Cardinals manager Tony La Russa, who had Mark McGwire on his teams in Oakland as well as St. Louis, angrily fired back Sunday at former A's star Jose Canseco. Canseco, according to a New York Daily News story published on the weekend, claims in his upcoming book that he injected McGwire with steroids and that McGwire and Jason Giambi injected each other with steroids while all were with the A's.
"I just hope that the paper that made a big deal of Jose's accusations gives the same attention to those of us who know Mark," La Russa said. "I couldn't disagree more. I categorically refuse to accept anything that Jose says about Mark."
La Russa said that upon hearing of the Canseso book he talked to Cardinals coach Dave McKay, who was involved with McGwire's workouts in Oakland and St. Louis.
"The biggest key for McGwire is that all of his strength and size gains came from five or six days a week of hitting the gym with a very disciplined workout, his protein intake and careful dieting," La Russa said. "He was probably in the gym 10 times more than Jose, and Jose was bigger."
La Russa added that McGwire, as the latter admitted, also had taken androstenedione, which was a legal supplement in baseball until last year..
"I've seen (McGwire's) workouts and I've seen what he went through," La Russa said. "I shake my head at Jose taking a personal thing and ... making excuses for himself by demeaning someone else. It reminds me of when he was trying to come back with Montreal and he got cut. He claimed baseball was trying to blackball him. This was a time when baseball was looking for players all over the place, and they're blackballing Jose?"
La Russa questioned Canseco's motivation in writing the book.
"The more sensational the actions, obviously the better chance he has to recover some of his money. My guess is that he's in dire straits for finances," La Russa said. "And it's almost a human condition that he's probably jealous as hell of Mark - that Mark's kept his life together instead of what Jose did to himself. I think it's a matter of needing money and being jealous."
Given McGwire's close friendship with Giambi - Giambi has admitted using steroids - La Russa said, "It's a nice, convenient shot for Jose to take at McGwire and Giambi."
McGwire set the single-season home run record in 1998 at 70 (since broken by Barry Bonds) and hit 583 home runs for his career. But La Russa noted that McGwire was a home run hitter as a slender, 6-foot-5 player in his rookie season, 1987.
"His first season in the big leagues, he hit 49," La Russa said. "He had some back issues and if he had stayed healthy, he might have hit 60 that year. He was a unique home run hitter from the first day and he became a great hitter as he got smarter about pitching and hitting situations."
Canseco's book, "Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant 'Roids, Smash Hits, and How Baseball Got Big," published by Regan Books, is slated to be in bookstores on Feb. 21.
Besides implicating McGwire and Giambi, Canseco claimed in the book that he taught former Texas teammates Pudge Rodriguez, Rafael Palmeiro and Juan Gonzalez how to use steroids.
And Canseco also charged that the Rangers' general managing partner, future President George W. Bush, had to have been aware that the team's players were using performance-enhancing drugs.
McGwire was unavailable to comment Sunday, but the Daily News ran in its editions what it said was a statement from McGwire. "I have always told the truth and I am saddened that I continue to face this line of questioning. With regard to this book, I am reserving comment until I have the chance to review its contents myself," McGwire's statement read.
The Daily News quoted one baseball official as largely agreeing with La Russa. The official said that Canseco's claims in the book about steroids and rampant sexual impropriety in baseball were nonsense.
i don't belive it.
