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03-17-2009, 06:34 PM
McGwire glad to help A's, Cards hitters
Former slugger would like to continue working with players
By John Schlegel / MLB.com
Crosby getting stride back with 'Big Mac' (http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090122&content_id=3765906&vkey=news_oak&fext=.jsp&c_id=oak)In a rare interview, former slugger Mark McGwire discussed his offseason hitting sessions with several Major Leaguers and expressed a desire to continue that work in the future.
In a phone interview with the New York Times published Friday, McGwire said he enjoyed his winter sessions with hitters such as Matt Holliday of the A's.
"I very rarely talked about my swing when I played," McGwire said. "Really, not that many people asked. It's really interesting to try to talk about it with hitters. It was so enlightening to work with the guys over the winter and see how their minds work. It was neat when you can see the light bulb go off."
The Times said the interview was conducted with the understanding that it would focus on his work as a hitting instructor, and not on other issues. McGwire, 45, has been largely out of the public eye since his 2001 retirement, and in particular since a 2005 Congressional hearing in which he declined to discuss whether he'd used performance-enhancing drugs.
At one point, the article noted, McGwire did respond to a question regarding criticism he has received for being linked to performance-enhancing drugs.
"I'm such an easygoing guy," said McGwire, who received 21.9 percent of the votes necessary for Baseball Hall of Fame induction this past winter. "I don't need to sweep away any bitterness."
McGwire, who hit 583 homers in his 16 years with the A's and Cardinals, held the single-season record of 70, which he hit in 1998, until Barry Bonds broke it with 73 in 2001. He worked with Holliday, A's teammate Bobby Crosby and Cardinals hitters Chris Duncan and Skip Schumaker at the University of California-Irvine campus in Orange County this winter.
"If you'd have told me 20 years ago that I'd be learning about hitting from Mark McGwire, I would have fainted," Crosby told MLB.com in January.
Said McGwire, in the Times interview: "I believe I have so much knowledge to give and help people improve as baseball players."
In 2008, Cardinals manager Tony La Russa invited McGwire to serve as a Spring Training instructor, but McGwire bowed out at the last minute, citing a family matter. The Times report said McGwire has not ruled out a Spring Training instructor position in the future, but only if he can maintain his family commitments. "Right now it's not about me anymore. It's about my family," said McGwire, who has 5- and 6-year-old boys, as well as a 21-year-old son from a previous marriage. "When I played baseball, it was about me. It was about me wearing blinders like a horse."
Former slugger would like to continue working with players
By John Schlegel / MLB.com
Crosby getting stride back with 'Big Mac' (http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090122&content_id=3765906&vkey=news_oak&fext=.jsp&c_id=oak)In a rare interview, former slugger Mark McGwire discussed his offseason hitting sessions with several Major Leaguers and expressed a desire to continue that work in the future.
In a phone interview with the New York Times published Friday, McGwire said he enjoyed his winter sessions with hitters such as Matt Holliday of the A's.
"I very rarely talked about my swing when I played," McGwire said. "Really, not that many people asked. It's really interesting to try to talk about it with hitters. It was so enlightening to work with the guys over the winter and see how their minds work. It was neat when you can see the light bulb go off."
The Times said the interview was conducted with the understanding that it would focus on his work as a hitting instructor, and not on other issues. McGwire, 45, has been largely out of the public eye since his 2001 retirement, and in particular since a 2005 Congressional hearing in which he declined to discuss whether he'd used performance-enhancing drugs.
At one point, the article noted, McGwire did respond to a question regarding criticism he has received for being linked to performance-enhancing drugs.
"I'm such an easygoing guy," said McGwire, who received 21.9 percent of the votes necessary for Baseball Hall of Fame induction this past winter. "I don't need to sweep away any bitterness."
McGwire, who hit 583 homers in his 16 years with the A's and Cardinals, held the single-season record of 70, which he hit in 1998, until Barry Bonds broke it with 73 in 2001. He worked with Holliday, A's teammate Bobby Crosby and Cardinals hitters Chris Duncan and Skip Schumaker at the University of California-Irvine campus in Orange County this winter.
"If you'd have told me 20 years ago that I'd be learning about hitting from Mark McGwire, I would have fainted," Crosby told MLB.com in January.
Said McGwire, in the Times interview: "I believe I have so much knowledge to give and help people improve as baseball players."
In 2008, Cardinals manager Tony La Russa invited McGwire to serve as a Spring Training instructor, but McGwire bowed out at the last minute, citing a family matter. The Times report said McGwire has not ruled out a Spring Training instructor position in the future, but only if he can maintain his family commitments. "Right now it's not about me anymore. It's about my family," said McGwire, who has 5- and 6-year-old boys, as well as a 21-year-old son from a previous marriage. "When I played baseball, it was about me. It was about me wearing blinders like a horse."