Mark McGwire's Mistake

The same could be said about his long-overdue mea culpa, because most casual fans of baseball (or sports in general) are not nearly as stupid as the mouth breathers that overwhelm talk radio and the blogosphere.

Ten years of steroid use is not a mistake. That is a pattern of behavior that goes straight to character. When a person does something deliberately, with an eye to the results, that is not a mistake. That's who he is.

For perspective's sake, locking your keys in your car is a mistake. Adding 2+2 and getting 5 is a mistake. Being married and approaching someone else for sex outside of the marriage is not a mistake (thanks, Tiger). Taking performance-enhancing drugs for ten years is not a mistake.

Mark McGwire's mistake is to expect us to believe what he says.

"There's no way I did this for any type of strength purposes."

What?

For all of his disingenuous caterwauling about hand-eye coordination, the only reason for a baseball player to take steroids is for the strength purposes. He is correct that steroids don't help a .250 hitter become a .300 hitter by helping him see the ball better. However, the added power will help a .250 hitter become a .300 hitter, and I can prove it.

Over 500 at-bats, the difference between hitting .250 and hitting .300 is 25 hits. Over the course of a baseball season, that's a hair over an extra hit per week. For the guy who isn't juicing, that ground ball in the hole becomes a routine out. For the guy who is, a little more strength gives that same ground ball a little more scoot and it suddenly becomes a single. The clean player hits a ball to the warning track; the dirty player adds three more feet to the same fly ball and it clears the fence. Both guys are seeing the ball the same as they ever were, but the strength difference is palpable.

Here is what Mark McGwire should have said:

"I deliberately and knowingly took steroids because they gave me a clear competitive advantage."

Expecting us to believe anything other than that is a mistake.