Mark McGwire Admits to Having Used Steroids; MLB Commissioner Issues Reaction

Mark McGwire made baseball history in 1998 when he set a single-season home run record, smashing 70 home runs balls out of the park. This feat has been credited as helping Major League Baseball rebound from the 1994 players' strike, but has always been surrounded by whispers of steroid use. McGwire retired in 2001, and now almost a decade later is finally admitted to using banned substances to improve his performance.

In a statement released by the St. Louis Cardinals, McGwire said he used steroids in the 1989-90 offseason, 1993, and "on occasion throughout the nineties, including during the 1998 season." The Cardinals hired McGwire as a hitting coach in October, but he had yet to face the media.

In 2005, McGwire's reputation first took a hit during a hearing before a House of Representatives committee when he declined to address the matter of performance enhancing drugs. At the time, he said only:

"I'm not going to go into the past or talk about my past. I'm here to make a positive influence on this. My lawyers have advised me that I cannot answer these questions without jeopardizing my friends, my family and myself."

He is now answering the questions. Well, at least some of them. Citing a person close to McGwire as its source, the Associated Press also reports that he used human growth hormone, which McGwire did not address in his statement.

McGwire was first publicly accused of steroid use in 2005 in Jose Canseco's book, "Juiced." Canseco alleged that he had personally injected McGwire "more times than I can remember."

McGwire said on Monday that he called MLB commissioner Bud Selig and the Cardinals manager Tony La Russa to personally apologize. He is also scheduled to appear on the MLB Network on Monday at 7pm for an interview with Bob Costas.

Selig has also issued a statement in reaction to McGwire's admission. You can read both statements in full below:

McGwire's statement in full:

Now that I have become the hitting coach for the St. Louis Cardinals, I have the chance to do something that I wish I was able to do five years ago.

I never knew when, but I always knew this day would come. It's time for me to talk about the past and to confirm what people have suspected. I used steroids during my playing career and I apologize. I remember trying steroids very briefly in the 1989/1990 offseason and then after I was injured in 1993, I used steroids again. I used them on occasion throughout the nineties, including during the 1998 season.

I wish I had never touched steroids. It was foolish and it was a mistake. I truly apologize. Looking back, I wish I had never played during the steroid era.

During the mid-'90s, I went on the DL seven times and missed 228 games over five years. I experienced a lot of injuries, including a rib cage strain, a torn left heel muscle, a stress fracture of the left heel, and a torn right heel muscle. It was definitely a miserable bunch of years and I told myself that steroids could help me recover faster. I thought they would help me heal and prevent injuries too.

I'm sure people will wonder if I could have hit all those home runs had I never taken steroids. I had good years when I didn't take any and I had bad years when I didn't take any. I had good years when I took steroids and I had bad years when I took steroids. But no matter what, I shouldn't have done it and for that I'm truly sorry.

Baseball is really different now -- it's been cleaned up. The Commissioner and the Players Association implemented testing and they cracked down, and I'm glad they did.

I'm grateful to the Cardinals for bringing me back to baseball. I want to say thank you to Cardinals owner Mr. DeWitt, to my GM, John Mozeliak, and to my manager, Tony La Russa. I can't wait to put the uniform on again and to be back on the field in front of the great fans in Saint Louis. I've always appreciated their support and I intend to earn it again, this time as hitting coach. I'm going to pour myself into this job and do everything I can to help the Cardinals hitters become the best players for years to come.

After all this time, I want to come clean. I was not in a position to do that five years ago in my Congressional testimony, but now I feel an obligation to discuss this and to answer questions about it. I'll do that, and then I just want to help my team.

And, MLB Commissioner Bud Selig's statement:

"I am pleased that Mark McGwire has confronted his use of performance-enhancing substances as a player. Being truthful is always the correct course of action, which is why I had commissioned Senator George Mitchell to conduct his investigation. This statement of contrition, I believe, will make Mark's reentry into the game much smoother and easier.

"While we, along with all sports organizations, continue to battle the use of such drugs and continue the intensive search for a valid test for HGH, I believe our drug testing program is the toughest and most effective in professional sports. Last year in the Major Leagues, we had only two positives for steroids out of 3,722 tests. We have banned and aggressively test for amphetamines, substances which club doctors and professional athletic trainers have told me had presented serious problems for the sport for decades. Our minor league program will begin its 10th year in 2010. We conducted 8,995 tests in the minor leagues last year of which less than eight-tenths of one percent was positive.

"The use of steroids and amphetamines amongst today's players has greatly subsided and is virtually non-existent as our testing results have shown. 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."