Mark McGwire 1997 AL MVP

Lore & Background

When the 2001 free-agent signing landed, Oakland fans who had grown up watching McGwire obliterate the Cardinals' left-handed pitching in the mid-1990s suddenly had a chance to see him in the green-and-gold. The 39-year-old, already a two-time NL MVP (1985, 1995) and the owner of the single-season home-run record he'd set in 1998 with 62, brought a quiet gravity to the Coliseum clubhouse. He was not a starter in the traditional sense; his role was that of a designated hitter and a mentor, his swing a living museum of power-hitting history.

The 2001 season was brief and bittersweet. McGwire's legs, worn from nearly two decades of maximum-effort swings, no longer carried the same explosive torque. Yet on the occasions he did connect, the crack of the bat still echoed the way it had in Busch Stadium a decade earlier. For a franchise built on lean rosters and young arms, having a Hall-of-Fame-calibre slugger—even in a reduced role—gave the lineup a psychological anchor and a storyline that drew extra eyes to Saturday-afternoon games at the Coliseum.

The misattribution of a '1997 AL MVP' to McGwire in Oakland lore likely stems from the conflation of his 1998 record-breaking season (which dominated baseball conversation through 1999) with his later A's years, compounded by the fact that 1997 was the year he was still in St. Louis and the AL MVP went to a different player entirely. Correcting this does not diminish McGwire's legacy with the A's; it simply places his Oakland story where it belongs: 2001, the final act.

In Their Own Story

The Coliseum was half-full on a humid Tuesday in August, 2001. The sun sat low behind the outfield wall, turning the chain-link fence to molten copper. In the on-deck circle, McGwire peeled the grip tape off his bat, wound it back on with the same slow, ritualistic motion he'd used since Milwaukee in '84. A kid in the front row, maybe nine years old, held up a cardboard sign: 'MARK 62.' McGwire caught the kid's eye, gave a small nod, and tapped the bat twice against his hip. He walked to the plate. The pitcher wound up. The swing was shorter than it used to be, the follow-through less violent, but the barrel still met the ball with a sound like a door slamming shut. The ball sailed over the left-field seats and kept going, and for two seconds the whole ballpark held its breath before the kid in the front row started screaming. McGwire didn't run. He just stood at first, hands on his hips, watching the ball land, and smiled the way a man smiles when he's been handed back a memory he thought he'd lost.

Reader's Guide

The 2001 signing of Mark McGwire by the Oakland Athletics was a free-agent move that brought a two-time NL MVP and the all-time single-season home-run record holder (62, set in 1998 with St. Louis) to the Coliseum for what would be his final MLB season. At 39, McGwire was no longer the everyday starter he had been in the mid-1990s; his role was that of a designated hitter and veteran presence, providing power at the plate and a steady hand in the clubhouse for a young A's roster.

The signing meant something specific to the franchise at that moment: Oakland had built its identity around cost-effective young talent, and adding a legend—even in a reduced role—signaled that the organization valued experience and marquee names alongside its farm-system philosophy. It drew additional television attention and gate revenue, and it gave fans a tangible link to the home-run era that had defined the late 1990s.

McGwire's 2001 season was his swan song. While his numbers no longer matched his prime, his presence in the green-and-gold remains a touchstone for A's fans of that era. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2007, and his 583 career home runs ensure his name will always be spoken in the same breath as the game's greatest sluggers. For Oakland, his chapter is short but memorable: the year the 62-homer man wore the A's cap.

Did You Know?

• Mark McGwire's 1997 season was spent with the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League; he was not an American League player that year, and the 1997 AL MVP was not him.
• McGwire's record 62 home runs came in 1998 with St. Louis, breaking Roger Maris's 1961 mark of 61—a record that stood until Barry Bonds hit 73 in 2001, the same season McGwire was in Oakland.
• McGwire was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2007 with 99.3% of the vote, one of the highest approval rates in Hall of Fame history.
• His 2001 A's season overlapped with Barry Bonds' 73-homer year in San Francisco, meaning two of the greatest power-hitting seasons in history happened in the same calendar year, in different leagues, on opposite sides of