Admitted steroid user Mark McGwire has been blind-sided by criticism ever since he went public with his steroid past last month and said he used performance-enhancing drugs only for health purposes.
From Hall of Famer Carlton Fisk to former Cardinals slugger Jack Clark to Budweiser scion Adolphus A. Busch IV, McGwire has been verbally skewered. But his sharpest critic is his brother, Jay McGwire, a former bodybuilder, who said in an ESPN interview that there is no question the former single-season home run king's slugging prowess was helped by performance-enhancing drugs.
"(Mark) knows that he (was) getting stronger and bigger, come on," Jay McGwire told ESPN. "He is coming across that it is only for health reasons, but he put on 30 pounds of lean muscle mass. That is why a lot of people don't understand why he is not really coming out clean like that. Why not just admit it all? It is OK. Everyone knows how powerful these drugs are."
Jay McGwire's book, "Mark and Me: Mark Mc-Gwire and the Truth Behind Baseball's Worst-Kept Secret," is set for release Monday. It details how the younger McGwire supplied the slugger with steroids in the early '90s, when Mark McGwire morphed into a baseball behemoth.
McGwire, who played for the A's and Cardinals and socked a then-record 70 homers in 1998, is the St.Louis hitting coach. Jay McGwire said in the ESPN interview that he finds it hard to believe that his brother couldn't recall the names of the steroids he took throughout his career and that McGwire's long-time manager Tony La Russa was oblivious to Big Mac's steroid use until last month's public admission.
"Man, I don't want to put words in his mouth," McGwire said, referring to La Russa. "But come on, you're around sports. Are you kidding me? You have to know something is going on."
From Hall of Famer Carlton Fisk to former Cardinals slugger Jack Clark to Budweiser scion Adolphus A. Busch IV, McGwire has been verbally skewered. But his sharpest critic is his brother, Jay McGwire, a former bodybuilder, who said in an ESPN interview that there is no question the former single-season home run king's slugging prowess was helped by performance-enhancing drugs.
"(Mark) knows that he (was) getting stronger and bigger, come on," Jay McGwire told ESPN. "He is coming across that it is only for health reasons, but he put on 30 pounds of lean muscle mass. That is why a lot of people don't understand why he is not really coming out clean like that. Why not just admit it all? It is OK. Everyone knows how powerful these drugs are."
Jay McGwire's book, "Mark and Me: Mark Mc-Gwire and the Truth Behind Baseball's Worst-Kept Secret," is set for release Monday. It details how the younger McGwire supplied the slugger with steroids in the early '90s, when Mark McGwire morphed into a baseball behemoth.
McGwire, who played for the A's and Cardinals and socked a then-record 70 homers in 1998, is the St.Louis hitting coach. Jay McGwire said in the ESPN interview that he finds it hard to believe that his brother couldn't recall the names of the steroids he took throughout his career and that McGwire's long-time manager Tony La Russa was oblivious to Big Mac's steroid use until last month's public admission.
"Man, I don't want to put words in his mouth," McGwire said, referring to La Russa. "But come on, you're around sports. Are you kidding me? You have to know something is going on."