Sports Radio Service


		McGwire: steroid kiss and tell kissed off by publishers By Ken Gimblin and Joe Cronin January 23, 2009

	SAN FRANCISCO--Marion Jones, Mark McGwire, brother Jay McGwire, Barry Bonds and newly retired Jeff Kent there is a lot to talk about in today's edition. We start first with McGwire brother Jay whose tell all book talks about his elder brother Mark McGwire at first glance it looked like fodder for the prosecution in the perjury trial of Barry Bonds. Perhaps an opportunity to bring in another witness with not only a new book about a big league brother and Major League slugger with lots of clout but in the know as to where all the bodies are buried. According to publishers sought by brother Jay McGwire he has been turned down by some prestigious names about the book titled: The McGwire Family Secret: The Truth About Steroids, a Slugger and Ultimate Redemption." Jay whose had a strained relationship with Mark says he's doing the book out of brotherly love but HarperCollins executive David Hirshey says it's done more primarily out of making a buck, "If Jay McGwire is to be believed, he says he is setting the record straight out of quote "love" unquote for his brother, although a cynic might say it's out of love for a big pay day." Jay makes claim that he injected McGwire and introduced McGwire to steroids in 1994 but that contradicts the claim that ex-team mate Jose Canseco made in his book that came out in 2005 saying that he first injected McGwire in 1988. Jay made a 58 page proposal to other publishers including Penguin Group USA that said that not only there were inaccuracies in the time line of when McGwire was supposedly introduced to steroids but it would be a marketing turn off about a brother ratting out another brother. The new wrinkle of the book material is that there is some content Jay is talking about regarding steroid use, injections, the time line of those, his access to any drugs that he might have allegedly introduced to McGwire and if he can prove such. Although the publishers have no interest in publishing the book prosecutors in the Bonds perjury trial may want to see what Jay is talking about and to see if they can draw any lines at Bonds at trial in terms of where Jay was getting the steroids and from who and if he was getting them from the BALCO labs? McGwire forgetting the past coaching the future: McGwire is showing the ropes to some veteran players at his Los Angeles home. McGwire with his roots firmly in place with his first team the Oakland A's has lent a hand to current Athletics Matt Holiday and Bobby Crosby. Holliday aware of Crosby missing a portion of last season wanted to help Crosby get fine tuned as they get prepared to go into spring training in February. "From what I've seen, it's a drastic difference. The ball is coming off the bat well, he looks good to me, I think it's helped him a lot and it looks like he's getting confidence. From the first day now, he looks a lot different." said Holliday. Crosby mentioned that the difference in his approach now is the slightly wider stance that McGwire had in his playing days. Crosby was meeting the ball in the indoor practice sessions and felt value in the lessons, "It helps with contact, with consistency and with power, everything I'm looking for. I know I haven't had the best couple of years, I'm not blind to that, but I know I can still play well. I've had success at this level and it just takes a tweak here and there. I haven't played to what the fans think I should play to and I haven't played to what I think I should play to, so I'm excited to work on this new stuff." said Crosby At one time McGwire was considered for a coaches position in helping out the players but he thought the better of it and so did the A's and some other teams who were thinking about it considering the Congressional hearings and what it did to McGwire's image. Kent's relationship with media might have fueled quitting: He retires effective immediately from the game but ex-Giant second baseman Jeff Kent sat and paused at Thursday's press conference in L.A. about his days as a Giant saying it was his best years and that he had a deep appreciation about San Francisco. The subject of any knowledge of Barry Bonds steroid use was off limits and he would not answer any questions regarding the subject. During his playing days with Bonds at the Giants upon departing the Giants he said that Babo should "come clean" on his steroids use. Kent would not comment on Barry Bonds only to say his best times career wise was in a Giant uniform, "We always talked about Barry, but we had other great players. On all the teams I played for, San Francisco sits the deepest in my heart. It was hard to express that when I was in L.A. or Houston, but the Giants had a bigger impact on my career than any other organization I played for." said Kent Kent sited that he's leaving the game to spend more time with his family after playing 17 seasons at the big league level. That his kids have asked him to stay home and that packing up and leaving for spring training was the hardest thing to do. Other sources have said that Kent's relationship over the years with the media might be another reason why he's glad to be leaving that game. There was the story about his supposedly washing his truck in spring training when he was with the Giants and he hurt himself washing the truck. Later being accused of riding his motorcycle and hurting himself. Also the publicity over the blow up in the dugout in San Diego when Bonds pushed Kent and Bonds had to be restrained after some jawing between them. Then there was his fueled arguments that he had against former team mate and Dodger Milton Bradley after coming to L.A. and playing with Bradley. Kent didn't leave on the best terms from San Francisco having had run ins with Giant executives over salaries, team personalities, Bonds, and team club house rules all in all Kent had no hard feelings toward former Giant General Managing Partner Peter Magowan who didn't do some of things that Kent wanted changed and had complained about. Kent's surly reputation won't hold him back from a Hall of Fame bid as some of his best years took place in San Francisco going 100 RBIs every season with the team, he broke Rogers Hornsby franchise record for a second baseman with 128 RBIs in 1998 and won the National League MVP Award in 2000 and for Kent 2002 was memorable it was the year that he and Bonds and the Giants went to the World Series against the Anaheim Angels. Only two former players attended Kent's retirement press conference at Dodgers Stadium on Thursday, former Blue Jay Dave Winfield and former Giant and current Dodger shortstop Jose Vizcaino. Marion Jones: Jones whose close relationship with BALCO founder Victor Conte who admitted steroid distribution and served a few months prison time. Jones has once again denied steroid use and said that she unknowingly used steroids regarding use of the Clear. Jones was convicted of perjury for making false statements to IRS Agent Jeff Novitzky saying that she never took steroids and later confessed. Jones now stating that she was not taking steroids which was found to be false after blood and urine samples show otherwise. Doping calendars and ledgers also marked M.J. showed dates of her first injection and how long until she needed to be injected again. On one specific calendar in the evidence exhibit March 2001 showed the first injection took place for EPO Erytropoietin on the 23rd of that month later on the 26th and 28th Jones took more EPO shots and on the 29th she was given the Clear and on the 30th she was given the Clear and EPO. It is believed that the Feds have doping calendars in their possession confiscated from Bonds personal trainer Greg Anderson in a home raid in his former Burlingame home which showed similar dates when Bonds was given the Cream and the Clear. Conte said that both products were undetectable steroids and gave the athlete a much more guided advantage in strength, power, endurance, and size without detection. With the Bonds trial coming up on March 2nd it's quite possible that those involved in the steroids doping case whether they distributed or had knowledge could be called to the witness stand to share what they knew about BALCO and steroid distribution. Ken Gimblin and Joe Cronin are covering the Barry Bonds BALCO/steroids trial.