In in a statement released by the St. Louis Cardinal he said :
"I'm sure people will wonder if I could have hit all those home runs had I never taken steroids. I had good years when I didn't take any and I had bad years when I didn't take any. I had good years when I took steroids and I had bad years when I took steroids. But no matter what, I shouldn't have done it and for that I'm truly sorry"
Part of the statement reads:
The team, for whom McGwire played in '98, had hired McGwire as hitting coach in October but had yet to face the media. His reputation took a major hit -- and the suspicion that he used steroids multiplied -- when in a 2005 hearing before a House of Representatives committee he declined to address the matter, saying only, "I'm not going to go into the past or talk about my past. I'm here to make a positive influence on this," and "My lawyers have advised me that I cannot answer these questions without jeopardizing my friends, my family and myself."