Details:
- Height: 6'5"
- Weight: 250lbs
- Date of birth: October 1, 1963
- Birthplace: Pomona, CA
- High School: Damien High School in La Verne, CA
- College: University of Southern California
- MLB Debut: August 22, 1986
- Final Game: ctober 7, 2001
- Position: First Base
- Bats: Right
- Throws: Right
Bio:
One of the premiere sluggers in major league history, "Big Mac" was a star at USC, where he set many records before being drafted by the Oakland Athletics in the first round of the 1984 draft. Three years later, he set an all-time rookie home run record with 49.
He and teammate Jose Canseco were known as the “Bash Brothers” and helped the A’s to a world championship in 1989, two American League pennants and a division title. In mid-season of 1996, the A’s traded McGwire to the St. Louis Cardinals. The following year, McGwire and Sammy Sosa of the Cubs captivated the nation when they staged a successful, year-long battle to best Roger Maris’s single-season home run title, which McGwire won with 70. The slugging duo was credited by many with reviving public interest in the sport after a strike and cancellation of the 1994 World Series.
Dogged by patellar tendonitis, McGwire retired after the 2001 season. His slugging achievements were subsequently engulfed by a steroid controversy, first when McGwire admitted to taking the supplement androstenedione and then when Canseco accused McGwire of taking steroids in his book Juiced. McGwire drew further disfavor with the media when he refused to testify before a 2005 Congressional Government Reform Committee on steroids.
Career Highlights, Awards, and Accolades:
- AL Rookie of the Year in 1987
- Set AL rookie home run record: 49
- Career 573 home runs, 8th all-time
- Set single season major league home run record with 70 in 1998 (eclipsed two years later by Barry Bonds’ 73)
- Led major league baseball in home runs five times
- First all-time in fewest at-bats per home run: 10.61
- 12-time All-Star
- First player to hit 50 home runs in three straight seasons: 1996-1998
- Hit three home runs in a game five times
- Named to Major League Baseball’s All-Century Team
- In 1999, drove in a league-leading 147 runs while only having 145 hits, the highest RBI-per-hit tally in baseball history
- Hit game-winning solo homer off Jay Howell of the L.A. Dodgers in the bottom of the 9th inning of Game 3 of the 1988 World Series (the only game of the series that the A’s won).
