McGwire, La Russa, and St. Louis

Transport yourselves back in time to 2005 when Mark McGwire was part of a Congressional testimony regarding the role of Anabolic Steroids in professional baseball.  Fast forward yourselves to January of 2010 when Mark McGwire later admits to his use of various steroids, controlled substances, and human growth hormones.  Then bounce around to the scandal between Kirk Radomski and Roger Clemens.  It’s a real big mess!  Well, here’s the latest for those of you who haven’t been keeping up with the soap opera of performance enhancing drugs and the National Baseball League.

Recall that Mark McGwire only made the confession after his brother Jay McGwirecooperated with attorneys of a federal case that was growing more harmful to him by the minute.   Jay McGwire is due to release a book by Triumph Books as a ‘tell all’ regarding his estranged brother and disgraced baseball superstar.  Entitled Mark and Me: Mark McGwire and the Truth Behind Baseball’s Worst-Kept Secret, the book has been previewed and said to expose Mark’s use of steroids in the 1990s.  Jay disclosed the drugs that brother Mark was regularly cycling including:

• Human Growth Hormone
• Deca Durabolin
• Dinabol
• Winstrol
• Primobolan
• Androstenedione

Jay says that he – himself was often in the club house and it was common knowledge within that environment as well as accepted by Tony La Russa as being part of the St. Louis Cardinalsregime.  For years, Mark’s brother Jay McGwire was a steroid using/dealing bodybuilder but there’s no indication that he’s discontinued either activity.  For quite a while, Tony La Russa has been vague about his involvement in the provision of steroids for his players including McGwire.  As Jay McGwire’s news filters more into the public domain, La Russa will not be able to dodge suspicions as he’s done so in the past.

 Here’s the Kicker:

The average man would be prosecuted for his/her involvement in any mix of the controlled substances listed above.  Fines and/or an actual sentence may be part of the average man’s penalty as described by the United States Department of Justice.  However, Tony La Russa is back in the St. Louis upper level managementwhile Mark McGwire is NOW hitting coach for the St. Louis Cardinals.  Doesn’t seem quite fair…does it?

 Before piling up on Tony La Russa, there are other baseball managers who governed players who sought an upper hand with their steroid use.  Joe Torre managed Clemens, Pettitte, Giambi, Alex A-Bomb Rodriguez, and Manny Ramirez.  If La Russa was as involved in McGwire’s steroid use as is being claimed, wouldn’t Torre be guilty of the same; simply by default?