Mark McGwire

Mark McGwire hits a home run during his last Major League season in 2001 with the St. Louis Cardinals.

Mark David McGwire (born October 1, 1963 in Pomona, California) is a former first baseman in Major League Baseball who played from 1986 through 2001.

McGwire was a prolific powerhitter during the 1990s. For his career, McGwire averaged a home run once every 10.61 at bats, the highest home run ratio in baseball history (Babe Ruth is second at 11.76). In 1998, McGwire broke Roger Maris's single season home run record of 61 by hitting 70 (McGwire's record has since been broken by Barry Bonds). In addition, McGwire was known for the length of his home runs, hitting a couple that surpassed 500 feet. McGwire's nicknames included "Big Mac," "Big Red" and "Colossus."

Early career

McGwire was raised with his four brothers in a middle-class neighborhood in Claremont. His first sports interest was golf. When he was five, he began caddying for his father John, who taught him how to grip the club. Not until three years later did McGwire begin swinging a bat instead of a club.

McGwire won a silver medal with the USA amateur baseball team in the 1984 Summer Olympics; that team was coached by Rod Dedeaux, who had also been his college coach at the University of Southern California.

Oakland's Big Basher

McGwire began his career with the Oakland A's and played there until 1997, when he concluded his career with a few years with the St. Louis Cardinals. He won the World Series just once, with the Oakland A's in 1989. Perhaps Mark McGwire's most famous home run with the A's was in Game 3 of the 1988 World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. McGwire's game winning solo homer off of Jay Howell in the bottom of the 9th inning ultimately became the only game that the A's won in the 1988 World Series.

In his first full Major League Baseball season in 1987, he hit 49 home runs, a record for most home runs by a rookie, he was named the American League Rookie Of The Year. McGwire hit 32, 33 and 39 homers the next three seasons, but his average, which hit .289 as a rookie, plummeted to .260, .231 and .235. Then in 1991, he bottomed out with a .201 average and 22 homers. He had lost all confidence in his ability.

But with the help of a therapist, he regained his mental edge and with the aid of a weightlifting program, he became even stronger. He rebounded to hit 42 homers and bat .268 in 1992.

Injuries limited him to a total of 74 games in 1993 and 1994, and to 104 games in 1995 (but he still slugged 39 homers in 317 at-bats). The next season he belted a Major-League leading 52 homers in 423 at-bats.

McGwire worked hard on his defense at first base, and resisted being seen as a one-dimensional player. He was regarded as a good fielder in his Oakland days, but his increasing bulk and reduced speed made playing the position more difficult in St. Louis.

St. Louis icon

In 1997, he did not lead either league in homers, as he was traded from the Oakland Athletics to the St. Louis Cardinals in midseason. It was widely believed that McGwire, in the last year of his contract, would play for the Cardinals only for the remainder of the season, then seek a long-term deal, possibly in Southern California where he lives. However, McGwire instantly fell in love with the Cardinal fans (considered among the most knowledgeable and loyal in baseball) and signed a long-term deal to stay in St. Louis instead. (It is also believed that McGwire encouraged Jim Edmonds, another Southern California resident who was traded to St. Louis, to sign his current contract with the Cardinals.)

In 1998, the year when McGwire and Sammy Sosa spent much of the season chasing the single-season home run record of Roger Maris, the two shared Sports Illustrated magazine's "Sportsmen of the Year" award. It is worth noting that McGwire admitted to administering Androstenedione, an androgenic steroid, during the same year, although at the time it was not tested for by the MLB and was not against the rules at that time.

McGwire also had a sense of baseball history that is rare among modern players. He graciously involved the family of Roger Maris when he broke Maris's single season home run record on September 8, 1998. He finished the season with 70 homers, a record that has since been broken by Barry Bonds. (Appropriately, a section of Interstate 70 through St. Louis is named the Mark McGwire Highway.)

McGwire ended his career with 583 home runs, which was then 5th-most in history. He hit 50 or more home runs four seasons in a row (1996-1999), and led Major League Baseball in homers all four seasons. He also shared the MLB lead in home runs in 1987, his rookie year, when he set the Major League record for home runs by a rookie with 49. Although McGwire led the majors in homers five times, he was a league leader only four times.

Post-retirement honors

In 1999, the The Sporting News' released a list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players. The list had been compiled during the 1998 season, and included statistics through the 1997 season. McGwire was ranked at Number 91. That year, he was elected to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team.

Steroids

Since he retired, McGwire has kept a low profile. His admission that he used the supplement androstenedione has led to speculation that he also took steroids. McGwire was also named as a steroid user in a 2005 book by former teammate Jose Canseco. Canseco claimed he introduced McGwire to steroids when they were both members of the A's and that McGwire used steroids throughout his baseball career. Although McGwire repeatedly denied using illegal performance-enhancing drugs in television interviews, he refused to do so under oath when he appeared before the House Government Reform Committee on March 17, 2005. As McGwire said in a tearful opening statement, "Asking me or any other player to answer questions about who took steroids in front of television cameras will not solve the problem. If a player answers 'No,' he simply will not be believed; if he answers 'Yes,' he risks public scorn and endless government investigations." During the hearing, McGwire repeatedly responded to questions regarding his own steroid use with the line, "I'm not here to talk about the past." McGwire also stated, ""My lawyers have advised me that I cannot answer these questions without jeopardizing my friends, my family, and myself." [1] When asked if he was asserting his Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself, McGwire once again responded: "I'm not here to talk about the past. I'm here to be positive about this subject."

During the hearing, McGwire promised the parents of children who committed suicide as a result of steroid use that he would direct his foundation to undertake efforts to educate children about the dangers of using performance enhancing drugs and volunteered to serve as a spokesman for Major League Baseball to convince young athletes to avoid "dangerous drugs of all sorts."

Personal life

McGwire married Stephanie Slemer, a former pharmaceutical sales representative from the St. Louis area, in Las Vegas on April 20, 2002. They reside in Irvine, California with their son, Max. McGwire also has a son, Matthew, by his first wife Kathy.

He also created the Mark McGwire Foundation for Children to support agencies that work with children who have been sexually and physically abused.

His brother Dan McGwire was a quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks in the early 1990's.

Mark McGwire's career totals

• Games played 1874
• At bats 6187
• Runs 1167
• Hits 1626
• Doubles 252
• Triples 6
• Home runs 583
• Runs batted in 1414
• Walks 1317
• Strikeouts 1596
• Stolen bases 12
• Caught stealing 8
• On base percentage .394
• Slugging percentage .588
• Batting average .263

See also

• MLB players who have hit 30 or more home runs before the All-Star break

External links

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball Reference