Mark McGwire

Big Mac: 583 career home runs, 70 in 1998, and a central figure in baseball's steroids scandal.

He hit 583 career home runs, which ranked fifth-most in MLB history at his retirement and currently ranks 11th.^[1] McGwire holds the major-league career record for at bats per home run ratio (10.6) and was the single-season home run record holder with 70 in 1998.^[1] His MLB career spanned 16 seasons, from 1986 through 2001, with the Oakland Athletics and St. Louis Cardinals.^[1]

Quick Facts

Position: First baseman
Born: 1 October 1963
Birthplace: Pomona, California, U.S.
Debut league: MLB
Debut date: August 22
Debut year: 1986
Debut team: Oakland Athletics
Final game: October 7

Facts from the source article.

Life and work

McGwire was named the Sporting News College Player of the Year in 1984, leading the nation with 32 home runs.^[2] He debuted in the major leagues on August 22, 1986, and in 1987 hit 49 home runs as a rookie, a major league record that stood until 2017.^[3][4] McGwire was traded from the Athletics to the Cardinals on July 31, 1997.^[5] McGwire's birthplace is Pomona, California, a Los Angeles suburb.^[6]

This record was later surpassed by Barry Bonds, who hit 73 home runs in 2001.^[7][8] He was also named the bench coach for the San Diego Padres in December 2015.^[9]

What the cited sources add

The ESPN article by Rovell notes that grounds crew member Tim Forneris gave McGwire the 62nd home run ball back without asking for any compensation, and that memorabilia experts estimated the ball could be worth $1 million or more.^[10] The same source states that McGwire's 70th home run ball from 1998 sold for $3.05 million.^[10] The Bleacher Report article by Miller reports that McGwire went 3-1 with a 2.78 ERA as a sophomore pitcher at USC.^[2] That article also quotes scout Gary Hughes saying he thought Shane Mack would be a better player than McGwire.^[2]

The same article reports that McGwire's performance in the Olympic competition was 4 hits in 21 at-bats, with zero home runs.^[11]

References

Wikipedia, "Mark McGwire" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Mark McGwire Stats", Baseball Reference (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Miller, "Randy Johnson and Mark McGwire's Years Together at USC's Baseball Factory", Bleacher Report. facts only, no text reused. bleacherreport.com
Wikipedia, "Mark McGwire" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Mark McGwire 1986 Batting Game Logs", Baseball-Reference.com (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Mark McGwire" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Yankees' Aaron Judge breaks Mark McGwire's rookie HR record", Sporting News, September 26, 2017 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Mark McGwire" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "THE BIG DEALS / THE A'S / McGwire finally traded – to Cards", Sfgate, August 1997 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Mark McGwire" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Mark McGwire Stats - Baseball-Reference.com", Baseball-Reference.com (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Mark McGwire" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Progressive Leaders & Records for Home Runs", Baseball-Reference.com; "Bonds testified that substances didn't work", ESPN.com, June 24, 2020 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Mark McGwire" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Bonds testified that substances didn't work", ESPN.com, June 24, 2020 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Mark McGwire" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Mark McGwire not returning as Padres' coach to spend time with family", ESPN, October 23, 2018 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Rovell, "The man who gave away McGwire's 62nd home run ball has no regrets", ESPN, September 8, 2016. facts only, no text reused. espn.com
"Mark McGwire remembers baseball's Olympic boom in 1984", August 7, 2014. facts only, no text reused. nbcsports.com

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Mark McGwire (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.