The St. Louis Cardinals are expected to announce that former slugger Mark McGwire is returning to baseball after an eight-year exile and will serve as the team's hitting coach.Hal McRae, who had served as hitting instructor for five years, will not renew his contract, opening the door for Big Mac's appointment. The news comes after a lengthy period of speculation as to if Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa's would come back for his 15th season at the helm.
With that issue pretty much resolved, the focus now turns to McGwire, who retired in 2001 after a serious of chronic injuries. His career took a dark turn after setting the single-season home run record with 70 in 1998, as he became the poster boy for the performance-enhancing substance scandal that plagued Major League Baseball.
At a 2005 congressional hearing on steroids, McGwire refused to address the past, saying instead that he wanted to focus on the future.
Leave a comment