In an ongoing story that continues to weave along the path of the Wizard of Odd, Tony La Russa harbors a dream that he can activate slugger-turned recluse-turned hitting coach Mark McGwire as a 46-year-old late-season pinch-hitter. The Cardinals manager shared this thought with the Contra Costa (CA) Times.
“If we’re in contention, we’ll put him on the roster Aug. 31. It’s a nice little dream,” said La Russa. “Is it likely? Probably not. I don’t think it’s a zero possibility. The point is, you’ll see him in spring training. He won’t be leaning on the batting cage chatting it up. He’ll work his (butt) off, and hitters will be thrilled he’s there helping them.”
Seems to me the manager should be fantasizing about how to get McGwire in front of cameras and microphones first. Since the October 26 announcement of McGwire’s hiring, his coming out party has been “imminent” ever since.
The delay, now approaching three months, has led to Cardinals beat writers hinting of problems in “coaching” the coach and suggesting that McGwire may be reconsidering the whole idea.
The reluctant McGwire has been pushed by La Russa to return to the game for years. The reasons could be just to gain his teaching knowledge or to help restore some luster to the slugger’s tarnished image or a combination. La Russa admits his over-30 year managerial career is nearing its end and may be trying to settle his accounts first.
When I read about the pinch-hitting idea, all I could think of was La Russa trying to make amends for sending light-hitting Kerry Robinson to the plate for McGwire in a sacrifice situation in the top of the ninth inning of the final game of the 2001 NLDS. The Game 5 loss ended the Cardinals season and would be McGwire’s final career appearance as an active player. A month later, Big Mac faxed notice of his retirement to ESPN.
La Russa was conflicted over the move from the moment he made it.
“One of my lowest moments as a manager was pinch-hitting for Mark. But you’ve got to try to win the game. Pinch-hitting for Mark is not something I am going to remember fondly,” La Russa said at the time.
Could this recent dream be another attempt to right a past wrong?
Update: In a Thursday morning radio appearance with Charlie Brennan on KMOX 1120, La Russa said McGwire and his family are likely to be in St. Louis next weekend for the Winter Warm-Up fan event and the new coach is expected to have cage time with some of his hitters also in town for WWU. The manager said that McGwire is not going to be a “celebrity coach”.
It was not asked whether McGwire’s long-anticipated meeting with the media to answer questions about his past would also occur during Winter Warm-Up weekend, scheduled from January 16-18.
Quizzed about the California pinch-hitting story, La Russa reaffirmed it and provided additional detail. He characterized it as a running “half-joking, half-serious” discussion between the two. La Russa said he saw McGwire at a recent hitting session in California and Big Mac was “really whistling the ball.” The manager attributed McGwire’s 2001 retirement to a “barking” back, apparently now healed.
Update #2: In addition to down-playing La Russa’s dream, in a head-scratching moment, Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak spoke to MLB.com on Thursday about the McGwire event. The GM had stressed way back on October 26 that it would be held “sooner, rather than later.” It is not known if Mo was cracking a smile on Thursday while asserting the following about McGwire’s coming out:
“Right now we’re on track. In terms of when we roll it out, I don’t know.”
That pretty much sums up the entire McGwire situation.
Had to take a cold shower.
Come on Brian, quit it.
“leaning on the batting cage” — was that a swipe at McCrae?
CC, I guess it could be considered a knock on McRae, but lots of guys do that. There is only so much advice that can be given over a 162-game season. One thing for sure, McGwire won’t be busy chatting it up with the media during BP!
Readers, please make sure you check the update added to the main post above…
The sub-text here is………..MM needs to be active, emotional open to and with the players, and Tony is aware that he will need protection to spend time in that uninhibited state of mind. Don’t forget that in every city, Tom, Dick and Harry are going to be shouting question at him. Questions that would likely get their asses kicked by Albert or Matt. Tony knows what he’s doing. He is in control of this situation.
The two days of physicals for MM are likely multiple insurance carriers. Lets not let that be a debate in the future. Cost? Millions.
RC………I’ve been rooting for the Tide. They will likely spank Texas.
If Kerry Robinson pinch-hit for McGwire, no wonder he retired.
Another rehabilitation attempt by Tony? Would Mac hitting a few round trippers while subject to PEDs testing quiet the anti-PEDs mob?
“Big Mac was “really whistling the ball.” Dry powder Mo. , 3 open spots on the 40 man. Can Albert still play 3rd base?
FWIW, they are down to two open spots on the 40-man when Holliday is official. Still room for Mac. Might have to give him a salary increase as player vs. coach. Save some dry powder.
Had an offline exchange with a friend who wonders if unretiring would give Mac more years on the Hall of Fame ballot. I think the answer is no, but McGwire has 11 more years anyway, current course and speed.
Also suggested to my friend that Rickey Henderson could be brought back to be McGwire’s designated runner. Now, that would be an interesting addition to clubhouse dynamics!
If Mac goes active, I wonder if the time requirement between retirement and eligibility will be increased to avoid the chance of an inducted HOFer coming back and playing.
That last season it was mostly a wiff or a dong, so Ricky wouldn’t have to do much.
In the early 90′s, Jim Palmer attempted a brief comeback after having been inducted into the Hall. They didn’t take it away from him, nor change the rules…
Here’s a prediction pulled straight out of my nether regions:
My guess is that Mac’s 15 years on the HOF ballot will expire w/o induction, but he’ll get picked by the Veterans Committee whenever he’s eligible for that. There are so many former Cardinals on the VC that I have to think they’ll be inclined to help a brother out.
The interesting year is 2013: Bonds, Clemens, Sosa, and Piazza on the ballot for the first time, with the possibility of Bagwell left over from the 2011 ballot. Do voters ignore the rumors and visual evidence of extreme changes in body size and dimensions, and just vote based on what they thought of those guys before they had to sift everything through the steroid filter?
If I was a voter, I would be very conflicted. All five of those 2013 names look superior to the guys on the current ballot, yet the questions of how much their success was enhanced are nagging and impossible to answer. It may be difficult for 75% of any group to agree, let alone the writers.
I just saw a tweet from AOL Fanhouse writer Jeff Fletcher that says this is the BBWAA ruling: “If McGwire plays 1 game, he’d be off the HOF ballot for 5 yrs. When he returned, he’d have 11 chances left.” UPDATE: This has been confirmed by multiple sources.
Thanks Brian. Interesting call by the BBWAA — makes sense to me. The idea of Mac actually playing in games, though, makes no sense at all. Does La Russa really think Mac could catch up to ML fastballs at age 46, 9 years after taking his last official swings?
A wild unsubstantiated guess is that MM is having second thoughts so TLR is trying to add another carrot. Not many (any?) 46-year-olds have shown they can do it. Even Barry Lamar Bonds was done at 42, though he had some help in his retirement decision I guess. Come to think of it, adding Bonds was an earlier TLR dream that Mo apparently did not share.
WOW! Welcome to all the new readers here today from FOXSports.com via Yardbarker! If you’re a Cardinals fan, check this site out. I think you will enjoy the articles and commentary.
This McGwire article is featured on FOXSports.com’s main MLB page just under Ken Rosenthal at the lower left under the heading “Blog of the Day”.
Cool!
Returning readers, for a Friday chuckle, please check out Update #2 appended to the main post above.
“McGwire’s coming out” — are we sure we want to refer to it in that manner. Mac’s a big guy, hopefully he wont take offense
I didn’t intend THAT chuckle….
WOW
Rob Rains of the Globe-Democrat says McGwire has to talk this week: “It’s time for McGwire to put an end to drama”.
In the really dumb conspiracy theory department, Bill Madden of the NY Daily News suggests La Russa’s pinch-hit Mac motive is to get him into the Hall of Fame, not for his stature, but to increase the value of McGwire’s autograph and jack up his appearance fees. Honest.
I guess nobody told Madden that Big Mac is a recluse and appears to be independently wealthy.
HOFer Whitey’s autograph is $60, Tony’s is $30. Is it the Hall or just the team’s idea of relative value? Any idea what Whitey’s autograph went for last year?
Ask and you shall receive, bb. I finished my article about autograph prices and it is now posted.
Nice one Brian.
Can I have a million dollars?
“McGwire Admits Steroids Use”. Statement now posted on The Cardinal Nation main site. McGwire has granted interview to Bob Costas to run on MLB Network at 7PM ET Monday.
Normally, I would be concerned that Costas will softball the interview, but McGwire’s written statement says enough for me.
I’ll be at work tonight, would appreciate if someone could post a link to the Costas interview, or at least a summary. Thanks.
Maybe Mac can come to winter warm up now.
TLR is on phone live on ESPN saying “I didn’t know anything” and he and Mark didn’t confront it until this morning. Denies knowing about steroid use.
MLB.com will also be simulcasting the interview, I understand, so I imagine it will be archived.
Of course, no one should expect any slips or new revelations, either. I imagine the interview will be pre-recorded, carefully edited and approved by all before running.
ESPN is reporting a claim attributed to “someone close to McGwire” that he also used HGH, though that is not mentioned in the statement. Let’s see if Costas asks about that. On the other hand, does it really matter what he used when?
Who cares. I hope he asks about pinch hitting.
Fast forward to Sept 1st, Big Mac steps up and lines one into Big Mac Land. Okay, now we’re talking. Bring on the Yankees. Bring on the ’27 Yankees.
It is going to take some time for the Cardinal Nation to work through their collective emotions. This is going to be hardest on the apologists who refused to believe what was obvious to most and has now finally been proven. Trust me, they are out there. I hear from some every time I write about McGwire. The good news is I probably won’t any more.
Post-Dispatch interview link
Apologists will get over it. On the other extreme, I can think of a local radio sports call in show host/hack/loser/psycho/media whore/scumbag/windbag who will be ranting about it forever.
Great. That’s all he needed to say. Now we can move on to baseball.
Fine statement from McGwire. He wishes there were chemical testing when he played, as I have hoped he might say. He took steroids to recover from muscle injuries, as so many others will have done. Steroids are natural chemicals that help muscles to heal.
I am not a McGwire apologist, for the reason that I think the issue of steroids is utterly unimportant, a tempest in a teapot, a way to stir up contoversy. For ballplayers not to use chemicals that help their muscles would be stupid and lots of athletes are not stupid. When pitchers tear an elbow ligament, they get a ligament transfer, so called Tommy John surgery. TJ surgery is a medical marvel that restores careers and is commonly accepted. For hitters with muscle injuries, it makes equal sense that they take healing medicines (steroids).
Now baseball has a chemical screening program that is real, certain molecules can be banned and players can then easily comply.
I believe Mark did his level best to satisfy those who have called for his admission of steroid use. He could do no more to appease the masses who want his head IMO. Those that just wanted to hear him say it should be satisfied because he admitted more steroid use than has anyone short of Canseco. So if wanting to hear him say it gave you a woody, congrats and god speed cause he did it.
Like I have stated many times………………….the guy had Andro in his locker so he used, this is no secret.
I’d venture to say that beginning in the mid 80′s until the drug testing began that the large majority if ML players used some sort of steroid. A good portion of my Jc baseball team used in 86 and you could buy the stuff like buying a pack of gum at the store. And if JC kids were doing it there’s a good bet it started with the higher ups in the Big Leagues.
Really I find is kind of amusing that people just think this is that big of a deal today. I would not be surprised to hear of any player during that time span that did sime kind of steroid or HGH. Look at the offensive numbers during that time span.
The best part of Marks interview to me was his vocalized desire to get in the saddle and help the cardinals become better hitters. The rest was just him trying to make the masses happy, which you can never do IMO, so why try? But I give him credit for doing his best to put the issue to rest.
I’m still weighing the AP commercial he ran. All he needs to say, and he did, was that it made him feel like normal. The emotionality that I suspected was there. He has to have thick enough skin (Jackie Robinson) to withstand the jeering for awhile…………..
Tony knows the jeering will be like Rocket fuel for his team as they defend their coach/teammate……….smart!
RC, you must have been sneaking around spying on your players. Tony says he knew nothing (picture Sgt. Schultz). What gives?