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Mark McGwire's return to baseball: good or bad for the sport?
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Mark McGwire will be the hitting coach for the St. Louis Cardinals next season reuniting with former manger Tony La Russa. La Russa signed a one-year deal to manage the Cardinals yesterday.
His one-year contract is the first time in his career with the team that he has not managed under a multi-year deal. When the contract was announced and that McGwire would be replacing Hal McRae as hitting coach, McGwire was not present. La Russa claims that he and the Cardinals were not protecting McGwire from the media. General manager John Mozeliak said, “By no means is he trying to hide, and by no means are we trying to hide him.”
McGwire broke the then season home run record in 1998 when he hit 70 home runs. In March 2005, during a Congressional hearing on steroids in baseball, McGwire refused to answer questions about the past and ruined his credibility. It was also discovered in 1998 that McGwire was using androstenedione, a steroid precursor that is now banned.
La Russa has been an ardent supporter of McGwire over the years. When the andro was discovered in McGwire’s locker, La Russa attacked the AP reporter for snooping around. La Russa also never acknowledged the possibility that McGwire cheated. Now, in what will likely be his last year managing, La Russa convinced his friend to return to the sport as hitting coach. Is this good for baseball?
This move is not good for baseball, but typical of the dysfunction and stuck in its ways of “America’s Game.” Will McGwire instruct hitters to take any shortcuts? Can anyone be certain? McGwire has yet to receive 25% of the vote for enshrinement for the Baseball Hall of Fame indicating the voters lack of belief that McGwire competed on a level playing field.
Having a tarnished hero as part of the coaching staff appears to be the final act of a former friend trying to get McGwire back in the good graces of the sport. Doubt it’s going to end up that way.
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