Jay McGwire pitching book detailing brother Mark McGwire's steroid use
BY MICHAEL O'KEEFFE
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER
Updated Thursday, January 22nd 2009, 3:02 PM
Mark McGwire may still refuse to talk about the past, but his little brother is apparently more than happy to spill the family secrets about performance-enhancing drugs.
Deadspin.com reported Wednesday that Jay McGwire has been shopping a book proposal to major publishing houses that claims he introduced the scandal-stained slugger to steroids and that he also used human growth hormone.
In the proposal for "The McGwire Family Secret," Jay McGwire says he used a $150,000 insurance settlement from a BB gun accident that cost him an eye to purchase steroids. Jay McGwire writes that Mark started juicing after watching his brother build himself into a 6-3, 320-pound professional bodybuilder.
According to Deadspin.com, Jay McGwire claims he introduced his brother to a steroid dealer shortly after he won a bodybuilding contest in May 1994. The supplier, who was also a trainer, explained how different drugs affected the body and answered his brother's questions.
In the proposal, Jay McGwire said his brother used low dosages of drugs so that he wouldn't become too bulky for baseball. Jay said Mark used Deca-Durabolin to recover from workouts and ease joint pain.
In his 2005 book "Juiced," Jose Canseco wrote that he began injecting Mark McGwire with steroids in 1988, when they were teammates with the Oakland A's. "I injected Mark in the bathrooms at the (Oakland) Coliseum more times than I can remember," Canseco said. "Sometimes we did it before batting practice, sometimes afterward. It was no big deal."
The Daily News reported in March 2005, four days before McGwire's now-infamous congressional appearance in which he claimed that he wasn't there "to talk about the past," that a steroid dealer named Curtis Wenzlaff provided illegal anabolic steroids to both Canseco and McGwire when they were in Oakland.
Jay McGwire's book proposal describes an idyllic childhood as the youngest of four boys in an exceptionally athletic family (another brother, Dan McGwire, was an NFL quarterback). The youngest McGwire says he stopped using steroids when he started feeling ill effects from the drugs - depression, high cholesterol, high blood pressure - and embraced religion. The McGwire brothers have had a falling-out and no longer speak to each other. Mark Mc-Gwire avoids the spotlight - he has repeatedly turned down Tony LaRussa's invitations to attend St.Louis Cardinal training camps as a hitting instructor - but his younger brother says his story needs to be told.
"My bringing the truth to the surface about Mark is out of love," Jay McGwire wrote. "I want Mark to live in truth to see the light, to come to repentance so he can live in freedom - which is the only way to live."
The bodybuilding McGwire said his brother received bad advice before the March 2005 hearing. He believes his brother would not be living in self-imposed exile if he had admitted making mistakes and apologized like Jason Giambi and Andy Pettitte.
McGwire's 583 career home runs once seemed an automatic pass to the Hall of Fame, but he received less than 25% of the vote this year, far short of the 75% required.
In the book proposal, Jay McGwire said that while other players may be devastated, his brother probably doesn't care. The Hall of Fame, according to Jay McGwire, is just another museum for Mark.
BY MICHAEL O'KEEFFE
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER
Updated Thursday, January 22nd 2009, 3:02 PM
Mark McGwire may still refuse to talk about the past, but his little brother is apparently more than happy to spill the family secrets about performance-enhancing drugs.
Deadspin.com reported Wednesday that Jay McGwire has been shopping a book proposal to major publishing houses that claims he introduced the scandal-stained slugger to steroids and that he also used human growth hormone.
In the proposal for "The McGwire Family Secret," Jay McGwire says he used a $150,000 insurance settlement from a BB gun accident that cost him an eye to purchase steroids. Jay McGwire writes that Mark started juicing after watching his brother build himself into a 6-3, 320-pound professional bodybuilder.
According to Deadspin.com, Jay McGwire claims he introduced his brother to a steroid dealer shortly after he won a bodybuilding contest in May 1994. The supplier, who was also a trainer, explained how different drugs affected the body and answered his brother's questions.
In the proposal, Jay McGwire said his brother used low dosages of drugs so that he wouldn't become too bulky for baseball. Jay said Mark used Deca-Durabolin to recover from workouts and ease joint pain.
In his 2005 book "Juiced," Jose Canseco wrote that he began injecting Mark McGwire with steroids in 1988, when they were teammates with the Oakland A's. "I injected Mark in the bathrooms at the (Oakland) Coliseum more times than I can remember," Canseco said. "Sometimes we did it before batting practice, sometimes afterward. It was no big deal."
The Daily News reported in March 2005, four days before McGwire's now-infamous congressional appearance in which he claimed that he wasn't there "to talk about the past," that a steroid dealer named Curtis Wenzlaff provided illegal anabolic steroids to both Canseco and McGwire when they were in Oakland.
Jay McGwire's book proposal describes an idyllic childhood as the youngest of four boys in an exceptionally athletic family (another brother, Dan McGwire, was an NFL quarterback). The youngest McGwire says he stopped using steroids when he started feeling ill effects from the drugs - depression, high cholesterol, high blood pressure - and embraced religion. The McGwire brothers have had a falling-out and no longer speak to each other. Mark Mc-Gwire avoids the spotlight - he has repeatedly turned down Tony LaRussa's invitations to attend St.Louis Cardinal training camps as a hitting instructor - but his younger brother says his story needs to be told.
"My bringing the truth to the surface about Mark is out of love," Jay McGwire wrote. "I want Mark to live in truth to see the light, to come to repentance so he can live in freedom - which is the only way to live."
The bodybuilding McGwire said his brother received bad advice before the March 2005 hearing. He believes his brother would not be living in self-imposed exile if he had admitted making mistakes and apologized like Jason Giambi and Andy Pettitte.
McGwire's 583 career home runs once seemed an automatic pass to the Hall of Fame, but he received less than 25% of the vote this year, far short of the 75% required.
In the book proposal, Jay McGwire said that while other players may be devastated, his brother probably doesn't care. The Hall of Fame, according to Jay McGwire, is just another museum for Mark.
