In an interview with ESPN Mark McGwire, the slugger who once held the home run crown after hitting 70 in 1998, expressed deep regret over taking performance enhancing drugs and Major League Baseball's failure to act until years later.
"I wish I was never a part of it," McGwire said. "Just get rid of it. If it's better to have bigger suspensions, then they're going to have to change it."
Along with Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa McGwire was part of a power explosion that helped baseball recover from the 1994 strike that drove fans away from the game. In the late 90's and early 2000's fans flocked back to see players hit mammoth home runs as they chased, and eventually obliterated, the single season home run record of 61 that was set by Roger Maris and had stood since 1961.
"I wish there were things in place earlier," McGwire said. "They were put in in 2003 I think. I just really hope and pray that this is the end of it. Everybody, especially the players, don't want any more part of it, and I hope this is the end of it."
McGwire's remarks came on the same day that 13 players were suspended by Major League Baseball for their link to the biogenesis scandal. One of those players, Alex Rodriguez, was suspended for the remainder of the 2013 season as well as the entirety of the 2014 season, according to the Associated Press.
McGwire finally admitted to taking performance enhancing drugs prior to becoming the batting coach for the St. Louis Cardinals in 2010.
Chris Capuano, a pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers, told the Associated Press that attitudes toward performance enhancing drugs have changed in clubhouses over the years with players no longer turning a blind eye to players who use them.
"Players have been vocal for some time now about wanting to clean up the game," Capuano said. "Guys are just I think incredulous given how often we're tested, how sophisticated our testing is, that there are guys still trying to get around the system and take stuff and cheat. Guys are angry."
Despite having 583 home runs over his 16-year career it is unlikely that McGwire will ever be inducted in to the Hall of Fame. Voters from the Baseball Writers Association of America have proven to be reluctant to include players who have used performance enhancing drugs, even if leaving them out of Cooperstown excludes some of the most legendary players to ever play the game. McGwire seems to accept that he won't ever be enshrined, according to ESPN.
"Unfortunately, I don't believe there will be a day that I will be in there," McGwire said. "That's OK. That's the way things are. I've dealt with it. I'm OK with it."
