Don't look now, but another name from Mark McGwire's past is dragging the former slugger back into the spotlight by tying him to steroid use.

According to a report on Deadspin, Jay McGwire, Mark's estranged younger brother, has started shopping a tell-all book proposal to New York publishing houses. Currently titled The McGwire Family Secret, the book reportedly details how bodybuilder Jay introduced Mark to steroids in 1994, a time when injuries were threatening to derail Big Mac's big league career. McGwire's career experienced a revival in '95 and he hit 345 home runs over the next seven seasons, including a then record-breaking 70 in the summer of '98. 

Jay says that Mark started using small doses of Deca-Durabolin to help with recovery and that he switched to the now-infamous andro in '98 because it was legal and he didn't need to add any more muscle mass. 

He also claims that he's only airing out the dirty laundry because the rarely-out-in-public McGwire is busy passing J.D. Salinger as America's top recluse and that helping him clear the air will help the country "forgive" his brother.

Jay's reasoning for "coming clean" (via Deadspin):

"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. "

No one has yet bought Jay's proposal and it's worth noting that his act of wanting forgiveness for Mark is laced with hypocrisy — the two brothers haven't talked in years. Accordingly, the New York Times reported on Friday that the book proposal has not attracted very much interest. One publisher specifically expressed distaste over buying a book that centers around a "brother ratting out a brother."  

From the New York Times:

"There are so many things about it that I find suspect," said David Hirshey, the executive editor of HarperCollins. "If Jay McGwire is to be believed, he says he is setting the record straight out of quote love unquote for his brother, although a cynic might say it's out of love for a big payday."

Since we probably have a better chance of finding Osama bin Laden than getting Mark McGwire to go on record, the confident guess here is that Mark will stay silent on the whole story and  Jay's book will either stay in the round file or it'll be picked up by a risk-taking publisher who will get less-than-impressive sales results. In other words, Jay McGwire's buzz and impact on the baseball world may have already reached its apex this week.

What do you think?