Mark Mcgwire: Hall of Famer; Pierre Mcguire vs Jack Fraud

Wednesday January 17th 7:30 PM

Things have been tough and testy locally so let’s start with a laugh-as first seen on Monday’s Golden Globe awards:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9Hb8SenD98
(If you have yet to see Borat, you might want to skip the above clip)

Now, back to the sandbox. If that wasn’t a royal “F-You” by members of the Baseball Writers Association of America to Mark McGwire then I misunderstand the true meaning of the phrase. In receiving just 23% support for the Hall of Fame, McGwire is a lot closer to sliding off the ballot completely then he is to ever getting in. (75% support needed for enshrinement, 5% or less and you’re gone for good.)

Now the question becomes how many writers, such as The Gazette’s Pat Hickey wanted to punish him in at least his first year of eligibility, but might be willing to vote for him somewhere down the line, compared to the number of hacks who will never vote for him.

Here’s what I would do if I was a sports editor at a large daily: dig into the archives and find all those columns and features written about McGwire while he became the talk of the baseball world-and beyond-in the summer of 1998. Print ‘em all over again, juxtaposed with the most recent drool induced hatred spewing from some of the very same people who willingly went along for perhaps the professional ride of their lives back then. Expose the double standard.

Look, I’m not happy about guys on juice. Especially if the most glamorous career record goes down because of it. But it’s not just Barry Bonds assault on Hank Aaron’s all time home run mark of 755 that’s so bothersome. It’s watching names like Frank Robinson, Harmon Killebrew, Reggie Jackson, Mike Schmidt, Mickey Mantle and a host of others being passed by guys who simply weren’t as good. Except with a needle instead of a bat.

But what to do about it? Simply white out the name of anybody who juiced up? Anybody have a definitive start and end date? If hitters did end up blasting 50-100 more career home runs as a result, how many were hit against pitchers who were also juiced? Deny entrance to the Hall of Fame if there’s any doubt whatsoever? Who’s to judge, a sportswriter whose moral compass extends to the bridge of his own nose? And now that amphetamines are banned do writers aim their vitriol at those who “greenied up” before games? Or are those numbers so outrageous it’s not even worth going there. What if I were to tell you that, say, the late Willie Stargell used amphetamines through most of his career. And a corked bat (I have absolutely no knowledge of Willie cheating…with a corked bat)? Oh, it’s not the same you say? Listen to speed and steroid expert Charles Yesaris, professor emeritus at Penn State who told the New York Post: "They're far more risky than steroids," said Charles Yesalis, an expert in performance-enhancing drugs. "They can stone-cold kill you. It's far more dangerous. They're not even in the same room with steroids."

Hmmm. Now what? Can anybody say with complete certainty that other than Tony Gwynn and David Wells most MLB players did not use steroids? Or speed? Or both?

Mark McGwire hit 49 home runs as a slender rookie with the 1987 Oakland A’s. He also drove in 118 runs. His on best percentage was .370. He slugged over .600. His power numbers over the next five years:
32 HR 99 RBI
33 HR 95 RBI
39 HR 108 RBI
22 HR 75 RBI
42 HR 104 RBI

He was on his way to a Hall of Fame career long before anybody discovered a jar of Andro in his locker. He finished his career with the best home run to at bat ratio in major league history. Second on that list is Babe Ruth. But McGwire never did cozy up to the writers. And he didn’t give them the big headline they wanted when he appeared before congress. He lashed out at Jose Canseco and Canseco’s book as a teammates’ “betrayal”, adding that he, himself would never have thought to discuss anything about a teammate’s personal life, including “sexual preference”. Now there’s a possible headline but writers were too blinded by rage. Forced to admit they were asleep at their keyboards back in ’98. Or perhaps since 1988.

Unlike Rafael Palmeiro, Sammy Sosa and even Curt Schilling, Mark McGwire did not lie during his testimony. He did what anybody who studied law by reading “Lawyers for Dummies” would suggest. He took the 5th, knowing full well what it really meant.

Jack Todd (you knew I was getting to him) argued this week, while explaining his decision not to vote for McGwire, that anybody who compared cheating via throwing spitballs to using drugs was “out of their ever-lovin’ minds”. (Don Sutton is in the Hall of Fame. He pitched for 23 years. Won 20 games in a season once. But for his entire career won 324. Now anybody who knows anything about the career of Don Sutton knows he scuffed balls. But 300+ wins is apparently automatic. So, if Sutton doesn’t scuff, especially while pitching well into his 40’s, does he win 29 games over the final three years of his career? If not, he’s stuck at 295. That’s just seven more wins than Tommy John who’s never getting in. Capisce?).

Besides, the fact that Jack Todd has a vote tells you all you need to know about the entire Hall of Fame process.

Jack is a slimeball. What he did to Pierre McGuire this week should cost him his job.
In Jack’s world (what a place that must be) Pierre initiated everything.

Scene October-Indoors
Typical TV room on the south shore.
A large man with a dent in his forehead is lying on the sofa watching a hockey game. A phone rings loudly, startling the man, nearly sending him sprawling off the sofa. He picks up the phone.

Jack: “Hello”
Pierre: “Sheldon Souray can’t play in the NHL”
Jack: “Huh?”
Pierre: “You heard me stud, Sheldon Souray can’t play in this league”
Jack: “Oh, hi Pierre” Click.

Jack Todd writes, in his lead four months later, that “A certain TSN hockey analyst who shall remain nameless doesn’t think Sheldon Souray can play in the NHL”.

Learning how to do my own job by studying every scene and every line from “All The President’s Men” I decide to get to the bottom of this. I ask Pierre on the air if HE is the TSN analyst Jack was referring to. (I had a 50-50 shot. TSN has two game analysts. That’s right two. Pierre and Glenn Healy).

Pierre says he talked to Jack after reading a column he wrote. That he said, as he had several times on the air, that Souray, with his lack of foot speed is probably going to struggle defensively in the new NHL. And if Jack was in fact referring to him, then “It’s fictitious reporting and I’d be concerned if I was a Gazette editor.”

What followed this week was an all-out attack on the same guy who had provided oodles of background information for years to not only Todd but other members of the gazette sports department: The Gazette Monday Januray 15th McGuire on McGuire: Look, if you say something, at least have the integrity to admit that you say it. Yes, it was TSN's Pierre McGuire who phoned me early this season to say - and this is a direct quote - "Jack, Sheldon Souray can't play in the National Hockey League. "

I didn't phone McGuire on that occasion, I didn't ask him about Souray. He phoned me, he offered the opinion on his own. I didn't name him when I wrote about Souray making the all-star team because I thought it was kind of funny that the guy who considers himself the world's biggest expert on the NHL could be so wrong. Truth be told, although he didn't say it was off the record, I probably should not have quoted McGuire - but that's why I didn't use his name. But when McGuire goes on the air and denies he said it and then says the Gazette has a problem - well, I have a problem with that. It's one thing to be wrong, but lying is something else - and calling me a liar is something else again. You drop the gloves, you'd better be ready to dance.

If you have an opinion, have the guts to own up to it. McGuire was wrong about Souray, just as he was wrong when he said "the league has the book on (Cristobal) Huet." We all make mistakes. It happens. McGuire should have fessed up, admitted his mistake, laughed about it and moved on. Unfortunately, he doesn't have the integrity or the guts. Ironically, Souray and Huet are now in the All-Star Game. And if either of them runs into McGuire in Dallas, you know what he'll say: "Hey, big guy! Congratulations! I've been telling them all along you should be an all-star." Right.

And: Other zeros: Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro, Sammy Sosa, Randy Johnson, David Samson, Jeffrey Loria, Don King, Bud Selig Jr., Claude Brochu, Brian Billick, Peyton Manning, Randy Johnson, TSN &&&& last but not least, Pierre McGuire, because the man lacks those three qualities Koivu has in abundance n heart, courage and integrity.


Jack Todd suggesting Pierre Mcguire lacks guts is akin to George Bush suggesting that Barack Obama lacks intelligence. Jack writes that Pierre had called him EARLY IN THE SEASON to tell him that Souray can’t play. Yet he waits until January to write it? Oh, he didn’t name Pierre. But at the same time admits TRUTH BE TOLD I PROBABLY SHOULDN’T HAVE QUOTED MCGUIRE. Huh? Try to find how many times Todd has referred to Mcguire in his columns, usually in an effort to support his own opinions. Or better yet “My friend, Pierre McGuire says…” Whatever was said, in whatever context, I can assure you that Pierre makes and receives several calls a day from across the league. Most are for gathering info. Occasionally, if he has an extra 3-5 minutes, he’ll shoot the shit. But unless a writer/columnist specifically calls him for an interview he certainly is not being quoted. Until now. As Pierre Mcguire’s star has risen (TSN, NBC, Sports Illustrated, The Team radio, etc) Jack’s has dimmed. It's now barely a flicker. I can think of no other reason why Todd deliberately set out to embarrass Pierre. It was yellow, gutter journalism at its worst. Beyond unprofessional. The epitome of gutless. Unless Jack has finally hit rock bottom and-in his own words-is now completely “out of his ever-lovin’ mind”.
http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/stats/historical/individual_stats_player.jsp?c_id=mlb&playerID=118743&HS=True

http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/stats/historical/leaders.jsp?c_id=mlb&baseballScope=mlb&statType=1&sortByStat=HR&timeFrame=3&timeSubFrame=0

http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/stats/historical/leaders.jsp?c_id=mlb&baseballScope=mlb&statType=2&sortByStat=W&timeFrame=3&timeSubFrame=0

http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/stats/historical/individual_stats_player.jsp?c_id=mlb&playerID=123006&HS=True