Mark McGwire as he enters the Cardinals Hall of Fame: "In 1997, a Southern California kid had no idea he was going to spend the greatest four and a half years of his life with you all."
Like him or not he was the catalyst for the turnaround of the franchise. He packed the stadium. Made the new stadium a real possibility. Got Jim Edmonds to come here. That was huge. We all know where that ended up. Thank you Mark. It was really a joy to watch you hit.
Thank you Mark McGwire saw you hit many home runs including number 62 I was so proud to be there thank you for bringing back baseball from the 1994 strike.
Andrew MacIntosh I actually think he helped ruin it. First the strike hurts baseballs reputation, than the steroids tarnished it as a sport itself. Now with the Astros literally stealing championships... how could anyone ever watch this sport and think anything they do is fair/honest. Baseball is the worst sport out there and hopefully it folds completely. It’s a game full of liars and cheaters, period.
@@sugarsingh4951 lmao well ur not a baseball fan and quite weird that you are going on baseball RU-vid pages and commenting.... all the power to you tho...
I saw him almost hit the ball out of Marlins stadium in batting practice in 97. It hit the tarp cover over the last row in the stadium. I have never seen anyone hit the ball that far. It’s absolutely nuts he came that close to hit the ball out of a stadium. He is the first person to break the longstanding Roger Maris HR record. I saw him play in 98 .It was the most amazing year in baseball history. He deserves the MLB hall of fame. He did more for the game than hurt it.
Loved watching Big Mac at batting practice. (When he was in Oakland). I have both his and Sammy Sosa's jersey from 1998 Home Run chase. Thank you St Louis for taking good care of Mark. Congratulations Mark for being in both the Cardinals and Athletics Hall of Fame!
Jackson Anderson why do you say “He May have been quiet but...” as if that’s a bad thing? You know people that are loud are the ones people listen to the least. If you make too much noise eventually that’s all it is, just noise.
Big Mac is a class act I watched him launch 16 into the upper deck at Veterans Stadium during Cardinals BP he then walked around the infield signing autographs he personalized an 8x10 for me it's on my wall even now as I write this he was always so accommodating to the fans especially that historic 98 season
As a guy (me) who legit feared McGwire, was rooting for Sosa and hoped that Sosa won that chase and didn’t want McGwire to win, all I can say is… congratulations Big Mac and thank you for the memories and bringing baseball back in that home run chase
People can say whatever they want about Mac but he is a truly nice guy. He hit a ton of homers before all the other crap came around. He has always been my second favorite player just behind Mickey Mantle. Congrats Mac you deserve this honor.
My childhood hero the best to play to inspire a young kid from the reservation have hope and see him play in Colorado and knock one out to right field AMAZING well deserved
Haters going to hate always. No one can deny that him and Sosa saved baseball. Never in the history of any sport did sports radio stations and TV stations dropped what they were doing to broadcast their at bat.
I wish he would come back for opening day like the other HOFers. I understood it when he coached for LA and SD but now that he isn't coaching it would be great if he were to come out in one of the convertibles.
All of this is great and I'm glad St. Louis did what Oakland should have done a very lonnnnnng time ago Mark McGwire will and forever always be and Oakland A
You guys can complain about McGwire all you want. It was the choice of the fans to vote him in. I was among the ones who voted for him. As a fan as well as an employee of the Cardinals organization, I prefer to remember McGwire’s playing, not steroid taking. There’s more to baseball than home runs.
Oh really then if there is how many championships did he win in a Cardinals uniform 0. How was his singles, doubles, triples oh thats right he homered or struck out. So if there is more to baseball then hitting HR’s he did none of that.
13th ops of all time, proficient at taking a walk. The guy was an OBP and OPS machine. Let's focus on him not getting enough singles though, lmao. Most home runs per day bat for a career. OBP is more important than batting average and his batting average wasn't bad either.
The revenue generated by McGwire helped get the Cardinals to build championships in the future. The McGwire trade was transformative for the organization. As already noted, judging a player on championships in a team sport is lazy
24 homers in his first 51 games with the Cardinals. Everyone talks about the 98 season, but McGwire's homer magic started long before. As far as I know steriods weren't officially against the rules in baseball at the time, so whose fault was it? Could he have muscled out all those homers without it? We'll never know. It's an unfortunate situation for everyone. I loved watching McGwire play and am enjoying reminiscing about his Cardinal days. There was always be the asterisk in my mind to go along with it, but it was sure an amazing site to see!
What he did was magical. Haters can stuff it. His ability to center a ball on the barrel of his bat was uncanny. And MAYBE the distance of the HRs had some chemistry behind them, but he hit 50 as a rookie... you really think 20 or 30 feet makes a big diff on a 450-470 ft shot? Over the fence is a hr. He should be in the hof. Sosa and Bonds as well. The hypocrisy of the sports media is nauseating.
He's a fraud like Bonds, Sosa, Manny, A Rod etc. He should never be celebrated 98 was tainted Roger Maris still the leader in single season HR's. They didn't save baseball Jose Canseco did by getting better testing & bringing it to our attention as baseball fans. & people don't tell me they all did it if I go murder someone with 6 people I'm going to jail like everyone involved.
@@chase7662 which is why Bonds didn’t have to do it top 5 yes but the greatest players in the games history these guys above him Ruth, Mays & Aaron I’m sure we can debate others.
@@PrideofPitchers Obviously baseball would still exist, although maybe as more of a niche sport; it was after all hurtling towards mainstream irrelevancy after the strike of '94. The popularity of baseball as the 2nd sport in the US was certainly maintained because of guys like McGwire, Sosa, Griffey and Bonds. So did they save it? Not entirely. They should all be in the Hall of Fame though.
Bonds is an arrogant piece of shit. He would never own up to do anything “wrong.” It’s not in his blood to admit that he isn’t as great as he portrays himself.
I didn’t watch baseball, I had no interest in it not living in the US. THAT season, I started watching and subsequently tuned in most of the time every NIGHT (UK time)
All these people want to strip the Astros which I get but they need to strip the steroid teams to the Yankees in particular. You gotta be consistent anyone who cheated doesn’t belong.
Nope he cheated just like Bonds, Clemens, A Rod, Sosa, Palmero no ball of fame for him ever he’s a disgrace & worse are the Cardinals who embrace him. Notice the Cubs want 0 to do with Sammy Sosa. They handled it right something St Louis has failed at.
Steroid era saved baseball. I remembered losing interest in baseball due to its strike. Then, I was brought back by the home run race between Mac Sosa. That was Good baseball. And since nearly all the ball players were on the juice, including the pitchers, I had no problem with him using it.
Hopefully Jose Canseco was there to confess what McGwire did during his playing career infront of bunch of Cardinals fan? That make McGwire humiliate infront of fans
If anybody thinks he was only handful of guys using PED, they need to wake up. Millions of dollars were on the line. I don't think it's unusual to think lot more players were using it. I also knew a guy who played in the majors in the 80's and he said 80% of the guys were using some kind of PED. And since players like Mac, Sosa, Bonds were facing pitchers who were also caught juicing, I have no issues with their accomplishments.
Babe Ruth played pre integration. The game back then cant even be compared to what it is today. Ruth would shit himself if he had to try and hit even an average mlb pitcher today.
If Cardinals fans want to show love to McGwire, fine. I have no problem with that. But, if you are going to love McGwire, don’t be a bunch of hypocrites and hate Bonds.
Cannot lie that year 98 I think it was him is sosa battling it out. It was fun too bad he's getting the Pete Rose treatment. But no one really wants a tinted championship.
