At today’s press conference in St. Louis, manager Tony La Russa confirmed that Mark McGwire will join the Cardinals as their hitting coach, replacing Hal McRae.
…it’s an interesting move by the Cardinals for a number of reasons, but this move can play a role in the Matt Holliday derby…Holliday has worked very closely with McGwire in the past and thinks very highly of him…
Regarding McGwire, La Russa told reporters:
“I don’t know how many years I have left to manage, and I wanted to take this opportunity to invite a guy who I think has a very special talent…”
This will be McGwire’s first Major League coaching job since retiring after the 2001 season.
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Jokes aside, if we ostracized every player who was suspected of/used steroids we’d have almost no former players to join the coaching ranks.
I totally agree. I do, however, think he’s an odd choice. Granted hitting coaches are almost completely useless, but he doesn’t seem like the type who could help guys out.
He was all about swinging from his heels and was strong enough (naturally and artificially) to jack a bunch out. But he’s not what I’d call an all-around hitter.
One thing will play a major role in the Holliday negotiations. It is called money.
Yup, a newly hired batting coach doesn’t change Boras’ priorities.
Agreed, that and the fact that St. Louis will only go so high on Holiday considering it won’t be long and they will have to resign Puljos and it goes without saying that he means more to St Louis than Holiday ever will. Chances are Holiday ends up in NY what team he plays for is still very much in question, But I gotta believe the Yankees have the stadium advantage, but then again supposedly he’d like to stay in the NL….. .though I don’t put much stock in that rumor.
he picked him to bring him back into baseball. This way somewhere along the line he will be inducted.
Well, he actually have to be good at coaching first! lol Still it’s an odd choice IMO. Power hitters are rarely chosen to be hitting coaches due to the fact that few of them were what one would call a complete hitter when they were players.
I agree. You never know but i wouldnt think he would have good technical skills to be a hitting coach. He swung for the fences.
As far as bringing him back in, I am more saying bringing him back into the baseball forefront. Make people remember him, speak to him etc. Over time, he may get inducted…
Trouble with that is if they let one juicer in they rest will likely follow, thus destroying the integrity of the HOF! I can’t imagine baseball would allow that to happen…or atleast they shouldn’t. If he shines as a manager great, let him in as a manager, not as a player.
263/394/588 career line for mcgwire
249/340/446 for hojo
“Hey Holliday, come here, I wanna show you something…you see, right here on the rear, in this spot, thats the best possible spot for the needle…”
“Hey Tony, Did my teaching for the day…I’ll see ya tomorrow”
“Thanks Mark, care to join me for a wine cooler?”
“Tony, you don’t look so good, maybe you should take a nap”
“No worries Mark, there’s an intersection on my ride home that has a long red light. I’ll grab a few minutes of sleep there”
I heard that some players have been working out with McGwire already, and that he’s supposedly quite good. Just because he hit a certain way doesn’t mean he teaches that same way. Ron Gardenhire is a far better manager than he ever was a player.
I don’t get hung up on McGwire and ‘roids. He showed Andro to reporters at his locker, before it became a big deal. He didn’t lie to congress, like Palmiero, just refused to discuss it, as was his right. Should he be in the HoF? Probably not, but he’s never lied about his ‘roid use, as far as I know, unlike some 3rd basemen playing for the other NY team.
Maybe the Wilpons can bring in Lenny Dykstra to help out with their supposed financial woes…
What a disgrace. McGwire is not just suspected of having used steroids, it’s pretty much confirmed he did. The evidence on him is pretty credible and voluminous. First there’s Canseco’s word, and pretty much everyone he’s pointed fingers at has proven to be a cheat. Second, there’s McGwire’s own brother who said he juiced. Third, there’s the dealer who was busted who had a training schedule showing McGwire used Winstrol and other steroids. Fourth, there’s his stonewalling of Congress. And, fifth, there’s his very unnatural power spike late in his career.
Anyone who still only “suspects” McGwire has their head buried in the sand. You can safely bet your house that McGwire was one of the biggest cheaters in the sport, and shame on the Cardinals for hiring him.
I don’t have a problem with what he said to congress. If he’d started pointing fingers and naming names, he wouldn’t have a job today. _everyone_ was cheating. It was accepted.
What, should we only hire the cheaters good enough not to get caught?
Of the five things I mentioned, stonewalling Congress was probably the least harmful for him. If you ignore the other four things, then you have your head in the sand.
And, no, not everyone cheated. That is what the apologists for cheaters would like you to believe. Probably much much less than 50% ever cheated with steroids. Those that did cheated the clean players out of contracts, money, and careers. They also fueled the rising cost of contracts which resulted in higher ticket prices and cable fees for you and me.
And, no, IMO, they should only hire those for whom there is no overwhelming evidence that they were significant cheaters. McGwire was one of the biggest cheaters in the game.
You can’t rule out everyone based just on the possibility they may have broken the rules/laws. If that were the standard, then no employer should ever hire anyone ever, which obviously doesn’t make sense.. OTOH, if an employer knows of convincing evidence that someone has broken the rules/law, they should act appropriately on that knowledge.
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