Mark mcgwire biography

American baseball player and coach (born )

For the American musician, see Mark McGuire (musician).

Baseball player

Mark David McGwire (born October 1, ), nicknamed "Big Mac", is an American former professional baseballfirst baseman who played 16 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) from to for the Oakland Athletics and the St. Louis Cardinals. He won two World Series championships, one with Oakland as a player in and one with St. Louis as a coach in One of the most prolific home run hitters in baseball history, McGwire hit home runs during his career, which ranked 5th-most in MLB history at the time of his retirement and currently ranks 11th. He holds the major-league career record for at bats per home run ratio (), and is the former record holder for both home runs in a single season (70 in ) and home runs hit by a rookie (49 in ). McGwire was one of several central figures in baseball's steroids scandal.

McGwire led the major leagues in home runs in five different seasons, and set the major-league record for home runs hit in a four-season period from to with He demonstrated exemplary patience as a batter, producing a career on-base percentage (OBP) and twice leading the major leagues in bases on balls. McGwire also led the league in runs batted in once, on-base percentage twice, and slugging percentage four times. Injuries cut short even greater potential, as he reached games played in just eight of his 16 MLB seasons. Injuries particularly cut into his playing time in and and factored into his decision to retire. A right-ha

American baseball player

Future Hall of Famer Mark McGwire smashed once and for all one of baseball's most sacrosanct records: 60 home runs hit in one season by Babe Ruth in Roger Maris had hit 61 homers in But he had hit only one home run more than Ruth, and in a season that was about a week longer than in the Bambino's day. McGwire surpassed Ruth's mark decisively, hitting 70 home runs in And just to make sure everyone had noticed, he hit another 65 in McGwire is a story-book home-run hero for the turn-of-the-millennium. He hit a record number of homers as a rookie, In six of his seventeen 17 seasons in the big leagues he hit more than 40 homers. He hit fifty home runs an unprecedented three seasons in a row, breaking another of Babe Ruth's records. Rounding out the picture, McGwire is apparently a genuinely nice person. He is devoted to his son and has donated millions of his own money to a foundation dedicated to helping abused children.

Early Life

Born in in Pomona, California, Mark McGwire was raised in a big, brawny, sports loving family. Mark and his four brothers, each of whom ended up over six feet tall and weighing over pounds, grew up playing baseball, football, golf, soccer and other sports. Mark's brother Dan played football at the University of Iowa, and professionally with the Seattle Seahawks and Miami Dolphins. Their father, John, was a dentist who was also a well-liked Little League coach. Mark would later describe his childhood as typically middle class, and himself as a normal child who liked sports and had to work hard to be good at them.

Mark's first involvement with organized sports was Little League baseball. Despite his modesty, it was obvious from the start that Mark McGwire was an especially talented baseball player. In his first Little League at-bat, when he was just eight, he hit a home run off a pitcher who was four years older. Two years later he set his first home run record, 13 in one season in t

Mark McGwire, who played first base for the USA Olympic team, was one of the most powerful sluggers to ever play Major League Baseball, though his legacy is checkered. McGwire played in college at Southern Cal, after which he was the 10th overall pick of the Major League Baseball Draft, selected by the Oakland Athletics.

McGwire played in the Major Leagues from He was with the Athletics from , and spent his last five years with the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League. He hit home runs in his career, and led the majors in home runs five times, in and He was a time All-Star.

In McGwire hit 70 home runs, breaking the vaunted Major League record of 61 by Roger Maris in During that year, he and Sammy Sosa engaged in a chase to break Maris’s record, with McGwire coming out on top, as Sosa finished the year with The home run record chase captivated the American sports public in the summer of ‘ McGwire and Sosa repeated their record-breaking ways in , as McGwire hit 66 homers and Sosa

However, during the year it was revealed that McGwire was found to be taking androstenedione, an over-the-counter anabolic steroid analogue which was, however, not banned at the time by Major League Baseball. It was also rumored that he was using stronger anabolic steroids, because of significant increase in muscle mass in the last few years. McGwire later admitted to using steroids. Sosa was similarly suspected of using performance enhancing drugs, but at a Congressional hearing, Sosa, through his attorney, insisted he had never taken PEDs.

Despite the records he set, because of the opprobrium that hounded him by the steroid rumors, McGwire was not inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame (through ). He later became a respected hitting coach for the St. Louis Cardinals, Los Angeles Dodgers, and San Diego Padres in the Major Leagues. In McGwire was named to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team.