Mark McGwire's One-Eyed Baby Brother Reveals The Not-So-Startling Truth

Jay McGwire idolized his older brothers, became hooked on steroids, crashed, found God, and now wants to share his story with the world. He also claims he introduced the fallen home run hero to 'roids.

"THE MCGWIRE FAMILY SECRET:The Truth about Steroids, a Slugger, and Ultimate Redemption" has been hitting the desks of the big publishing houses this week (and turned down by many) even though it may prove once and for all that, yes, America, Mark McGwire was pumped full of Deca-Durabolin when he hit 403 homers in seven years. That is if you believe, Jay, the youngest, least successful McGwire brother who lost an eye in a BB gun accident as a young boy (for real) then used the $150,000 insurance settlement he received from it to purchase high-end steroids and build himself into a 6-ft.3, 320 pound professional bodybuilder. Mark became interested in steroids once he saw the positive effects it had on his little brother's physique and to help him with his chronic injury problems . Jay began hooking his brother up with light dosages and the home run records began to fall. And why is Jay under-the-busing Mark like this you ask? Here's what he says:

"Mark is a man I think most would like to forgive because his reason wasn’t nefarious—it was for survival. My bringing the truth to surface about Mark is out of love. I want Mark to live in truth to see the light, to come to repentance so he can live in freedom—which is the only way to live. "

Oh, and, if you didn't know, he and Mark haven't spoken in quite some time.

Here are some excerpts from the proposal that will most likely never, ever hit a book store:

• "Shortly after I won the Contra Costa Bodybuilding Championships in May of 1994, Mark took the plunge. I accompanied him to Sacramento where we met with my supplier and trainer, who explained to him how the different drugs would work on his body and answered a myriad of questions from Mark. Given Mark’s curiosity and lack of knowledge about steroids I saw from Mark, I would be shocked if Mark did something like what Jose Canseco claimed happened back in the early years....[M]ark began to use, but in low dosages so he wouldn’t lift his way out of baseball. Deca-Durabolin helped with his joint problems and recovery, while growth hormone helped his strength, making him leaner in the process. I became the first person to inject him, like most first-timers he couldn’t plunge in the needle himself. Later a girlfriend injected him."

• "Prior to the 1998 season, [Mark] had reached a level where he did not need to get any stronger and he couldn’t afford to add any more weight. So I directed him to androstenedione testosterone booster, which is non-hormonal (which is why it can be sold legally and is not affected by the 2004 Anabolic Steroid Control Act) and works naturally with your body. “Andro” increases strength and aggression while promoting reduction of body fat and a leaner look to the physique....[U]sing andro allowed Mark to avoid all the potential adverse side effects that could occur from using anabolic steroids, such as water retention, hair loss, and liver, heart, or kidney stress. In addition, he wouldn’t have cholesterol problems or testicular atrophy. And there were no problems with the law."

• "We had Mark and his fiancée over one day to visit our house and things sort of got out of control with my nine-year-old stepson, Eric, when he bumped Mark accidentally and coffee spilled on Mark’s clothes. Mark picked him up and yelled at him and swatted him on his butt like a parent. After that you could hear a pin drop in that room. Everyone was shocked. This is where it all hit the fan, right before Mark’s wedding. That’s when the relationship got strained... It was uncharacteristic of Mark to do something like that. In St. Louis, he supported all these abused children foundations, even had his own foundation. I wouldn’t call a swat on the butt abuse, but it wasn’t his place. I’d never seen him react that way before; he just got pissed. He overreacted. After that my wife, Francine, didn’t want to go to the wedding. Mark was upset about that. The whole situation was just very irritable and not good. Now Francine doesn’t like him. And Dan has experienced the same thing; his wife doesn’t like Mark, either, but for different reasons."

• "Pleading the fifth just wasn’t the way to go. I thought he received some bad advice from the attorneys on that tact. I sat there hoping he would confess. Even though we’d had a falling out, I felt for Mark; he took a beating that day. Had he just taken the same route as Jason Giambi or Andy Pettitte, and said he was sorry, nobody would be worried about what he did today. He didn’t. Still, on TV that day, I didn’t want to see him mess up. I was pulling for him... I’ve heard speculation that Mark will never get into the Hall of Fame. To some that might really get to them. Take Pete Rose. I think he would cut off his left arm to be enshrined in Cooperstown. Not Mark. I don’t think being in the Hall of Fame matters a lick to him."

• "Who knows what might have happened if I didn’t get Mark involved with all the training, supplements, the right foods, steroids, and HGH. He would not have broken any records and the Congressional Hearings would have gone on without him. Maybe Barry Bonds wouldn’t have ever gotten involved with the stuff, either. Mark McGwire might have gone silently into the night long before breaking Roger Maris’ home run record. But that’s just not the way it went down, so we’ll never know. But at least I feel better about setting the record straight."

Send an email to A.J. Daulerio, the author of this post, at ajd@deadspin.com.

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