Posts Tagged media crisis

So Mark McGwire finally confesses to Bob Costas that the home run slugger took steroids in the 1990s—shocking! I will begrudgingly give credit to McGwire for subjecting himself to a no-holds-barred interview with Bob Costas, but McGwire falls way short when it comes to putting out messages that would restore his image. Costas tried every which way to get McGwire to concede that possibly, maybe, there was a teensy tiny possibility that steroids could have enhanced McGwire’s ability to hit homeruns. McGuire was as insistent that the steroids had no impact on his playing abilities as a 70s era tobacco company executives were in there belief that there was no link between smoking and lung cancer.

McGwire helped repair (slightly) is PR image among fans and the public, but he will never be seen as a Hank Aaron or Babe Ruth. McGwire did score points by revealing how his injuries kept him in constant pain in the 90s when he was playing. Steroids and growth hormone allowed him to keep his job and play the game (and not become a used car salesman like other ball players). But now the issue is not whether McGwire is just like other ball players, but whether he deserves to be in the Hall of Fame with all of the greats of the game. At this rate, McGwire still has many years of public penance before he will ever be given that ultimate honor.