This past week saw the reemergence of Mark McGwire back into the world of Major League Baseball.
He decided to end his eight-year exile by returning to the club where he received his greatest fame: the St. Louis Cardinals. He comes at the invitation of Tony LaRussa, the man who has coached him almost his entire professional career and one of the few to publicly stand by him throughout his turbulent retirement.
It was a surprising move that Mr. McGwire has decided to return to the national pastime, one that has so many fans who despise him for his supposed professional betrayal.
But it should come to no surprise that he returned to the city whose fans will give anyone a standing ovation, no matter their past sins (Matt Holiday after he lost game 2 of the this years division series for example). Mr. McGwire will find sanctuary in the cathedral that is Busch Stadium with Father LaRussa to look over him.
We at The Current believe a person is innocent until proven guilty.
This is not a new concept, but it is one that is difficult to practice. Mr. McGwire has been surrounded by accusations and rumor since his retirement in 2001. His testimony, or lack thereof, in front of a congressional committee in 2005 did nothing to help his situation and he quickly became somewhat of a recluse.
That, while ignoring rumors and accusations until they go away may work for average citizens, but silence is of no use to a celebrity. While it could be argued that he would have been better off to give answers to their questions and have a day of it; the embarrassing testimony that he gave was more bad advice from his lawyers than anything.
There could be more to this hiring then meets the eye. McGwire mentors hitters in the off-season including the aforementioned Holliday. So his hiring could be a preemptive move by LaRussa to entice the free agent Holliday to sign a long-term deal with the Cardinals. It would be a genius move if it pays off.
To Mr. McGwires detractors, and there are many, he represents the decadence of the juice ball era along with Barry Bands, Sammy Sosa (his one time rival for the home run title) and Jose Canseco. And it is Mr. Canseco’s accusations that have been the most determential towards Mr. McGwire’s credibility as an all-natural hitter.
And while Mr. Canseco’s credibility can be called into question itself, he should commended for confessing. However, he did so in the form of a book. One could say he was more concerned with collecting the advance and that trying to clean up the game was a by-product he profited from.
If quality evidence surfaces of Mr. McGwire’s use of performance enhancing drug use during his playing days, he should be relieved of his current job and his records as a player removed from the books.
But, until that happens, we must treat him like any other person who has fallen under the guise of accusations that he believes to be false; take his word on it until we’re proven wrong. We would only want the same for ourselves.
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