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« Acta To Manage Indians | Main | Cafardo on Gonzalez, Martinez, Webb, Lackey »
Cards Hire McGwire As Hitting Coach
Pat Lackey informs us that a Cardinals source confirmed to Fanhouse's Ed Price that Mark McGwire has been hired to replace Hal McRae as the St. Louis hitting coach.
McGwire, 46, played in St. Louis for four and a half seasons, hitting 220 home runs during his tenure, including setting a then-single season record with 70 home runs. For his career, McGwire totaled a .263/.394/.588 line, clubbing 583 home runs over 16 seasons with the Athletics and Cardinals.
As Lackey points out, McGwire's hiring could indicate the return of Tony La Russa. We've heard reports so far today that La Russa has signed a multi-year extension, but there has yet to be an official announcement regarding his contract status.
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Steroids scandal to follow.
Posted by: BaseballFan0707 | October 25, 2009 at 04:41 PM
Really?
Posted by: 661dodgerblue | October 25, 2009 at 04:42 PM
In other news.... St. Louis-area GNC stores report sales up 500%.
Posted by: stellar | October 25, 2009 at 04:44 PM
Nice.
Posted by: melonis rex | October 25, 2009 at 04:46 PM
Damn man. Steroids or not.
That line is awesome.
.394 career OBP
.588 career SLG%
Just sick.
Posted by: YankFan408 | October 25, 2009 at 04:46 PM
I'm not sure how great of a move this is for the cards, their offense is fine so I'm not really worried about that but is this really the right thing to do? The public isn't gonna let this down lightly.
Posted by: mewruler | October 25, 2009 at 04:47 PM
He's going to steal the spot light. It's going to look ridiculous with him in the dugout during games. It's not a good idea.
Posted by: BomberMan26 | October 25, 2009 at 04:49 PM
When is the last time you saw ESPN showing a hitting coach's postgame after a game?
Posted by: 661dodgerblue | October 25, 2009 at 04:50 PM
Every player was on the sauce. Who cares?
Posted by: Will Smiff | October 25, 2009 at 04:54 PM
In other news.... St. Louis-area GNC stores report sales up 500%.
Posted by: stellar | October 25, 2009 at 04:44 PM
HAHAHAHHAHAHHAHHAHA
Posted by: cardinalsnation4 | October 25, 2009 at 04:58 PM
If I'm not mistaken, Matt Holliday has worked with McGwire in the offseason on his swing. I wonder if that could help the team resign Holliday.
Posted by: Aaron | October 25, 2009 at 05:00 PM
how predictably unclever all these comments are--most of them probably coming from shallow people trying to tear someone down to compensate for their own mediocrity, even though they probably wouldn't be the fans they are today if not for that summer of 98 when McGwire and Sosa saved baseball. Yeah, McGwire cheated, but MLB tacitly condoned it--encouraged it even--then turned their backs on him. I'm glad the Cardinals are giving him a chance at redemption. He will be a perfect fit for the team, not because of his legendary home run swing, but because of his remarkable patience at the plate. That is exactly what the Cards need--to take more walks and see more pitches.
Posted by: mattyp | October 25, 2009 at 05:02 PM
I'm interested to see how McGwire will do as a coach. I was pretty young when he was still playing, so I don't know how his demeanor was with his teammates. Also lived in New York, so rarely got to see the Cardinals play. What I do remember is his great ability to draw the walk, so hopefully he'll be able to pass his patience at the plate down to the current players.
Posted by: Colton | October 25, 2009 at 05:05 PM
Why dont people look at his pre-1993 career as being true to what kind of hitter he truly was: a slightly better Dave Kingman.
Posted by: PL | October 25, 2009 at 05:07 PM
@ matty
How can anyone achieve redemption when mcgwire himself REFUSES to own up to HIS cheating?
Unclever shots? Maybe, but he deserves every insult he is going to receive because mcgwire cheated himself, the fans, and the game and really, isn't that all that matters.
Posted by: tuna411 | October 25, 2009 at 05:09 PM
McGwire didn't cheat anymore than every other name out there...Sosa, AROD, Pettite, Clemens, Giambi....
He is a very good coach! Their are alot of player that WANT to work out with him in the summer! It will be a small distraction in spring training and then all will be good! Great move by the Cardinals..
He sure the hell can't be worse than McRae. I could do the job he was
Posted by: stlcards16 | October 25, 2009 at 05:13 PM
alot of players want to work out with him in the WINTER*
Posted by: stlcards16 | October 25, 2009 at 05:14 PM
"alot of players want to work out with him in the WINTER*
Posted by: stlcards16 | October 25, 2009 at 05:14 PM"
Uh oh jinx. Asterisk.
Posted by: 661dodgerblue | October 25, 2009 at 05:16 PM
@tuna
I respect what you're saying, but I guess that's where we differ. I'm a fan, and I don't feel like he owes me an apology. And "cheating the game" -- that always seemed overly dramatic rhetoric to me.
Posted by: mattyp | October 25, 2009 at 05:16 PM
For everyone that says he cheated the fans....If you didn't realize that half the league was on something in the mid to late 90's you owe yourself an apology for not opening your eyes! It was right in front of everyones eyes and everyone sat back and enjoyed every minute of watching the HR's fly out of the ballpark.
Posted by: stlcards16 | October 25, 2009 at 05:21 PM
wow. interesting. In other news, the Giants hire Barry Bonds to be their new hitting instructor. The Cubs have also notified their interest in Sammy Sosa to be their hitting instructor.
Posted by: lincecum4cy | October 25, 2009 at 05:21 PM
Did he help or hurt Holliday's swing while in OAK?
Posted by: Kinsm | October 25, 2009 at 05:24 PM
And, a lot of mediocre/bad players used steroids, and they weren't NEARLY as good on the sauce as McGwire was while he was on the sauce. Obviously McGwire would've been really good relative to others regardless of whether he was on roids at the time.
Seriously, the roid talk is stupid.
Posted by: melonis rex | October 25, 2009 at 05:26 PM
@PL:
So in your "pre-1993 career" do you include his 1987 rookie of the year campaign where he belted 49 home runs? How about '92 where he had a similarly awesome year? Maybe we should just look at his high school numbers to see what kind of hitter he really was!
Posted by: Piccamo | October 25, 2009 at 05:29 PM
This is pathetic. McGwire was pretty much forced to use steroids just to keep up with the MLB. You can't tell me with a straight face that the MLB was against steroids. It meant more money for them.
I think he will work out well. His patience will do wonders for our hitters, like Ludwick and Ankiel who swung at everything moving.
Posted by: Taskmaster | October 25, 2009 at 05:30 PM
I think this is a classy move by the last organization McGwire played for -- and the one he was best known for playing for, arguably.
As for McGwire's past steroid use, he had back trouble. My guess is that most people who have back trouble in baseball now get therapeutic use exemptions if a steroid can reduce their pain and allow them to play; some steroids under a doctor's care, with a TUE, are still legal. (This is why Manny Ramirez would've been OK with a TUE, while he wasn't without one. Though IMO it was silly to go after a 37 year old man for something like that anyway when the league is far from clean _and_ the league admitted with a TUE it would've been just fine.)
At any rate, I'm for this. Good for the Cardinals; good for McGwire; good for the players; good for the fans.
And it's even good for the media, who can play hypocrite with the best of 'em, and condemn it roundly. When everyone knows that at least 60% of baseball was cheating, out and out cheating, without McGwire's real reason for doing so (or Bonds's, either) -- a really bad back.
Posted by: openid.aol.com/LSekhmet | October 25, 2009 at 05:36 PM
Mind, to clarify -- no edit key on this site -- Ramirez's drug of choice was an odd one (gonadatropin, a sexual hormone usually used by women in order to get pregnant; it is occasionally used by men aside from athletes if they have very low sperm counts). Ramirez using this drug tacitly admits that in the past, at some point, he'd taken or used steroids to the degree that his sperm count has been lowered and other problems have occurred; now, he's trying to make up for the damage. This is why he'd have been granted a TUE if he'd have admitted to it.
The main reason I think it was silly to suspend Ramirez for it is that he's 37, male, and wants to have sex. And any 37 year old sportswriter, if he'd done something to prolong his career (we're obviously talking male sportswriters here) would've done the same exact thing -- taken anything they could, in order to make up the damage from yesteryear (when they were young and stupid), in order to have sex.
This is very far afield, mind, of the original comment. But I do understand the issues involved. And I wish Ramirez had never taken steroids at all, though I personally don't care if he wants to take human gonadotropin to make up the damage _if_ he can get a TUE from now on.
Posted by: openid.aol.com/LSekhmet | October 25, 2009 at 05:40 PM
Here's why McGwire gets a bad rap: He's the only guy out there from whom we'd all collectively accept a real and honest explanation. He's the guy we all WANT to forgive, and yet he won't let us have that opportunity. Bonds is an a**hole, Sosa has the brains of a toddler, Canseco is sleaze, Clemens is a prick, and A-Rod is a mirror-kissing nancy-boy. Mark is the only marquee steroid guy who actually seems like a nice guy. If Mark McGwire had a presser tomorrow saying "I did them because everyone else was, and because no one was stopping me" it would go along way to helping him. Lots of people would respect that, and even if they didn't, they'd at least be judging the man honestly.
All that said, I have no pity for the guy. He received unmatched praise and glory, along with the millions in salary, for a period of several years. He was a baseball god. This is more than any baseball player can dream of, and he achieved it by doing what all of us (quibbling over legalities aside) agree is kinda-sorta cheating.
Next year, he'll be drowned by boos and hailed with cheers, and he'll deserve it all.
Posted by: gutterbumber | October 25, 2009 at 05:42 PM
Oh yeah, McGwire will teach the impatient hitters to be more selective...all the other coaches in their past couldn't, but McGwire will do the trick. Hitting coaches are easily the most overrated people in baseball.
Posted by: brian91388 | October 25, 2009 at 05:51 PM
I love this. Seriously, how many hitting coaches now have actuallycess had the amount of success Big Mac has? I always wondered why guys like Willie Mays and Rod Carew and Rickey Henderson weren't hired as hitting coaches.
Posted by: gursk1989 | October 25, 2009 at 05:58 PM
Glad to here McGwire's coming back to the game. He was always one of my favorite players. I was saddened when he missed the twenty year reunion for the 1989 world series team.
Posted by: WillieMaysField | October 25, 2009 at 05:58 PM
Cards fans could kiss holliday goodbye because he blames McGwire's advice for his slump in Oak.
Posted by: Tha_SD-Brain | October 25, 2009 at 06:03 PM
What is he gonna teach them? The right place to stick the needle? this is a joke. McGwire is a joke.
Posted by: Bob Loblaw | October 25, 2009 at 06:05 PM
If you thought taking steroids would greatly increase your chances of making millions of dollars, would you take them?
Yes you would. Every last one of you.
Posted by: RonMexico | October 25, 2009 at 06:19 PM
I think it's potentially a good move. We'll see how he works out as a hitting coach. The team's impatience at the plate and below-average OBP were troubling, especially given how good that offense could/should have been this year. We'll see, though.
As far as all of the steroid jokes and other nonsense, that stuff is so old by now and has nothing to do with whether he will be a successful hitting coach. I am not surprised to see all of the comments about that stuff, but it's a shame that people still feel the need to hijack threads about any player/coach with an inkling of PED history (and yes, I know McGwire has more than an inkling) and turn them into immature name-calling contests. It's cheap, and it's tired.
Posted by: WY | October 25, 2009 at 07:05 PM
"Next year, he'll be drowned by boos and hailed with cheers, and he'll deserve it all."
How often are hitting coaches even on the field? How often are there names ever announced on the PA? Unless people show up early to heckle him at BP, I see this as a non-issue. Most fans have no idea who the opposing team's hitting coach is. And plenty of them don't even know who their own hitting coach is.
Posted by: WY | October 25, 2009 at 07:07 PM
Personally, I think all the ridicule thrown at McGwire is better spent elsewhere. How many players who were on steroids confessed before they were caught, or significant evidence was found? McGwire's hearing made a lot of people angry, but if it were any other player, it would have been the same "I've never used" lies that we've heard from everyone else. Sure, he hasn't owned up to it, but he did the most intelligent thing anyone else has done, that wasn't just to save face after being caught. He stayed out of the spotlight, let the baseball world use his name as a pinata, and now he's passing on his knowledge of hitting to the next generation. Good for him.
Posted by: mateodh | October 25, 2009 at 07:43 PM
@tuna
And "cheating the game" -- that always seemed overly dramatic rhetoric to me.
Posted by: mattyp |
Hank Aaron might disagree with you.
Posted by: tuna411 | October 25, 2009 at 07:46 PM
This is going to be funny.
Posted by: Ethanator99 | October 25, 2009 at 08:16 PM
lol mark is goin to say here is how you hit... take the roids be4 every game that is the trick haha
Posted by: cubs4life | October 25, 2009 at 08:20 PM
"lol mark is goin to say here is how you hit... take the roids be4 every game that is the trick haha"
Very original.
Posted by: WY | October 25, 2009 at 08:22 PM
did somebody seriously just sit here and try to justify McGwire's cheating on a bad back? Really? Wow. You, sir, are a moron.
Posted by: BaseballFan0707 | October 25, 2009 at 08:47 PM
lol mark is goin to say here is how you hit... take the roids be4 every game that is the trick haha
Posted by: cubs4life | October 25, 2009 at 08:20 PM
But all those Cubbie pitchers will always be his B****
Posted by: stlcards16 | October 25, 2009 at 08:48 PM
Someone may have mentioned this. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe this is the same Mark Mcgwire that Larussa sat down for either the last game of the season or the last 2 games of the season while they were both still in Oakland just so Mcgwire could end the season with a .200 average and not dip into the .100's. I agree with another post that hitting coaches are arguably not that important, however I would think you would want someone who didn't just hit the long ball.
Posted by: Humm Baby | October 25, 2009 at 09:41 PM
Some seriously lame comments tonight.
I think the McGwire hiring is interesting. It's always hard when people who were great natural hitters transition to coaching. Often times, these players possessed so much more natural ability than a typical player that their methods simply will not work. Meanwhile, some of the best hitting/pitching coaches were guys that really struggled and scraped and had poor to mediocre careers. These were guys that had to be expert in technique because they lacked the natural ability that their competitors possessed.
Other thoughts:
-- If you think McGwire is out looking for headlines you obviously know nothing about the guy. He has always had a timid relationship with the media. In retirement he has virtually disappeared.
-- Why would people yell at him and say he is a huge distraction? There are plenty of admitted roid users that still play today. I don't say the hatred towards them. Why would a hitting coach draw so much attention?
Posted by: bjsguess | October 26, 2009 at 12:39 AM
lol mark is goin to say here is how you hit... take the roids be4 every game that is the trick haha
Posted by: cubs4life | October 25, 2009 at 08:20 PM
But all those Cubbie pitchers will always be his B****
Posted by: stlcards16 | October 25, 2009 at 08:48 PM
ya with one swing of the bat... his roids won many games kinda like arod right now... lol... i wish basbeall would do something about this... and i think lettin him coach is not one of them... this is a sad say for mlb
Posted by: cubs4life | October 26, 2009 at 12:46 AM
cubes4life
What do you want MLB to do? Ban everyone suspected of roid use? Because right now all you have is Canceco's book as evidence against Mac. There's no dirty tests. Career OBP of .394 shows he was more that a home run hitter.
If AROD was playing for the cubs you would be celebrating every HR.
Posted by: WillieMaysField | October 26, 2009 at 01:14 AM
MLB IS A JOKE. BUD SELIG IS THE WORST COMMISH IN THE HISTORY OF SPORTS.
MCGWIRE CAN COACH YET PETE ROSE IS STILL LEFT OUT.
I'M MOVING TO JAPAN.
Posted by: Hellion | October 26, 2009 at 08:18 AM
The dirty stain that even Oxyclean cannot remove.
Posted by: Mickey Six | October 26, 2009 at 09:29 AM
I love this. Seriously, how many hitting coaches now have actuallycess had the amount of success Big Mac has? I always wondered why guys like Willie Mays and Rod Carew and Rickey Henderson weren't hired as hitting coaches.
-------------------------------
I think one reason guys like Mays don't become coaches is because they had so much natural talent that it's hard for them to understand the struggles of lesser players. It's rare to see superstar players become good coaches, it's the guys who struggled to even stay in the pros who usually become the great coaches, simply because they have a much better understanding of the problems of the majority of their players. To illustrate this point, look at the best managers and coaches and then look at their careers as players. Not too many super stars on that list.
Posted by: gregnoll | October 26, 2009 at 10:49 AM
Mcgwire's hitting advise. CHEAT CHEAT AND CHEAT SOME MORE. And when asked, if you're cheating DENY DENY DENY SOME MORE!
Posted by: eshap716 | October 26, 2009 at 01:18 PM
In fairness to McGwire, he didn't waggle his finger at Congressmen like Palmerio, lie consistently to anyone and everyone like Bonds, and didn't play the courts like fools during the investigation process like Clemens.
I'm resolved to think that all of our Heros from the late 80s and 90s were roided, except Griffey Jr, and Jeter perhaps? Honestly don't think Mac will get all that much attention as a hitting coach. Look how easy Arod got off this year, he got more heckling when over his big contract with Texas than he did with his lame and half assed Roids confession.
That being said, Mac got alot of BBs and an extraordinarily high OBP because he hit balls out of the park if they were in the strike zone.
How's he planning to teach guys that can't hit for power ways to get on base, when they see pitches and can't just lean on muscle to get them out of the park?
Outside of the massive power, He wasn't that good of a hitter, the Dave Kingman comparison strikes me as pretty close.
Meanwhile Rob Deer is submitting his resume for hitting coach jobs.
Posted by: TheAntiRecruiter | October 26, 2009 at 02:06 PM
i'm not trying to defend roid users but they still had to have the batters eye to complement the juice
Posted by: Tha_SD-Brain | October 26, 2009 at 06:43 PM
Outside of the massive power, He wasn't that good of a hitter, the Dave Kingman comparison strikes me as pretty close.
Meanwhile Rob Deer is submitting his resume for hitting coach jobs.
Posted by: TheAntiRecruiter |
Kingman OPS+ 115, Deer OPS+ 109 , Mac OPS+ 162 not even remotely close.
Posted by: WillieMaysField | October 26, 2009 at 10:37 PM