Mark McGwire may be beloved in St. Louis, but he will be scrutinized elsewhere.
I thought it was a joke, a baseless Internet rumor, when I first heard about it Sunday: Mark McGwire, disgraced home run king, coming out of seclusion after eight years to become hitting coach for Tony La Russa and the St. Louis Cardinals? Preposterous!
I double-checked my calendar to make sure it wasn't April 1. McGwire, who has been allergic to the public eye in general and the media in particular since his infamous appearance before the 2005 Congressional steroids hearings, accepting a job that will put him back in a baseball uniform for an entire major-league season? What's next, I wondered: Sammy Sosa coming back to the Cubs as team captain?
Of course, the very idea of McGwire being back in the baseball spotlight is a columnist's dream, and there are some good ones by the Sun-Times' Carol Slezak, AOL's Terence Moore and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's Jeff Gordon. I agree with Moore when he writes that there's simply no way this will end well. The first indication of that came Monday when McGwire was absent from the news conference announcing his hiring. He steadfastly has refused to discuss the steroids allegations and it's hard to imagine how he will deal with it if he travels with the team to every major-league city (Moore speculates that the Cardinals will keep him out of sight and simply say he is working "behind the scenes").
Gordon points out that McGwire would be wise to come clean and admit his performance-enhancing drug use, noting that most fans acknowledge how commonplace the practice was during that era and usually are forgiving of those who express remorse. If he doesn't get it out of the way now, it will haunt the Cardinals from the start of spring training onward and create a distraction that could undermine their entire season.
What's your take on McGwire? Should he be left alone if he once again tells the media that he "doesn't want to discuss the past," or should he be scorned unless he comes clean? Do you see any problem with McGwire becoming the Cardinals' hitting coach, and do you think he deserves to someday be voted into baseball's Hall of Fame?
I'm not surprised about anything I hear anymore. The Cardinal fans are forgiving fans, they'll welcome him back with open arms. As far as McGwire, as long as questions to him in his job as hitting coach concern future events, everything should be fine. He could be a baseball Nostradamus predicting the future. I don't care if he comes clean or not. The Hallof Fame I'm not so sure about. If they someday have a Steroid Wing there, then yes he should inducted. And I'm all for Sosa rejoining the Cubs. He can't do worse than Bradley and is less surly. There should be another 15 or 20 home runs left in his corked bats. I say let bygones be bygones.
Putting aside the steroids issue, what qualifications does McGwire have as a hitting coach, other than being La Russa's buddy?
If my memory serves me correctly, the thing that he did best while in the Majors was striking out. La Russa should explain how an "all or nothing" power hitter like McGwire is going to teach players how to make contact and put the ball in play, even if it takes a bunt to do so.
Watching a guy who probably bunted all of six in his entire career teach the proper mechanics of laying down a drag bunt should be quite entertaining.
In order to compete with the Cards, I guess the Cubs should have hired Dave Kingman as their hitting instructor.
This topic brings out the worst in folks. The hatred has pretty much blown over. The folks that have been outed by baseball have born the brunt of the storm. Folks like McGwire have been protected and coddled. And now after the F5 Hurricane has passed, Mack comes slithering out to find leftovers! These are the folks I have little sympathy for. Now they should be forgiven, but to give them jobs and move them forward in baseball is too much right now. Its the Bonds's, Arods's and Sosa's that have paid the price. I think thats quite oily of Mack to try and profit after hiding in the dark the whole time. Folks have been in court and on TV crying and "pahlajye-ing". Give Pete Rose a job, not Mack. Mack should be given what he gave during that entire FIRESTORM - nothing.
The New York fans forgave Alex Rodriguez rather quickly, why should this be any different?
It's interesting the only ones who haven't fessed up are the ones who were front and center with Congress...sosa, mcguire, raffy p
Whatever...they were/are all juicing.
After Michael Vick?...Really?
I'll go out on a limb and say yes
How come the media never wanted to talk to him about the millions of dollars he raised, including a lot of cash from his own pockets, for the Mark McGwire Foundation for Children?
No one wanted to hear about that I guess.
No arrests, no fathering babies all over the country, no public melt downs, no fights with his teammates, manager or fans, no history of acting like a jerk with the media.....
It is much easier and apparently a lot more fun to make him into an evil villain because that is what sells.
Quick! Tear him down before he makes the huge mistake of trying to get on with his life!
I don't really care about all the other stuff.
I'm happy that he's such a fine, upstanding husband, father, and citizen, but what can he teach major league players about hitting? You can't teach "power" anymore than you can teach "speed", and power is the only thing this guy ever had going for him.
I just don't see how his experience can translate to the vast majority of players who can't, and never will, make a living cranking 50 or 60 homers out of the park on a yearly basis.
Like I said before; this is almost as absurd as hiring Dave Kingman as a hitting coach. Makes no sense at all.
Oh, and Phil?
McGwire was a complete tool when it came to interacting with the media. He had no time for them whatsoever, and it pained him to accomodate their requests for interviews even when he was at the top of his game. He treated reporters like they were members of Congress.
So yes; he did act like a jerk with the media.
Villano, what in the world are you talking about? I am no McGwire fan and dont think he should be in the HOF. However, if you are going to disqualify someone from coaching or teaching a skill that they dont or cant do themselves, you pretty much have eliminated every basketball coach in existence. Do you have to be able to dunk to teach someone how to drop step and pivot. Do you have to have pitched a 90 mile an hour fastball to teach how to put some cut on the ball. Your's may be the most inane comment I have ever seen in this paper. He may not be a good coach, but use some logic in your argument next time.
MARK!!! I almost posted exactly what you posted, but refrained because it seemed a bit too unfair. Nevertheless, I couldn't agree much more! Loved the reference to Dave Kingman (funny), but I'd have to say that McGwire probably hit for a higher average and had a little more than that no-personality, all-power, no-field, nothing-else-redeemable "ballplayer."
Michelob sez: " Your's may be the most inane comment I have ever seen in this paper."
That's high praise.
Thanks pal ... I'm flattered.
I think that the number of posts in this topic at this time speaks for itself. Not many here really care too much about McGwire just like not many really care that the Cubs signed Rudy Jaramillo as their next hitting coach. Heck, FCP's local diehard Cards fan, Seedy Backlash, has not even commented on this topic, opting to go out of his way to comment on the Bulls and a sport that he doesn't follow too much first over Mark McGwire. All I'll say is that McGwire can't keep quiet forever. He's going to have to speak up eventually or else this will become a distraction to the team next season. Good luck with that.
since when do we care about anything the cardinals do? That is a Cardinal sin.
Of course fans will forgive... The question is what if Barry Bonds came out and wanted a job in baseball what will people say? Most baseball fans loved Big Mac and didnt really know one thing about him but most baseball fans hated Bonds and didnt know much about him (only what waste of time writers like Costas and other wrote)so what does that tell you about most baseball fans? As long as you got the writers on your side you wont have a problem. They can write whatever and most people will believe it.