Teacher strips classroom of McGwire memorabilia

By: JENNIFER KABBANY - Staff Writer | Friday, March 18, 2005 11:54 PM PST ∞

TEMECULA ---- For years, Temecula Middle School teacher Bob Eilek proudly displayed in his classroom dozens of pieces of memorabilia honoring former baseball player Mark McGwire, who in 1998 broke Roger Maris' single-season home run record.

Come Monday, it will all be gone. Eilek, who teaches history, has decided McGwire, who has been implicated in baseball's steroid controversy, is no longer a hero, no longer someone to look up to. And he doesn't want his students to think so, either.

With a heavy and disappointed heart, Eilek stripped his classroom Friday of the McGwire collection ---- the signed baseball, tickets from the game where the home run record was broken, a Wheaties box, commemorative pins, posters, baseball cards, even the action figure that came out when McGwire started playing.

"I told my students that I could no longer present this material in the classroom," Eilek said. "He was a heroic figure at one time, but he tarnished that image by his alleged involvement in steroid use.

"It's a bummer. Everyone's a baseball fan."

Eilek said he told students in each period on Friday about his decision, which prompted good discussions about the situation.

McGwire, along with others in professional baseball, testified on Thursday before Congress about allegations of widespread steroid use among athletes. McGwire in the past has denied using steroids, but under oath repeatedly declined to respond directly, saying his lawyers advised him not to answer certain questions.

"Here is a guy who should have been a hero, but now he's a goat," Eilek said. "When he continually said, 'I won't discuss the past, I won't discuss the past' ---- you are innocent until proven guilty, but when you hide behind the Fifth (Amendment of the U.S. Constitution), you leave a cloud of suspicion."

Prior to the steroid allegations, Eilek's classroom collection was worth about $1,500, he said. Another collection at home was worth a couple thousand dollars, he said. Now he is not sure what it's worth, but he said he knows the collection's value has decreased.

But to Eilek, it wasn't about the money, he said, it was about giving the kids a hero, and capturing a piece of history. Now he plans to give it all to charity.

Four students who stuck around school Friday to help Eilek remove the items said they agree with their teacher's decision and appreciate that he talked with them about it.

"Ever since I heard the rumors, I thought they were true," said Nick Abbott, 13, about McGwire's alleged steroid use. "Steroids are bad, no good. Who would make stuff like that?"

His friend, Cody Ramaekers, 13, said he always thought McGwire was a "good guy."

"Everybody makes mistakes, but he didn't admit it," Cody said about the baseball legend.

And Brad Post, 13, said steroid use has hurt the sport.

"This is a scam to all baseball people," he said. "He hit all those home runs, had all those fans, and now we find out he cheated. He scammed everybody."

The Associated Press contributed to this report. Contact staff writer Jennifer Kabbany at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2625, or jkabbany@californian.com.

First name only. Comments including last names, contact addresses, email addresses or phone numbers will be deleted. All comments are screened before they appear online, so please keep them brief. Comments reflect the views of those commenting and not necessarily those of the North County Times or its staff writers. Click here to view additional comment policies.