Mark Mcgwire

It was 2:30 on a weekend afternoon, and Mark McGwire was still in the hitting cage, in uniform, working with St. Louis Cardinals hitters. He had been there since shortly after 7 a.m. after arriving at the Roger Dean Stadium complex an hour earlier, as usual reporting to duty with his extra security detail. As McGwire picked up a bat to make a point to a non-roster hitter, in the Florida Marlins' identical cage at the shared facility, less than 100 yards away, players' children, some barely old enough to walk, ran around and wrestled with each other in the hitting area.

As we continue to lose our financial minds in sports, there are occasional blips of common sense. Not many, mind you. Not in a world where the salary of a basketball player can be measured in six figures a game, or a baseball player in six figures an inning. Interestingly, the pro football player who risks life and limb and likely future serious physical impairment, trails in the category of obscene cash flow. Maybe in his next contract talks, he can cut a deal to be paid by the concussion.

A suggestion for Major League Baseball: When it is time to replace Bud Selig as commissioner, forget businessmen, lawyers or charismatic leaders. Hire a priest. Monday was Mark McGwire's turn in the confessional. Bless me, Father, for I have sinned. A lot of those 583 home runs I hit in the major leagues were juiced, like me. The year I hit 70 and broke the cherished record of Roger Maris, they were all juiced, just like me. I am sorry. I was wrong. Yawn. The usual reaction these days is to give the player credit for fessing up and apologizing.

Jim Thome hit more than half his 600 home runs for his first team, the Cleveland Indians, making him the career leader for that storied franchise. Here is a list of all-time home run leaders for the 30 big league franchises: Angels; Tim Salmon, 299 Dodgers; Duke Snider, 389 Arizona; Luis Gonzalez, 224 Atlanta; Hank Aaron, 733 Baltimore; Cal Ripken, 431 Boston; Ted Williams, 521 Chicago Cubs; Sammy Sosa, 545...

As I watched this giant of a person hit this home run, it occurred to me that Mark McGwire is a hero in every sense of the word. The thing that has most impressed me, even more than the accomplishment, is the style and grace this man has shown. From involving his young son in the chase, to the emotional embrace he gave the Maris family, to the way he and Sammy Sosa show obvious respect and friendship, Tuesday is a day I will never forget. In this age of presidents letting us down and star athletes who seem to care more about the money than the game, I am proud of the great American pastime.

In a telling sign of the times, the reporter who broke the 1998 story about Mark McGwire using androstenedione today stands a better chance of making the Hall of Fame than McGwire and his famous foil from that season, Sammy Sosa. Steve Wilstein, the former Associated Press reporter who spotted a bottle of androstenedione on the shelf of McGwire's locker and got him to admit to using the then-over-the-counter, testosterone-producing supplement, has been nominated for the J. G.

A trainer who previously admitted supplying Jose Canseco with steroids now says he also gave performance enhancing-drugs to Mark McGwire . Curtis Wenzlaff , arrested in 1992 for steroids distribution, told ESPN's "Outside the Lines" that McGwire's goal was to get "bigger, faster, stronger," according to excerpts released Friday. The interview is to be broadcast Sunday morning. McGwire last week admitted for the first time that he used steroids and human growth hormone on and off for a decade, including when he set the season home run record with 70 in 1998.

At 6-feet 2-inches and 190 pounds, Neil Allen of the New York Yankees is not small, but Mark McGwire of the Oakland A's is 6-5, 225. After Allen beaned McGwire Saturday, the Oakland first baseman charged the mound. Said Allen afterward: "I was just trying to figure out where I was going when his body got there." And what was he thinking? "No mas," Allen said.

Oakland Athletics first baseman Mark McGwire, whose 49 home runs set a major league record for a first-year player, was unanimously selected Rookie of the Year in the American League, the Baseball Writers Assn. of America announced Tuesday. McGwire, the choice of all 28 voters, is the second unanimous selection in the 40-year history of the award. Carlton Fisk of the Boston Red Sox was the first, in 1972.

The Pittsburgh Pirates tried giving away golf umbrellas and beach towels, but nothing helped in selling out Three Rivers Stadium. Then Mark McGwire and the St. Louis Cardinals came to town. The Saturday and Sunday games were the first consecutive regular-season sellouts at Three Rivers Stadium. "The Mark McGwire home run craze is quite phenomenal," said Vic Gregovits, the Pirates' vice president of marketing and broadcasting. Crowds of 38,149 showed up for beach towels and 41,568 for umbrellas.

The Angels called on a flame-thrower to close Sunday's game at Dodger Stadium. But Jordan Walden's blistering pitches — one clocked at 100 mph — kept coming out of his right hand the wrong way, making them stray from the strike zone. Walden walked his first two batters in the ninth inning and struggled from then on as the Dodgers scored two runs to win, 3-2. "I don't know where it was going," Walden (1-2) said of his fastball after his fifth blown save — and second straight — in 22 opportunities.

Stan Musial An American Life George Vecsey Ballantine/ESPN Books: 397 pp., $26.00 Here is a theory I have: There are three kinds of baseball players — the Good, the Great and the Gods. In the first category is everybody who made it to the major leagues; no one less than good ever got that far. Category two is for the exceptional. Category three, well, that is the best of the best. A few are clear-cut; a few are close calls. A hard-core hardball fan will often buzz a point-blank question by the ear of someone who has a say-so in baseball's yearly election to its Hall of Fame.

On Wednesday, the Hall of Fame voters had their annual say on baseball's steroid era. This is the year the people of the United States enter the debate. People of the United States, that is. Capital P, for plaintiff. It's a perjury doubleheader. On March 22, it's the United States vs. Barry Lamar Bonds. On July 6, it's the U.S. vs. William Roger Clemens. Roberto Alomar and Bert Blyleven were elected to the Hall of Fame on Wednesday. No one else got within 75 votes of election, so perhaps no player gets elected next year, when the strongest first-time candidates include Tim Salmon, Bernie Williams and Vinny Castilla.

Barry Bonds said he is "proud" of slugger Mark McGwire for returning to baseball as the St. Louis Cardinals' hitting coach and for admitting his use of performance-enhancing drugs. "I have a really good friendship with Mark McGwire. I'm proud of him," Bonds said Sunday in San Francisco at a reunion of the Giants' 2000 National League West champion team. "We've had a great relationship throughout our entire lives and throughout our career. I'm proud of what he did. I'm happy for him."

It was 2:30 on a weekend afternoon, and Mark McGwire was still in the hitting cage, in uniform, working with St. Louis Cardinals hitters. He had been there since shortly after 7 a.m. after arriving at the Roger Dean Stadium complex an hour earlier, as usual reporting to duty with his extra security detail. As McGwire picked up a bat to make a point to a non-roster hitter, in the Florida Marlins' identical cage at the shared facility, less than 100 yards away, players' children, some barely old enough to walk, ran around and wrestled with each other in the hitting area.

The McCourts haven't paid state or federal taxes for the last five years. Following the McCourts' lead, perhaps Dodgers fans doing their taxes might consider writing off their season tickets as a depreciating asset. For all the hard-working and tax-paying fans paying through the nose for the tickets, parking and food at Dodger Stadium, I say: Suckers! Al Nyberg, Vista Time for a name change to the L.A. Tax Dodgers. That would be truth in advertising. Todd Jameson Torrance :: The Dodgers adding a surcharge to the cost of Friday night games is an outrage.

Barry Bonds said he is "proud" of slugger Mark McGwire for returning to baseball as the St. Louis Cardinals' hitting coach and for admitting his use of performance-enhancing drugs. "I have a really good friendship with Mark McGwire. I'm proud of him," Bonds said Sunday in San Francisco at a reunion of the Giants' 2000 National League West champion team. "We've had a great relationship throughout our entire lives and throughout our career. I'm proud of what he did. I'm happy for him."

Just beyond the cracked left-field wall where Sammy Sosa hit his earliest home runs, in a tattered batting cage behind fading stars that read "Alou," "Marichal" and "Mota," Roberto Corporan was chasing the dream that drives so many in this storied Dominican town. Sweating rivers in the blazing sun this week, Corporan and his scout were the lone figures in Alfredo Raynold Stadium, the muddy and rutted field of dreams where the Chicago Cub slugger--like so many others before him--first played baseball.

A trainer who previously admitted supplying Jose Canseco with steroids now says he also gave performance enhancing-drugs to Mark McGwire . Curtis Wenzlaff , arrested in 1992 for steroids distribution, told ESPN's "Outside the Lines" that McGwire's goal was to get "bigger, faster, stronger," according to excerpts released Friday. The interview is to be broadcast Sunday morning. McGwire last week admitted for the first time that he used steroids and human growth hormone on and off for a decade, including when he set the season home run record with 70 in 1998.

Instead of honing his swing this off-season, Miguel Cabrera focused on getting sober. "My drinking was a problem, and I feel good without it. I feel like a new man," he said Thursday. The Detroit Tigers slugger spent three months in an outpatient treatment program for alcoholism following a much-publicized drinking binge during the final weekend of last season, a program that General Manager Dave Dombrowski said will continue into spring training and the upcoming season.