grand jury. I really believe if McGwire came out and admitted he was on it and still did all the anti-drug stuff in a couple of years it would be forgiven and he would be put into the HOF.

[jjgman21]

Apparently, they aren't offering McGwire immunity to deal with this commission. I don't really understand that. I mean, if I'm McGwire, I admit nothing either and wouldn't cooperate. Sure, it's bad on the public image, but at least he didn't perjure himself.

 

I don't understand why they don't just start offering immunity in exchange for testimony from players. If the goal is to clean up baseball, then let's not worry about any legal complications that may arise from their testimony and just hear what they have to say. After all, criminal charges aren't really what we're after here.

 

Personally, my guess is they aren't offering immunity to McGwire and others because Selig would rather come back to the public with a, "Well, we tried to investigate, but were stonewalled," excuse, rather than having a player testify and talk about just how widespread the use of performance enhancing drugs was (and perhaps still is).

 

 

in order to perjure yourself, you actually have to lie, Mcgwire at the hearing never said anything and pleaded the 5th. this baseball investigation has no teeth whatsoever because the only thing the players are going to get after they say, yes i took steroids is, "thank you for your time"

 

in order to perjure yourself, you have to be the subject of some legal procedure by the government. this is just an internal MLB investigation. there is no penalty other than banishment, and MLB won't do that, so their is no immunity to offer.

[biittner77]

Until he actually admits it, his fans can still fool themselves into believing he didn't really do anything. People are going to be more upset if he admits it.

 

Look at Pete Rose, for years people said "If he only admitted to the gambling he'd be welcomed back with open arms" but once he did admit it people said "Why didn't you do it sooner?"

 

At some level, all of us really want to believe that McGwire and Sosa were clean. A small sliver of hope is better than nothing.

 

There will be a time when McGwire etal. can admit to using steroids but that will be years from now when their health is failing or people don't care anymore. At that point the fans will be much more sympathetic.

[biittner77]

For the Flaming Lips fans out there. I've had this tune stuck in my head for over a week and came up with these new lyrics in about 30 seconds

 

I knew a player

he had red hair

he had bad acne

and arms like a bear

 

he didn't use vitamins

or creatine

 

he didn't do push up

or drink protein

 

he used androstine

[snoodmonger]

pretty silly if he's not in the hall.

 

yep because we should let people who not only break drug laws but also destroy a sport by cheating into a place where greats like ruth, banks and dimaggio are?

 

Refresh my memory as to how he "destroyed the sport." And you're fooling yourself if you think mac would be the only guy in the Hall who broke drug laws.

 

Fact is, I see no way of keeping him out based on the assumption he did steroids. Because without proof, that's all it is. And that would mean every player from this era would be subject to that same "proofless" analysis, which would keep a number of players out of the Hall based on conjecture.