photo: Mark McGwire and the St. Louis media, January 17, 2010 (Dustin Mattison/The Cardinal Nation)
Editor’s note: Tuesday’s news that Mark McGwire has decided to leave baseball and return home to his family struck me as being the exact reverse of the path taken by the former slugger when he was lured back into the game by Tony La Russa in October 2009.
At that time, Dustin Mattison was midway through his six-year stint as a writer for this site. With Big Mac’s full-circle career decision coming to light, I asked Dustin if he would be interested in sharing his experiences on the memorable day when Big Mac first re-entered the public eye. His recollections follow.
By Dustin Mattison
As reports broke this week that Mark McGwire was leaving his post as the San Diego Padres bench coach, I am sure some St. Louis Cardinals fans reflected back on his time with their club.
Most Cardinals fans will think back 20 years to the fantastic summer of 1998. It is hard to find a more memorable season in baseball history than when McGwire and Sammy Sosa chased Roger Maris and each other to become the new single-season home run king.
Though I reflect on that season fondly and have many “I remember when” moments, the memory that stands out most to me was his return to the Cardinals as their hitting coach over a decade later.
While he was named to the position on October 26, 2009, McGwire did not appear in public until the Winter Warm-Up fan event in mid-January, 2010. It is hard to forget the scene the late Joe Strauss coined the “Riot at the Hyatt”. The Prodigal Son returned maligned and apologetic after previously having been outed, enduring a disastrous appearance before Congress and eventually confessing to steroid use.
Some might have been disappointed that Big Mac did not provide the closure that was hoped for. Those same people could not have been disappointed in the scene at the Hyatt Regency St. Louis at the Arch, which was electric, galvanizing, and raucous.
I recall being ushered out of the press room and sitting on the ballroom floor, criss-cross applesauce, with more recognizable, distinguished St. Louis writers.
As he did when he batted in the heart of the Cardinals’ lineup, McGwire strolled onto the main stage, accompanied by Guns N’ Roses’ “Welcome to the Jungle”. The standing room-only crowd gave the tarnished slugger a lengthy standing ovation even as they anxiously awaited to hear from their hero.
Others in attendance did not get all of their questions answered to the level they may have wanted. Cardinals’ radio play-by-play announcer John Rooney led the question-and-answer session with Big Mac, whose voice tremble was evident. McGwire let it be known up front that “steroids are bad” and told all in attendance that “I made a huge mistake.” He reminded all that steroids are illegal.
After answering a few more questions, McGwire briefly signed autographs before heading off to face the media.
I can recall hustling back into the overcrowded press room to wait for the second act of the new hitting coach’s debut. The team had other plans for this anticipated presser. Instead of holding it in the designated media area, the session occurred in a tiny hallway, just inches from the door that offered escape from the assembled hordes.
The media’s anticipation was much greater than the length of the conference itself.
As I reflect upon the scene, I can only think of how surreal and chaotic it was. The multitude of press members with large cameras and microphones – not just the local scribes but also the national media – jostled one another to get closer to the giant slugger in the hope of getting their years of questions answered in a few brief moments.
McGwire was not forthcoming with his responses, which seemed to irritate some of those in attendance. That caused those already stressed by the claustrophobic conditions to raise their voices and shout over their colleagues in an attempt to be recognized.
And as quickly and confusingly as it started, the presser was over as McGwire was ushered out the nearby exit into the non-publicly-accessible area of the hotel. The collected media were left standing in the hallway, wondering what had just happened.
Though some thought he might face further pressures in 2010, McGwire held another media session in Florida as spring training opened, and seemed to do a better job answering questions. As he visited ballparks outside of St. Louis, McGwire was able to avoid controversy. To conclude his first year as hitting coach, the Cardinals finished second in batting average in the National League and sixth in runs scored.
In his second season in the job, the Cardinals reached the game’s pinnacle. On their way to the club’s 11th World Series championship, the Cards ranked first in runs, hits, batting average, OBP, SLG, OPS, and total bases. St. Louis returned to the NLCS in McGwire’s final year with the team and finished in the top five in most of the same categories.
After the 2012 season, Mike Matheny’s first as manager, McGwire moved his employment closer to his California home as he accepted the hitting coach job with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He served in that role for three years before becoming San Diego’s bench coach.
The entire episode in that hallway lasted only six minutes, but has stuck with some of us who participated in that scrum for almost nine years. The chances are good that if McGwire decides to return to the game again at a later date, his re-entry will be nowhere near as raucous as was the 2010 “Riot at the Hyatt”.
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