The Cardinals’ hiring of Mark McGwire as hitting coach fascinates me. Beyond the obvious issue of PEDs (speaking of cheaters, I always thought Gaylord Perry would make a great pitching coach; it seems easier to teach a guy how to “win without his best stuff” than to throw a small spheroid 95 mph, but maybe that’s just me), McGwire hardly fits the “classical model” of a hitting coach.
Real or imagined classical models have nothing to do with his qualifications or whether he’ll succeed in that role, but when I think of hitting coaches, my mind drifts toward guys like Charley Lau and Walt Hriniak. I think more of line drives than of towering home runs. Then again, Lau and Hriniak weren’t exactly accomplished big-league hitters, so maybe what a guy did in his playing days doesn’t have a lot of bearing on what he does as a coach.
That being said, McGwire is not your father’s hitting coach. His approach, which led to strikeouts in more than 20% of career plate appearances, has been eschewed — for reasons that don’t make a whole lot of sense when you stop to look at them — by baseball men throughout much of the sport’s history.
In the current environment, where players like Adam Dunn, Ryan Howard, and Mark Reynolds are properly recognized as valuable contributors to a team’s offense, hiring McGwire makes perfect sense. Assuming, of course, he is capable of teaching what he himself knows.
Still, the mind wanders. I can see where McGwire might help, say, Ryan Ludwick, a hitter with a similar approach (if not consistently similar results). And I can imagine the conversations with Albert Pujols: “Looks great, Al; just keep doing what you’re doing.”
Where things could get fun is in McGwire’s tutelage of guys like Brendan Ryan and Skip Schumaker. “Yes, that’s good, but hit the ball harder,” McGwire might say. “Here, like this.” Then he’d grab a bat and swat a batting practice fastball 450 feet. “Okay, Brendan, now it’s your turn.”
I know it won’t go down like that, but wouldn’t it be fun if it did? Almost as much fun as having Gaylord Perry be your pitching coach, I’ll bet.
When Cardinals players ask Mark for advice, I hope he replies, "Do you want to know the terrifying truth, or do you want to see me sock a few dingers?"
On Mike & Mike yesterday, Pujols was on and was asked about McGwire. He said that McGwire helped him in his plate approach, focusing on selectivity. Regardless of how far the ball goes when you make good contact, that's a lesson which is applicable for all hitters. One could argue that it's the most important, teachable aspect of hitting.
Most hitters should have the physical part of hitting more or less down by the time they reach the majors. Having somebody at the major league level who excelled at the mental part seems like a good move.
I remember stories about McGwire visualizing each at-bat. In the on-deck circle, he'd look at the end of his own bat to help refocus his eyes. Here's a guy who hit .200 one year and ended up rebounding. There are few players who have experienced as much stress as he has. He's faced all kinds of pitchers and shifts. I think he'll be as good as any other hitting coach and possibly better.
Down in texas we're talking about possibly having Thad Bosley as our next hitting coach. Somehow this seems to fit the profile of the new "pitching and defense" Rangers. I'm thinking that Mike Maddux could probably keep the ball out of McGwires wheelhouse, but Dave Duncan vs Thad Bosley? ouch.....
on the other side of this, I hope that McGwire gets into the HOF soon. if anyone deserves it, he does. Man that guy hit the ball a long way.
I think his .394 career OBP gives him at least two dimensions. If having the 11th highest career OPS in history doesn't get one into the Hall, we might be expecting too much.
Also, I'd also say Mike Schmidt, but he was a fair fielder at third as well, or Mantle or Mays, except they could each field and run a bit.
ok, enough with the sarcasm. Your argument is a) specious and b) stupid. There's nothing wrong with being a one-dimensional slugger as long as you provide value to the team. You gave the example of Rob Deer. Comparing Rob Deer to Mark McGwire is ridiculous. Deer's high in homers was 33, and he had 230 in his career. Also, Deer was actually a pretty decent outfielder, who had double digit outfield assists 4 years in a row. (though he's no HOFer.)
The other person you mentioned was Mickey Tettleton. "Fruit Loops" (yes, that was his nickname) was hardly one dimensional. He switch hit, he drew 100 walks per season 4 times, and he was a CATCHER! As to his HOF resume. well, there are alot worse guys in the HOF, but he's probably been relagated to the Hall of the Really good, but not quite Fame, along with guys like Buddy Bell, Carney Lansford, Steve Garvey, etc....
On another issue. I looked at the list of career Home run hitters, and realized that our BBWAA have a real challenge on their hands. 10 of the top 25 home run hitters in history, conviently, 10 guys who've hit 500 home runs or more, are not enshrined in the Hall. All of these guys are either active, or recently retired. That's not to mention guys with real shots to join them like Carlos Delgado, Albert Pujols, and Vladimir Guerrero.
Who's in? Who's out? Who's going to have to wait but will make it in anyway? Who's going to be discriminated against because of the PED issue, and how will that affect things?
I think we can all agree that a HOF w/o Barry Bonds makes no sense, even with the question of whether he used or didn't. Also, I think we can all agree on Griffey. A-Rod will make it too, there can't be much question of that. Will Sammy Sosa make it? How about Rafael Palmeiro? Jim Thome? Can they elect a true DH in Frank Thomas? what about Manny, the only member of the 500 home run to actually serve a suspension for PED use? Would you vote for Gary Sheffield, and how unlikely does that sound to you old time Brewer fans?
There were several Oakland years, I believe, where his avg ranged from .210 to .240. His obp was still very high those years and he was still a very valuable hitter for Oak. Not always recognized at that time except for people like Bill James who I remember writing how valuable Mcgwire was with his obp and power even during those very low avg years
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When Cardinals players ask Mark for advice, I hope he replies, "Do you want to know the terrifying truth, or do you want to see me sock a few dingers?"