Brother says he injected McGwire
John Shea, Chronicle Staff Writer
Saturday, February 27, 2010
(02-26) 21:33 PST -- Barry Bonds' single-season home run record can be traced to ... Mark McGwire's little brother.
If Bonds became a steroid user because of McGwire (see "Game of Shadows"), and if McGwire evolved as a juicer because of his little brother (see "Mark and Me"), then the squashing of Roger Maris' record started with the youngest of the five McGwire brothers, Jay.
"Somewhat, yeah. Who knows what would've happened if Mark didn't use steroids?" Jay McGwire said Friday in a Chronicle interview. "I don't know if he would've hit 70. That's pretty freaky right there. It motivated other athletes. Baseball didn't have a drug policy at all. It was a dream setup for athletes. I guarantee it drove Bonds to get competitive."
Jay McGwire was a professional bodybuilder based at Gold's Gym in Walnut Creek in 1994 when he began overseeing a training program for his brother that included steroids and human growth hormone - according to Jay's book ("Mark and Me: Mark McGwire and the Truth Behind Baseball's Worst-Kept Secret"), to be released Monday.
Jay was to his brother what Greg Anderson was to Bonds - without the grand jury testimony or perjury trial. But despite being estranged from Mark for eight years, he said, the book is "not about throwing my brother under the bus." Jay said it's about sharing his own story of a once-suicidal drug abuser saved by religion, sending a message to others to avoid steroids and even defending Mark for being much more than a steroid user.
"I didn't have regrets at the time. But later on, yes," said Jay, who now lives with his wife and three children in Corona (Riverside County) and recently opened his own gym. "At that time, I thought it was the right decision for Mark. I was a user and had good, clean stuff. I got him back on the field and performing."
Jay said he was the first to inject Mark (then with the A's) with steroids, four years before McGwire broke Maris' record (1998) and seven years before Bonds broke McGwire's record (2001). Jay said he stopped supplying his brother in 1996 when he stopped juicing himself.
Continued use
In his Jan. 11 admission, Mark said he continued using steroids while breaking Maris' record - "leftovers from what I gave him in '96, or maybe he ran into someone else," said Jay, who speculated that Mark was off steroids by his final season in 2001 if only because he was slowed by right knee tendinitis that juicing might have helped prevent.
If Mark had kept playing, Jay said, "He could've hit 700, 750, 800 home runs."
Mitchell Report investigators whiffed, said Jay, claiming he never was contacted. In his Dec. 13, 2007, report on baseball's steroid use to Commissioner Bud Selig, George Mitchell wrote that his people spoke with coaches, club personnel, ex-teammates and "other persons who know McGwire," and got nothing more than Jose Canseco repeating what he wrote in his memoir.
"I thought they were going to hunt me down," Jay said. "I was in the mode of protecting Mark. But if I was subpoenaed, I would obviously tell the truth. No one tried to reach me. People knew I was a bodybuilder, and you'd think they would put it together."
Jay said Selig and owners knew players were juicing in the '90s but ignored it because the home run jolt helped return fans to ballparks after the 1994-95 strike.
"Everyone's making money. You keep it hush-hush. They're not going to confront it," Jay said. "Tony (La Russa) says he never knew. I have a hard time believing it. Then again, they're winning. The crowds are bigger. Mark put 25,000 in the seats just for batting practice."
Jay said he didn't provide drugs to other athletes, including his brother, Dan, an ex-NFL quarterback. "We kept it under wraps at that time," Jay said. "Mark's like Tiger (Woods). He keeps quiet."
In the book, Jay writes of his dream to excel in team sports ending in high school when he lost his right eye in a BB gun accident. Bodybuilding became his passion, and he soaked up the lifestyle, including steroid use. He began spending a $150,000 insurance settlement on steroids and partying.
Seeing his kid brother's life deteriorating, Mark invited Jay to move to the East Bay in 1990, and Jay eventually persuaded him to try steroids to recover from injuries that shelved Mark most of the 1993 and 1994 seasons, introducing him to his Sacramento supplier, whom Jay refused to identify.
"Basically a guy I ran across," said Jay, who used the connection to win a Contra Costa County bodybuilding title and found another supplier for Mark in Walnut Creek. "These guys are behind the scenes. It takes a while to find someone you trust. There's a lot of fake stuff out there."
'Creating a masterpiece'
According to Jay, Mark began taking Deca Durabolin for strength and healing and HGH to keep him lean - and later added Winstrol and Primobolan, making him more flexible at 260 pounds than he was at 230. Jay said he also introduced Mark to androstenedione.
"In addition to the healing prospects I saw ahead for Mark," Jay wrote in the book, "I saw in him a blank canvas. I pictured what a beast he could become with the proper training, and I wanted to use my expertise to help create a masterpiece."
Jay said he tried reaching out to Mark since their relationship crumbled after a 2002 incident in which Jay's stepson tickled Mark, causing Mark to spill coffee and swat the child. Jay and his wife did not attend Mark's wedding, and the brothers haven't spoken.
"I guess that's how he wants it. I've tried," Jay said. "I'd love to have a relationship with him. I saw where he said he never wants to talk to me again. Well, we haven't talked in eight years."
