McGwire Back in Baseball, as Cardinals Hitting Coach

Slugger admits drugs helped him break home run record

(AP) - Mark McGwire has finally come clean, admitting he used steroids when he broke baseball's home run record in 1998. McGwire says in a statement to the AP that he used steroids on and off for nearly a decade. He also apologized for his actions. Said the newly appointed St. Louis Cardinals hitting coach: "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." More»

Steroid suspicions mean he doesn't deserve it, say some

(NEWSER) - Mark McGwire Highway leads out of downtown St. Louis—but some local lawmakers would love to see the road rechristened, the Chicago Tribune reports. Four years ago, the slugger said he wouldn’t “talk about the past” in congressional hearings, prompting suspicion over steroid use. A batch of politicians have since attempted to rename the piece of I-70 labeled in his honor. More»

Winningest manager in team history gets two-season deal

(NEWSER) - Tony La Russa, Cardinals manager for the past twelve years, will stick around for two more, reports the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. A disappointing 78-84 season to cap his previous three-year deal, plus instability at general manager, had the four-time Manager of the Year initially uncertain as to whether he'd return. More»

Confessed steroid user is no victim

(NEWSER) - Mark McGwire's acknowledgment that he used steroids is no surprise to "anyone with a lick of sense," and the backlash now that he's finally fessed up shouldn't come as a shock, either. "Like all confessions that are motivated by public relations as opposed to, say, police interrogation, this one has many of the hallmarks of phoniness we've come to expect," writes Craig Calcaterra for MSNBC . More»

(NEWSER) - The Baseball Writers’ Association of America—which decides the annual Hall of Fame class—has voted down an attempt to make new guidelines for players implicated in steroid use, the AP reports. Chicago Sun-Times columnist Rick Telander had suggested a committee be formed to create new rules that acknowledged the effect of recent doping scandals; the motion was voted down, 30-25. More»