La Russa: Proof of Mark McGwire’s “certain integrity” makes him a Hall of Famer
LAS VEGAS — Given the chance to celebrate and comment on Rickey Henderson’s appearance on the Hall of Fame ballot for the first time, St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa also seized the opportunity to stump for another dynamo member of his Oakland Athletics teams who will be on the ballot.
On his third try, Mark McGwire belongs in the Hall of Fame, La Russa believes.
It’s a matter a of “integrity.”
“This steroid issue, that’s a matter of integrity, right?” La Russa said. “That’s one way to describe it, right? Well, it occurred to me, I know that I’ve never spoken much about it at all, but this guy did something that screams integrity. … How many guys do we know that had a contract like he had? He had a contract in his hand for $15 million over two years, and he walked away from it because he didn’t feel like he could play to that level. That, to me, there’s a certain integrity for the sport, for self-respect and everything.”
La Russa is referencing a story that is well-known in St. Louis. After the 2001 season, a disappointing one for the slugger, McGwire retired and, as Bernie Miklasz put in a column around that time, “handed a guaranteed $30 million contract back to the Cardinals.” From Rick Hummel’s coverage of the extension McGwire signed during spring training of that same season, quoting Walt Jocketty to start:
“… He wanted to have a clause that if he was unable to play, he’d only take half his money. He said, ‘Look, I don’t want to be paid if I’m not playing. I don’t want my full salary if I’m not going to play. I don’t think it’s right.’ “But we weren’t able to put that kind of language in the contract. Still, I think it’s remarkable that he would do that.”
Jocketty said the Cardinals called the commissioner’s office about the matter and the reply was that the Cardinals could indeed put the clause in the contract, “but they didn’t think it would be approved (by the players’ association).”
La Russa contends that while the hearings before Congress and the subsequent lack of comment from McGwire — who did speak with Hummel on the 10th anniversary of his 70 home runs in 1998 — has cast a shadow over McGwire’s career, this act of giving back a guaranteed contract sheds the real light on McGwire’s character. And, La Russa continues, yes, character should be considered when Hall of Fame voters consider McGwire for a third time.
The manager believes that this act of “integrity” should not necessarily change how people view what has happened since McGwire retired but it should be entered into evidence with equal fervor.
McGwire retired after the 2001 season with 583 home runs and as the single-season home run king, a record since broken. He was also a 12-time All-Star and by many standards an obvious Hall of Famer. He has received roughly the same percentage of votes each year, right around a fourth of the votes.
La Russa’s comments created this exchange with reporters on Wednesday when he asked if how McGwire handled the contract situation and retirement tells more about him than how he performed in front of Congress or how he’s not fielded questions about the usage of performance-enhancing drugs:
La Russa: Now, our guess, and people that I’ve talked to, our guess is that a whole lot of guys, just being normal, would be figured some way to either talk to the organization, like let’s get a buyout, give me $5 million instead of $30 million, whatever it is, or go ahead and play less than their best and collect a check for two years. He walked away from two years of $30 million, and I thought to myself when I told this one writer, ‘Man, I think that speaks to the public or the voters about his integrity.’
You’ve got to be a pretty solid character guy … Am I reading that wrong? Do you think that’s a good sign of character, that you would walk away from $30 million if you didn’t think you could play to that level? How would you take that decision and not make sense of it.
Reporter. I’m not sure that you’re comparing apples to apples.
La Russa: So how would you describe a guy that walks away from $30 million?
Reporter. I’m agreeing with you that that’s a sign of character, not to have a debate that’s going to be transcribed here. This isn’t the place. I would agree that that’s a sign of integrity. But I think we all do things that show integrity in one side of our life and make questionable moves on another parallel track.
La Russa: I’m just saying that the fact that he walked away from that money has been an under-discussed, under-publicized — I know I have not discussed it, and I think that is a hellacious sign of the type of person he is, and that should translate into knowing that he’s a special guy. I just never talked about it. I thought I had the chance so I’d mention it.
Reporter. So you’d consider it as an intangible for his Hall of Fame?
La Russa: Yeah, he’s got this cloud over him.
Reporter. Character is an issue (on the ballot).
La Russa: So I think that showed great character because there’s not many guys that I know that wouldn’t have said, ‘I’ll just stumble along and take those checks.’
La Russa said he recently had dinner with McGwire, while the general managers gathered in Dana Point, Calif. for their annual meetings. He did reiterate an invitation to come to spring training and be a hitting instructor. La Russa lauds McGwire’s ability to teach hitting, his thoughts on hitting and how he could help several of the young hitters. The slugger has helped Chris Duncan before, and Skip Schumaker credits McGwire with helping him improve as a hitter.
McGwire was close to joining the team in spring training this past season, enough that the team was beginning to plan the inevitable crush of coverage. There was even that typo on Day 1 of camp that had McGwire listed as a coach on La Russa’s workout-organization sheet.
“Well, there’s no doubt because he was on his way last spring, and then he had an issue,” La Russa said. “He was within a week of coming to camp. But it’s still the same. His two boys are demanding a lot of his time, and he’s having a great time being around them.”
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Derrick Goold said he was going to Mizzou for capital-J journalism, but after growing up in the Time Zone Baseball Forgot he was really drawn to MU sitting between two major-league cities. Goold joined the Post-Dispatch in 2001 after working for The Times-Picayune and Rocky Mountain News, covering sports from LSU to NHL and every level of baseball in between. 
I think Mark McGwire should be voted into the Hall of Fame because, not only did he show integrity and had respect from his teammates, he also generated interest in the sport of baseball from its fans after a lull in interest created from the Baseball Players Association Strike prior to his coming to St. Louis. He accomplished great things during his career in baseball and built a sense of pride and respect for the game. I don’t think his usage or non-usage of steroids should be the deciding factor for his entrance into the Hall, because even if he did use steroids-it was done before the rule was even established. As for me personnally-McGwire lifted my spirits at a time when I was going through a second bout of breast cancer and was going through a series of surgeries. Watching him hit home run after home run and the excitement he brought to Cardinal Nation, lifted my spirits night after night. He was and will always be my special Hero.
I don’t mind people like McGuire and bonds in the hall of fame, as long as next to their name is a picture of a syringe.
Every go to the horse track? they have special indicators next to horse’s names who are on different enhancement drugs, maybe we could do this same thing on stats and baseball cards for the kiddies.
Wrong (again), paco1951:
Obama’s Approval Rating off the Charts
“Most Americans approve of President-elect Barack Obama’s transition to the White House so far, according to a new a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey. Seventy-nine percent approve of his performance and 18 percent disapprove.
That number is 14 points higher than President-elect George Bush received in 2001 and 17 points higher than President-elect Clinton’s rating in 1992, CNN reports. It’s also more than 50 points higher than President Bush’s current approval rating.”
http://www.corporatelogo.com/hotnews/obama-high-approval-rating.html
Most Americans, including voting members of the MLB Hall of Fame, are idiots. Does it make any sense that Obama has such high approval ratings? He didn’t do anything in the Senate and he hasn’t done anything because he isn’t president yet. Okay, I’ll give you that on Bush. He has been a disaster for this country. I don’t think we’ve had a real president since the first Reagan term. His ‘best and brightest’ that he surrounded himself with betrayed his trust during his second term. Between you and me, I was a huge Ross Perot supporter. Even you, assuming you are not a Washington insider, or part of some corrupt political machine, would make a better president than the last 5 (including the president-elect.) But, we digress. I don’t think I can win this argument because I don’t think you are judging McGwire solely on his baseball accomplishments. When Mitchell’s report came out, remember the hoopla over Channel 2’s preemptive strike on Pujols? Remember Cody McCabe? How many times was he mentioned in the report? How many minor leaguers, who never made it to the majors, and fringe players who never hit above the Mendoza Line, were in the report? Would you admit that it was not all inclusive and many major leaguers, and some big names, breathed a sigh of relief. Who, besides McGwire at that time, accomphished what he had? If they were all on steroids they should have all had comparable numbers, and I’d have to argue better, because of Mac’s eyesight. Can we agree that Canseco is a nutcase and hasn’t been the same since the Madonna Affect (see Rodman, ARod, etc.) Many sportswriters were turned off by McGwire’s reactions, on some days, to the huge pressure and swarms of media following him towards the end of his run. He once remarked that he felt like a “caged animal.” But I’ve never seen anything, outside of Barry’s run, like it. There was not a pitch that Barry did not hit, not a curve, not a slider, not a fastball, not a forkball, not an inside pitch, not an outside pitch, not a pitch low in the strike zone, not a pitch high in the strike zone, that he did not hit. But he, and Mac, put the time in lifting weights, and paid the price with muscle strains and tears, by bulking up. There is a natural maturation, too, that has to be considered. If there is ability, and you focus and work hard, maybe to the point of obsession, you will get better. Albert is a monster because of hard work but it is that same conditioning and weight training that makes him susceptible to strains and aches and tears. Stretching helps but is not total prevention. I concede this argument. Whether Mark McGwire, or Pete Rose, or Sammy, or Rafael, or Barry, or even Joe Torre and Ron Santo ever make it to the hall of fame, they impacted greatly my appreciation of the game of baseball. And, if they never make it, and a Field of Dreams 2 is ever produced, just don’t be surprised if you see them, and others, running around a corn field in Iowa.
Does everyone forget the excitement of 1998? Just the thought of Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa during the home run race brings a smile to my face ear to ear. I hold that as dear as the 2006 series. Mark McGwire did something for this town and baseball that we should never forget. He brought families together to watch a sport that was tarnished by whinny players wanting more money. In 97′ Mark signs a huge contract with the Cards and gives the first million to neglected children. He then ambassador to the sport to get us interested again.
This hoopla nonsense with the hall needs to end. He is a Hall of Famer. In the 50’s and 60’s players used amphetamines to enhance performance. Many players of that era that used are in the hall. It was part of the time and it was part of baseball. The hall is also littered with drunks and drug addicts that so many admire. If baseball writers knew what was good for a sport they would put him in the hall. His character and contributions are well worth a ticket to Coopers Town.
Mark McGwire deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. He deserves his statue in front of Busch and his number retired.
McGwire should be HOF as should Sos, Palmero and many others. More players, and that includes those HOFamers, are such great competitors they often would take steps to give them an edge over others. Anything that was not clearly against stated rules and regulations should have no bearing on HOF worthyness. And then perhaps you discount stats of those after the time in which something was banned. So the performance enhancers used by MM, SS, RP others should be perfectly fine. If anything can be proven, discount the stats from the proven time on, otherwise open up the Hall.
Just because McGwire turned down a contract for $30 million does not make him eligible for the HOF. Would he have been offered such a contract if he had not shot up with steroids? I thought admission to the HOF was based on on field production not just integrity. Neither he, Bonds nor Sosa or any of the steroid users should ever be allowed into the HOF. I wonder how Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron would feel about these guys cheating to outdo them. They disqualify horses when they are found to be shot up with drugs so why not ball players and the horses have no choice in the matter.
So the days of innocent till proven guilty mean nothing to you Wade? Prove he is a cheater…. No one has. Was he found guilty of lying or guilty of using an illegal substance? Nope…. Man has great character. The only substance he was caught with was LEGAL at the time he used it.
Assumption ruin everything in life.
Let’s end this one on a high not….two words (3 if you consider Jr) Ken Griffey Jr…baseball done right and you all must agree
Let’s end this one on a high note…with three words Ken Griffey Junior….Baseball done righ…you must agree (guess that diddy was nine words)..