Victor Conte Calls Mark McGwire Delusional for Belief That Steroids Didnt Help Him
Victor Conte Calls Mark McGwire Delusional for Belief That Steroids Didnt Help Him
Mark McGwire used
anabolic steroids and performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) from 1989 throughout the late 1990s. But McGwire doesn’t think they helped him much. In his mind, he could have
hit 70 home runs even if he never touched steroids. Victor Conte thinks McGwire is downright delusional.
"I think Mark McGwire is deluded if he thinks he would have hit 70 home runs without using PEDs in 1998,” Conte told Josh Peter of USA Today on April 9, 2018. “I don't think he would have achieved 50 home runs without PEDs.''
Conte knows a thing or two about
anabolic steroids. He was the founder of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative (BALCO). BALCO was ground zero for the biggest
steroid scandal ever to engulf Major Leauge Baseball (MLB). As the mastermind behind the BALCO steroid scandal, Conte provided PEDs to numerous high-level professional athletes in a variety of sports. And Conte instructed the athletes on how to use the drugs while avoiding detection.
Conte’s secret weapon was the use of “
The Clear” and “
The Cream”. “The Cream” was a transdermal
testosterone cream that would quickly enter and leave the system without triggering any of the existig anti-doping screens. “The Clear” was a designer
anabolic steroid called tetrahydrogestrinone (
THG). THG was first synthesized by organic chemist Patrick Arnold. THG is on the few truly novel anabolic steroids synthesized in the last 50 years.
Conte was eventually caught and convicted of steroid distribution. He served four months in a minimum security prison as punishment in 2006.
It has been 20 years since Mark McGwire broke Roger Maris’ single-season home run record. McGwire obliterated Maris’ record of 61 with an astonishing 70 home runs in 1998. The 1998 MLB was memorable due to McGwire’s epic home run record chase with Sammy Sosa. McGwire obviously won with 70 home runs. Sosa finished with 66 home runs.
McGwire’s standing as the single season home run record holder was short-lived. Barry Bonds hit 73 home runs three years later in 2001. Bonds happened to be Conte’s biggest client. Bonds eventually admitted to using “The Clear” and “The Cream” but claim that he had no idea the products contained anabolic steroids.
Bonds has maintained that he never knowingly used anabolic steroids up until the present day. McGwire, on the other hand, eventually (and tearfully) admitted using steroids for most of his career in 2010.
Source:
Peter, J. (April 9, 2018). Victor Conte says Mark McGwire needed PEDs to break home run records. Retrieved from usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2018/04/09/victor-conte-mark-mcgwire-70-homers-peds/501513002/