The St. Louis Cardinals coaching staff got a little boost when Tony LaRussa reportedly hired Mark McGwire to serve as the Cards’ hitting coach in 2010. A press conference has been schedule by the Cards for noon today, but did not say why they scheduled it. THEY’RE NOT HERE TO TALK ABOUT THE PAST!
The 65-year-old La Russa has been mulling his future since the NL Central champion Cardinals were swept in the division series by the Los Angeles Dodgers on Oct. 10. His two-year, $8.5 million contract expires at the end of the month.
McGwire has largely been out of the public eye since then. He attended Congressional hearings on steroid abuse but said little in testimony, saying “I’m not here to talk about the past,” and has fallen far short in balloting for the Hall of Fame despite hitting 583 home runs. –CBS Sports.
The hitting coach is really just a glorified drinking buddy for the manager. Those guys already know how to hit. I suspect McGwire’s coaching techniques will be more pharmaceutical in nature, anyway. Hey, the doctors are doing it, and you don’t see anyone complaining about doctors these days.
The St. Louis Cardinals commissioned a statue of Mark McGwire after he hit 70 dingers in 1998, but it doesn't look like they'll be displaying it any time soon.
But the bronze is draped in cloth, hidden in a downtown warehouse. Its place in the limelight has been thrown into question, like so much of McGwire's legacy, by suspicion that steroid use enhanced his career…
Making the sculpture took months for [sculptor Harry] Weber and a team of welders, masons and artists. Now the labor of love is hidden in an undisclosed location. The Cardinals own it, Weber said, and don't want anyone taking a peek.
I think I saw this in a movie. Didn't Bud Selig die when he looked at this statue and his face melted off? No? Maybe that's just wishful thinking.
The version that remains under wraps is three-quarters life-sized.
…of McGwire in his prime, so it's essentially the same size as McGwire without steroids. A fitting tribute.
Yeah, yeah, I heard… Mark McGwire is on the Hall of Fame ballot. I'm willfully avoiding the subject, even though if you think he should get into the Hall you clearly have no soul and belong in Hell, sodomized for eternity by a splintered 4×4s from the remains of the Polo Grounds.
Thankfully, the Dugout distracts us from that argument in today's episode, in which aggressively unfunny writers Patrick Hruby and Jim Caple of Page 2 ("ESPN.com's chunky vomit. The analogy works right down to the color scheme.") discuss Dante Bichette's Hall of Fame credentials.
I don't want to ruin the surprise for you, but if McGwire is having trouble getting votes, all he needs to do is change his t-shirt.
(Seriously, Dante Bichette? Who else made the ballot, Pete Harnisch? Oh wait. He did.)
Update: As wet blanket commmenter Rob notes, the last link is not to the ballot itself, but to the list of players eligible for the ballot. With Leather does not regret the error.
