Busch, Herzog Slam The Big Mac

Alden Gonzalez is reporting on MLB.com that former Cardinal Manager Whitey Herzog and Adolphus Busch IV, the great-great grandson of Anheuser-Busch founder Adolphus Busch, whose family owned the team from 1953-1996, are not happy with the way the organization has acted in the McGwire affair.

First, portions of Herzog's comments:

"I don't want to comment on steroids because they're all lying," the Appleton Post-Crescent reported Herzog as saying. "And they're still lying. They get on steroids because they say they want to get back on the field. The reason they're on steroids is because they got injured because they were taking steroids. Because their muscles grow too fast, and every time they make a false move, they slip and pull something. It's always a pulled muscle, rib cage, a minor something."

Busch also takes a turn slamming Big Mac:

"McGwire is not apologizing for his deceit, only for the embarrassment that came from his admission of having previously lied," Busch said in a statement issued Thursday. "The timing of his announcement at the start of a new baseball season has allowed him to hide behind the frenzy of a new Cardinal season and the blinding faith of Cardinal loyalists."

Busch also lashed out at Cardinals manager Tony La Russa, who said he was not aware of McGwire's steroid use when he served as his manager with the Athletics and Cardinals.

"McGwire has chosen to come out of the closet at the perfect time -- alongside a manager who also refuses to be honest, to the fans or to the game itself," Busch said. "After all, why would Tony La Russa hire a hitting coach whose lifetime batting average was only .263?


"He was paid millions while perpetrating a fraud."