The Athletics hired Mark McGwire as a special assistant in their player development department on Friday (link via The Associated Press). He returns to the organization that inducted him into their team Hall of Fame in 2019.
McGwire, now 62, played the first 12 years of his career with the A’s. He won the Rookie of the Year award in 1987 and made nine of his 12 All-Star appearances with the club. He twice led the majors in home runs while wearing an A’s uniform and was an instrumental part of the teams that won three consecutive pennants and one World Series between 1988-90. He remains the franchise’s home run leader with 363, while his 941 runs batted in ranks fourth in club history.
Those on-field accomplishments and his overall legacy are complicated by his use of performance-enhancing drugs. He admitted in 2010 that he had used steroids for the majority of his career, including during his record home run chases as a member of the Cardinals in the late 1990s. The PED ties kept him out of the National Baseball Hall of Fame despite a statistical résumé that would have made him a first-ballot inductee had he achieved it without using steroids.
That said, McGwire obviously has an extensive knowledge of hitting that he can bring to his new role. He had a nine-year run on MLB staffs between 2010-18. McGwire was the hitting coach for the Cardinals when they won the 2011 World Series. He also worked as the Dodgers’ hitting coach and a bench coach in San Diego through the 2018 season. He stepped down during the 2018-19 offseason to spend more time with family. A special assistant role will allow him to be around the A’s organization without requiring the commitment of a full-time coaching position.
Okay, now what you’re gonna want to do to improve your game, is inject this stuff into your glutes or rub this stuff under your tongue and then swing for the fences. Don’t worry if your dimensions become that of a cartoon bobble head. That just means the stuff is working. Repeat every few…cycles… unless they’re about to randomly test you.
Training Complete.
His power was something to behold though. I remember when he hit a HR off Randy Johnson that ball traveled 538 feet and hit the back wall of the top deck of the Kingdome and was still on an upward trajectory. It was the longest homer ever hit there. If the Kingdome would’ve been an open air stadium, who knows how far it might’ve traveled.
Wonder what the exit velocity on that and some of Bonds laser shots were…
You gonna be OK you seem to be upset because he got the job
If you really think I am upset by this, lol.
It’s an easy lay up of a joke. That’s all.
Here come the ‘roids jokes.
I didn’t say anything about hemmiroids!
No roid jokes from me, even Yasiel Puig can bet on that
Some say bet? Here comes Ohtanis interpreter!
He’s worth a shot I guess…
Haemorrhoids have as much appeal as Caitlin Jenner hosting a talk show.
Canseco lives in Vegas I wonder if he’d want to be in advisor role too
Big Mac! So no chance Jose Canseco gets hired too?
The Bash Brothers… An Oakland thing.
Not my favorite move by the Sacramento A’s.
The public relations part of the Sacramento A’s the past 4 seasons have been an awful mess lol.
I don’t think they ask your position and how you felt. Maybe you moved and had not given them your new address
They are not the Sacramento A’s. They are the Athletics.
a mustard glass!
As a fan of home runs, I approve of this
“Do you want to know the terrifying truth…or do you wanna see me sock a few dingers?”
only better Vegas sideshow would be canseco.. have him reenact the ball of his head homer every seventh inning home game
You guys think he’s there to talk about the past?
Just wait until they get to Vegas, baby!! “Special Assistant” will take on a whole new meaning,