Was There Ever Anything "Big" About Mac?

Is Mark McGwire a true legend of the Cardinals?
Better yet, should the fans care if he is, or not? photo provided
by www.stlouis.sbnation.com

    It’s a viable question. After recent developments, Mark McGwire is taking over the reins as new hitting coach of the Los Angeles Dodgers. A long time Southern California native, McGwire is making the transition to the west coast to be closer to his family, specifically his five young children. All of that is admirable on the part of McGwire. However, there’s a lingering feeling that this sort of a decision would always have a way of working itself out.

    In the end, did McGwire even share that strong of a bond with St. Louis and the Cardinals organization? To look around Busch Stadium, and to think in rather recent history terms, the answer would seem to be positive. After all, it’s not often that shrines are resurrected in honor of a player’s power quite like “Big Mac Land.” It’s also not often that a player gives a fan base a season quite like the summer of ’98. And for those types of accomplishments, fans were thankful.  In fact, when McGwire retired in 2001 there was a palpable thought that the man could even represent St. Louis as a Hall of Famer. Sure, he was a part of the Oakland A’s for some 11 years, but McGwire found most of his greatest moments in Cardinal red. Not to mention that for most of his time in St. Louis, McGwire came off as an enigmatic guy’s guy. He was family-oriented, enjoyed his work, and seemed to show a true appreciation for what St. Louis had given him: a place to call home.

    Before McGwire’s first shot at Cooperstown, though, things came unraveled for the man and his legacy. 2005’s Supreme Court hearing on steroids in baseball ruined the perceptions of a few big leaguers, and McGwire was right in the path of the destruction. A shaky testimony led to a sudden feeling of distrust throughout Cardinal Nation. When it finally seemed like there was a wrinkle in the script, McGwire became distant.  He preferred to stay out of the public eye, and made sure to not find himself in a defensive situation about that subpoena. All that eventually culminated in McGwire’s admitting to using steroids, in 2010. By the time that announcement was made, the vast majority of baseball had already seemed to accept that the use was fact already.

    Also by that time, Cardinal fans found that McGwire didn’t hold a finger to anyone close to the team’s pantheon of players. There seems to be a code of conduct inadvertently passed down by Cardinal greats. Those players reflect the attitude and devotion to the game that reflected a certain organizational “class” that other teams just didn’t seem to have. What McGwire did throughout his steroid saga was a dismissal of all that attitude and devotion that came before him. These weren’t the actions of a Stan Musial, a Bob Gibson, a Lou Brock, or an Ozzie Smith. It was almost worse that McGwire seemed to want to weasel his way out of the allegations against him, than was the fact that he had even taken steroids in the first place. The fans could accept a man with his flaws, but not one that wasn’t willing to own up to them.
   
    And just as all of that ill will was about to reach its breaking point, McGwire moved in as hitting coach. He had already begun to work privately with some of the players, and his transition seemed to come rather smoothly. As a part of La Russa’s staff, McGwire helped guide the Cardinals to their standing as an offensive juggernaut, something the team is still built on today. With rookie manager Matheny at the helm, McGwire’s offensive coaching/leadership was a much needed attribute for the 2012 team. McGwire seemed to finally find his niche in the game itself, and more importantly, in the hearts of St. Louis fans. Then it happened again; just when Cardinal fans had so much faith in the man, McGwire has apparently turned his back, once more.

   
    The questions have begun to pour out about what exactly McGwire finds so desirable in the west coast. As stated before, the common answer is simply that McGwire’s home is in California. The problem, though, is that McGwire won’t exhibit any sort of loyalty to the Cardinals upon his departure. He may say some arbitrary positives about the club; how they’ve acted as a home for him and his family, how fans have stuck by him, and how he will always treasure his time in St. Louis. Yet, McGwire ultimately will find that this decision was perhaps the easiest of his career.

    After all, McGwire’s loyalty was always to La Russa, never to the Cardinals. My personal belief is that when fans truly examine McGwire’s relationship with the team, they’ll find that stance to be quite obvious. Why was St. Louis such a heavy draw for McGwire after Oakland? Why would the coach possibly move just one year after the retirement of La Russa? Simply, he loved the man, not the team.  McGwire has and still is a man that operates under his own guidelines, and his own interpretation of the “right thing to do.” As far as St. Louis is concerned, McGwire would never truly feel sympathy for pulling the city and team’s loyalty around by a thread. To him, it never would truly mean as much as the respect he had from his peers, most importantly, La Russa.

    It’s tough to judge a man on his loyalty. After all, each man places his priorities differently. For McGwire, though, it’s hard to imagine how he couldn’t feel some natural sense of loyalty to this team, this city. Seemingly year after year a veteran arrives in St. Louis, much like McGwire, hoping to find their opportunity to be a part of a class organization, to win games, and to find a place to play where the fans truly appreciate them. Through his actions over the years, McGwire gives off the air that he couldn’t care less about those qualities in this team. So maybe it’s time for this organization and its fans to care less about him, too.