Like a lot of people, we got pretty excited when we saw quotes from former bodybuilder Jay McGwire, and heard whispers about the possibility of a tell-all book. After all, who wouldn’t be excited about a tome from a man who looks like a dead-ringer for the Gold’s Gym logo? It never hurt that there were quotes about his brother Mark’s steroid use in there, which sure seemed to make the book a ready-packaged winner at Barnes & Nobles. Well, evidently we were in the minority, because all the publishers who have seen Jay McGwire’s 58-page proposal have passed on it … rapidly.

(What we didn’t know: Big Mac was drinking the clear in this ad.)

In a story printed in today’s NEW YORK TIMES, executive editors, publishers and presidents of HarperCollins, Gotham Books and Penguin Group USA (via Gotham), all said they had serious doubts about the younger McGwire’s claims … and that even if they didn’t, they wondered if the concept would sell anyway:

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Mark McGwire used a ton of performance-enhancing drugs during his baseball career. Everybody knows it without really knowing it; between the unprecedented power, the rapid muscle growth, and the fiffin in front of Congress, there was no rational explanation for his behavior other than “roid roid roid.” But at the same time, nobody except for half-man, half-cartoon Jose Canseco has ever claimed to be there when the usage went down, so there’s that shred of ambiguity. Where’s the stone-solid proof that puts McGwire in direct contact with steroids?

(Here it is!)

Unfortunately for McGwire, that aforementioned shred of ambiguity can be sold for an unholy amount of money, and that’s something that his brother Jay understands very well. According to DEADSPIN (also the source of the picture above), Jay plans to write and sell a book called The McGwire Family Secret (we’re really hoping that’s a working title) that describe’s Jay’s personal involvement with Mark’s entrance and journey into the world of PED’s. And you’re probably wondering, “but are there embarrassing anecdotes and family-rending accusations?” Boy howdy, are there ever. Excerpts are after the jump.

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