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.”
-30-
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. 
Don Sutton is in the Hall of Fame. He was accused of putting a foreign substance on baseballs. He replied that Vaseline was made in the USA.
In 1999, McGwire led the league with 65 homeruns. He was not taking andro that summer.
Because Mac played for the Birds, should we overlook cheating? God No. Let’s tell our kids it’s OK, in your home town at least, to cheat, as long as it makes your home town happy. You can be like Mac and Bonds and rewrite the record book. It will make Maris and Ruth turn over in their graves but hey, you made your home town happy.
For everyone out there who says McGwire is a cheater all I got to say is where’s the proof? Don’t give me the Andro argument either because it was a legal substance in all pro sports when he used it, except the NFL, which bans everything before they even know all the facts. The fact is that the press were on a witch hunt at the time and they’re still angry with him because they want him to admit he did something wrong. If he didn’t do anything wrong than they won’t except it and they’ll say he’s lying. What the press has done is little more than character assignation. Mark is a first ballot Hall Of Famer period!
I can’t understand why Mark McGwire’s refusal to discuss steroid use before Congress is considered a stain on his character, when it was character that prevented him from discussing the issue.
I think every baseball fan understands that what happens in a clubhouse is private, issues not to be discussed in public or before some self-serving House committee. The man who called for the hearing, my Congressman, is a dweeb and was forced to retire. It was merely his showcase to get re-elected and show he was actually doing something.
If McGwire used steroids, it was during a time when they were legal and permitted. If he did not, then he doesn’t have to say he did. But it was character and integrity to not disclose what happens in private that prevented him from discussing the issue. Players used steroids. That’s a fact, but it wasn’t going to come from Mark.
He’s taken the heat for remaining silent. He is guilty before even being given a hearing. He was sentenced not to win election to the Hall of Fame for two years. I think this witchhunt should be over by the overly pious minions of baseball. Mark was one of the best players baseball has ever seen, and he deserves the benefit of the doubt. The true lack of integrity and character falls on the sports writers who deny him entry into Cooperstown. As a lifetime journalist and writer, I never would have allowed myself to convict someone on such scant and unworthy evidence. Put Mark in the Hall, and forgetaboutit.
McGuire belongs in the Hall of Fame. I find it amusing that of all the people to vote for such a great honor, baseball writers decide who gets in. That is pathetic. How many baseball writers really know what it takes to be a Hall of Fame athlete.
Ask the players if McGuire belongs in the Hall of Fame… I am pretty sure the answer would be a LOUD “YES”
Did he walk away because of the money, or did he walk away to avoid the extra scrutiny and the additional performance enhancer tests that followed the 2001 season. I would like to believe he walked away for the right reasons, but I doubt it. He was trying to protect what little of a positive image he had left….. Should have walked earlier
Mark McGuire as a hitting instructor/coach for the cardinals is a no-brainer. Can you imagine what he could do with the younsters on this ballclub? Steroid, Schmeroid…if LaRussa thinks that Mark is the best resource, then I say go for it. I do not want to get into the legalities of drug use by athletes. The tools needed to play everyday, and you need -dare I say, it is dictated a player like Mark plays everday, you use every tool in the bag to ensure he does. HE IS AN ALL STAR, HALL OF FAMER!
McGwire didn’t JUST give back 30 million dollars [and also ask the front office to spend it to make the Cards a winner!]; he ALSO didn’t cheapen or profit from his achievements by making commercial endorsements [unlike, say, Griffey, Jr. and many others]—he only made public service announcements; and he tithed his salary to donate it to help abused kids. Hell, he could have free-agented himself to MORE than $15,000,000/year after ‘97. But he chose to stay with the Cards instead because he loved the environment and wanted a winner here.
If canseco is still relied upon, 85% of the players during his era were on steroids. If so, the enormous discrepancy between McGwire’s production and nearly every other player of the time should either put him in the hof or bar all players from those years.
And I’d still like to see how credibly henry waxman would perform in the batters box facing Randy Johnson before 50,000 people in the stands and tens of millions more on television, especially if his freedom, his future and that of his family depended on it. What McGwire has suffered from most is the failure of people who are articulate about his considerable admirable qualities to stand in his corner.
Using “sportswriters” and “ethics” in the same sentence is an oxymoron. And moronic.
I’ve stated many times that I do not have a Hall of Fame vote, and so my opinion on whether McGwire is a Hall of Famer or not is rather academic. That said, I have spoken to people who have votes and have elected not to use them for McGwire. Their reasons break along three basic themes.
1. They think he used performance-enhancing drugs.
2. They would like to hear from him whether he did use or did not use, and in some case they would vote him even if it was the former. Never underestimate the forgiving power of the people, even us sportswriters who are convenient targets for ridicule in this debate.
3. They don’t think his statistics merit Cooperstown.
Some other quick things to consider: Steroids were a controlled substance in the U.S. Under federal law the distribution of steroids was illegal. So, can the talk about steroids being legal. Andro is another subject. There are some wise and well-thought arguments that McGwire belongs in the Hall and many of them would be stronger without the falsehoods about steroids and andro.
And finally, Irv … Mr. Eff … Come stronger with your snappy comments and snicker-snicker accusations or don’t come at all. You better have reason for slinging that slime. You shouldn’t judge a person before you know them.
And you clearly do not know me.
dg
-30-