The Mark McGwire interview with Bob Costas was the long awaited confessional about steroid use in professional baseball.  Unfortunately, it lacked candour.  Mark McGwire would like professional baseball and its fans to believe that he took steroids for health reasons.  McGwire is quoted as saying: "I did it on health purposes".

link:  Transcript: McGwire interview 

Bob Costas asked if the seventy home runs could have been hit "without steroids".  McGwire's answer was: "Absolutely. I was given this gift by the man upstairs. My track record as far as hitting home runs, my first at bat in Little Legaue (sic) was a home run, they still talk about the home runs in high school, they still talk about the home runs in legion, they still talk about the home runs I hit in college, I led the nation in home runs. They still talk about the home runs I hit in the minor leagues. I was given the gift to hit home runs..."

Mark McGwire would like people to believe that the steroids had nothing to do with his success at bat.  

Baseball fans know that often the game is determined by inches and fractions of seconds in reaction time.  The difference between a foul ball and a base hit, possibly a home run, may be measured by the slightest margin about where the bat contacts the ball.  Mark McGwire would like the public to believe that added strength gained from steroids did not alter the amount of bat head speed that he was able generate.  Further, the strength gained from steroids did not alter the ability to control and alter the bat torque.  McGwire would like baseball fans to believe that it was natural ability.

If that is indeed the case, why did Mark McGwire apologize to the Roger Maris family?  

It isn't just the home run record that Mark McGwire altered.  His productivity at bat changed games.  It likely altered pitching records and perhaps pitching careers.  A pitcher may have been throwing his best pitches, only to see the ball fly out of the park.  It is only speculation what that does to a pitcher's confidence and subsequent performances.

In this theatre of the absurd, baseball commissioner Bud Selig is duplicitous.  Commissioner Selig would like people to believe that the steroid era is over:

"...  The use of steroids and amphetamines amongst today’s players has greatly subsided and is virtually nonexistent, as our testing results have shown,” Selig said in a statement. “The so-called steroid era — a reference that is resented by the many players who played in that era and never touched the substances — is clearly a thing of the past, and Mark’s admission today is another step in the right direction."

Perhaps Commissioner Selig truly believes that.  Undoubtedly that is what he would like people to believe.  Baseball fans know that this has less and less to do with the integrity of the game and more and more to do with the business of marketing and selling tickets.  The truly sad part about the steroid mess is that fewer people really care.  

Catherine Forsythe