No way Mac hits 70 clean: dealer
Curtis Wenzlaff says former Bash Brother and selfadmitted steroid user Mark McGwire should have gotten the Jeopardy buzzer when Big Mac said in a recent interview that he could have blasted his then-record 70 home runs without the aid of performance-enhancing drugs during the 1998 season. “I absolutely disagree (with McGwire),” Wenzlaff told the Daily News on Tuesday, following publication of McGwire’s interview with The Athletic, in which the former A’s and Cardinals player said he “absolutely” could have socked 70 homers in ’98 without chemical help.
Wenzlaff should know. The Daily News exclusively reported in 2005 that Wenzlaff was McGwire’s steroids dealer, and the explosive report was published days before McGwire appeared before a congressional committee investigating PED use in baseball. That was when McGwire famously testified that he was not there to “talk about the past.”
The 2005 News story identified Wenzlaff was McGwire’s steroids supplier through FBI sources and an FBI informant, but Wenzlaff would confirm the information in a 2010 ESPN story. Not only did he supply anabolic steroids to McGwire, but also to the other half of the A’s Bash Brother duo — Jose Canseco.
“Listen, Mark was a superior athlete to begin with, and steroids made him superhuman,” Wenzlaff told The News on Tuesday, referring to the steroid arrays he provided McGwire, which included Winstrol and synthetic testosterone. “If you want to write off that (steroids) helped build strength, speed and endurance, I don’t agree with that, but fine.
“What you can’t avoid is the recovery issue. I don’t care if you’re 18 or 80, you recover faster when you’re taking these kinds of steroids. You feel young and invincible at that age (McGwire was 34 in 1998), but I disagree that he could have hit 70 without (PEDs). Because of the recovery issue, it’s not a reality. He didn’t need steroids to hit 70? Jeopardy would make the buzzer sound on that one.”
During a 2010 interview with Bob Costas, when McGwire finally admitted his past steroid sins, Costas asked the tainted slugger if he could have whacked 70 home runs without the use of steroids. “Absolutely,” McGwire told Costas. “I was given the gift to hit home runs.”
McGwire also said in the Costas interview that he apologized to Roger Maris’ family, and that he used steroids throughout his career to aid in recovery. Maris broke Babe Ruth’s single-season homer record (60 in 1927) when he hit 61 homers during the 1961 season.
“I didn’t want to look like Arnold Schwarzenegger. The wear and tear of 162 ballgames, and the status of where I was at, and the pressures that I had to perform, and what I had to go through to try to get through all these injuries, it’s a very, very regrettable thing. I wish it never came into my life,” McGwire told Costas in 2010.
Eight years later, Costas said he is just as miffed about McGwire’s remarks to The Athletic in 2018 as he was with Big Mac’s comments in 2010.
“I’ve always had a very good relationship with McGwire, and he’s one of the nicer guys in baseball,” Costas said of the current Padres bench coach. “And there is no question, that he and (Barry) Bonds were students of hitting. But when McGwire hit 70 in 1998, he did so in 509 at-bats. When Bonds hit 73 home runs in 2001, he did it in 476 at-bats and he was intentionally walked 35 times (Bonds had 177 walks in ’01).
“That’s the most telling stat — the home run ratio per at-bat,” added Costas. “Three players since 1961 have topped 60 home runs in a season, and all three (Bonds, McGwire and Sammy Sosa) are connected to PED use. Even though home runs in general are at a high level once again, no individual is doing this.” (In comparison, Ruth hit the 60 homers in ’27 in 540 atbats and he was walked 137 times. Maris needed 590 at-bats in 1961 and was walked 94 times.)
“They’re not just steroids. They’re called performance-enhancing drugs because they enhance performance,” said Costas.
Wenzlaff became ensnared in a federal investigation into steroids distribution called Operation Equine. Retired FBI agent Greg Stejskal, who was the lead agent for Equine, told The News Tuesday that there is “not any question steroids give you an advantage” in sports.
“It begs the question — if McGwire said he could have done it without steroids, why the hell was he using them?” Stejskal asked. “And why bother apologizing to the Maris family? Steroids increase everything — your ability to recover, your bat speed. I don’t think anyone will argue that McGwire was a talented hitter. But steroids make a difference.”
The one person who agrees with McGwire’s comment is Canseco. “We are giving way too much emphasis to what steroids really do,” Canseco told The News on Tuesday. “Steroids don’t improve hand/eye coordination. Do I believe Mark McGwire could have hit 70 home runs without PEDs? Absolutely.”