I’ve been hooked on baseball for 27 years. My love for the game started during one of the most exhilarating moments in Major League Baseball history, Game Six of the 1986 World Series.
Somewhere at some point you’ve probably seen highlights on MLB Network, ESPN or throughout the film “Fever Pitch.” Nonetheless, when Gary Carter led the rally in the bottom of the 10th inning with two out for the New York Mets against the Boston Red Sox, I was hooked.
The only problem was that I really didn’t have any vested interest in either team as I was planted squarely in Stockton, California. To give you a perspective for those of you who don’t know, Stockton sits about hour east of Oakland. It’s a port town that has since become a high-crime Mecca, but also houses a Class-A baseball team, the Ports, and has for as long as I can remember. Carter became a player I followed as much as I could, but it would be in 1987 that I would come face-to-face with the one player who I practically idolized and got me hooked on the Oakland Athletics, Mark McGwire.
Needless to say I picked a hell of a time and a hell of a player to latch onto, especially when considering the fact that he had one of the greatest rookie campaigns in MLB history.
That season he went .289/.370/.618 (league-high slugging percentage) along with 118 RBI and a Major League-best/rookie record 49 home runs. He easily won Rookie of the Year honors, finished sixth for the American League MVP and made his first of 12 All-Star Game appearances.
From there McGwire’s career in Oakland took off, but mostly when it came to his power numbers and runs brought in. From 1987 until 1992 McGwire played in at least 139 per season while crushing at least 36 home runs and driving in roughly 100 runs per year.
In that time frame he made the All-Star roster every season, finished in the top-25 for the AL MVP in all but one season, won a Gold Glove at first base in 1990 and went to the World Series three times, winning only one in 1989 against the San Francisco Giants.
It should also be noted that McGwire’s batting average peaked at .289 in 1987 and dropped to as low as .201 in 1991.
From 1993 to 1994 McGwire was hardly on the field due to foot-related injuries, but he mustered back in 1995 where he got his average back up to .274 and continued to show his dominance over pitchers by blasting 39 more home runs and batting in 90 more runs.
In 1996, despite only playing in 130 games, McGwire had his greatest all-around year up until that point. His slashline was .312 (his career-best)/.467 (league-high on-base percentage)/.730 (league-best slugging percentage) and he also managed to lead the league in home runs again with 52 while knocking in 113 more runs.
The following season (1997) McGwire was traded halfway through the year to the St. Louis Cardinals, but he still managed to hit .274 on the year and knock another 58 dingers into the seats in the process. He also just causally knocked in 123 runs.
During his Cardinals years McGwire continued to improve with age. 1998 was clearly his best, most important season of his career has he easily beat Roger Maris’ single-season home run record (61) by nine home runs all while boasting a .299 average, a league-high 162 walks and league-highs in on-base percentage (.470) and slugging percentage (.752).
McGwire would end up finishing in second place for the National League MVP Award that season. Something that a few people tend to forget is that McGwire almost broke his own record in 1999 by hitting a league-leading 65 home runs, but even less remember that he also led the league with 147 RBI.
He had two of the three marks to win the Triple Crown, but unfortunately Chipper Jones’ .319 average eclipsed McGwire’s .278. As far as 2000 and 2001 are concerned McGwire played less than 100 games in each of those seasons, but he still managed to hit at least 30 home runs and bring in at least 68 runs, but his batting average was clearly night and day as he hit .305 in 2000 and a paltry .187 in 2001, his final season. Simply based on the numbers alone, McGwire had himself a solid 16-year career, a career that I never really felt was Hall of Fame worthy.
As one of the biggest McGwire supporters on the planet I realize how odd that may seem. In fact, it has always been something that I would get thrown at me in baseball arguments from folks who didn’t realize that I have never felt McGwire is a Hall of Famer.
In all honesty, it’s taken the last 12 years for me to really sit down, look at everything and come to the conclusion that McGwire does belong in the Hall of Fame. Here’s how I came to that conclusion and why you should too.
First off, let’s get this whole steroids/PEDs issue off of the table. How many times has McGwire ever failed a drug test? Zero times to be exact.
Yes, there was a time that McGwire was caught using Androstenedione; however, that was a perfectly legal supplement back in 1998, so you can’t exactly hold that against him.
Also, if you want to quote Jose Canseco’s book for any possible use or even the times that McGwire himself admitted to using steroids, by all means shout it out until your vocal chords bleed. Just remember that as you do it, go immediately back to the first question I proposed and you’ll get the same answer every time.
McGwire never failed a drug test and therefore should not have that held against him in any way because he never officially violated the rules. Every member of the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) is fully aware of these facts yet the majority of them still snub him year after year.
This year will be McGwire’s eighth year on the ballot and so far the largest amount of support he’s been able to drum up came in 2010 when he received 23.7 percent of the vote.
This last year he finished with 16.9 percent so it’s certainly not looking like it’s going to go up anytime in the near future, even though it should. The biggest reason why it’s taken me so long to change my mind is because I was looking at the wrong numbers, in a manner of speaking, after his career ended.
One thing that I put too much merit in for the last couple of years is the amount of time that McGwire, or any other player for that matter, has played. As I mentioned earlier McGwire has played for 16 seasons and during that time he had a modest .263 average, 1,626 hits, 1,317 walks (40th-most in MLB history) and obviously his 583 home runs which are the tenth-most in MLB history.
Well, there is also his .394 on-base percentage which is the 72nd-best all-time, his 1.414 RBI which are 70th-best, his .982 OPS which is 10th-best and his .588 slugging percentage which is eighth-best all-time. Now, to help a few of you really understand what these numbers mean: he’s one of the 100-best players in baseball history to get on base, but more important he’s one of the 10-best players to hit for extra bases.
See, the way you calculate slugging percentage is based on the formula: singles + (2 x doubles) + (3 x triples) + (4 x home runs) / at-bats. The one area that McGwire struggles in even with these numbers is his total bases which equals 3,639, which is good enough for 136th all-time; once again, a very respectable figure.
Now, the one number that fans and critics also need to take into consideration is 1,874, which is the total number of games that McGwire played in. This is an important figure because if you take that number and divide it by 162 games it will equal roughly 11.5 years. Therefore, based on the total number of games McGwire has played his career technically only lasted 11.5 years.
This is a huge factor when you compare him to other Hall of Famers like Pittsburgh Pirates slugger Ralph Kiner who only played for 1,472 games and got in with way less home runs, less RBI, less walks, less hits, a little bit better average, etc.
Kiner’s career was shortened due to injury, but he also was in the good graces of the BBWAA thanks to his long-tenured broadcast career with the New York Mets, his military record during World War II and because he is just an all-around swell guy.
But even as great of a guy he his, there really isn’t any reason he should be in the Hall of Fame other than what he was able to do at the plate when he led the league in home runs seven consecutive years (1946-1952), which is basically why McGwire is even being considered.
I fully understand that the politics of the game differ from person-to-person, but for someone to think something is morally incorrect despite no violation of the rules, I just can’t agree with that. McGwire is a rare specimen who was put on this planet to pummel baseballs. As one of the 10-best people to do it in MLB history it’s hard to keep him out of the Hall of Fame, no matter how much it may tear someone up inside.