UB-Day October 1
(UB-Day marks the birthdays of people born between 1955 and 1964. If you want to know more, please read this post.)
Mark McGwire (10/1/1963)
Born in Pomona, California, Mark McGwire is one of the premiere power hitters in baseball history, playing most of his career with the Oakland Athletics before finishing with the St. Louis Cardinals. In his rookie year with the A’s, 1986, Big Mac set a rookie home run record with 49. He would do better.
Paired with Jose Canseco, McGwire helped lead the A’s to three consecutive World Series appearances, winning in 1989. Perhaps Mark McGwire’s most famous home run with the A’s was his game-winning solo shot in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 3 of the 1988 World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers; McGwire’s game-winner brought the A’s their only victory in the 1988 World Series, which they lost in five games.
By 1991, however, McGwire had bottomed out, ending with a batting average of .201 and only 22 homers. He decided to turn his career around, and changed his look, growing a mullet and a goatee. He might have changed something else; it’s a little unclear, but in 1992 he batted .268 and hit 42 home runs.
After missing most of two seasons due to injuries, McGwire was traded to the Cardinals in 1997, and the next year began a home run race with Sammy Sosa of the Cubs, finally hitting his record-breaking 62nd homer on September 8, 1998, against those very same Cubs. He eventually finished the season with 70, and hit 65 the following year. He retired after the 2001 season.
Widely admired and respected throughout the sport, McGwire’s image was tarnished after retirement, when more and more stories came out about steroid use in MLB. McGwire testified before Congress but refused to answer questions about his own use, and his stock plummeted. In 2007, the year he was expected to easily be admitted to the Hall of Fame, he received only 128 votes out of 545 cast.
Trivia: For his career, McGwire averaged a home run once every 10.61 at bats, the lowest at bats per home run ratio in baseball history (Babe Ruth is second at 11.76).
Age Today: 44.
Shares Birthday With: Christopher Titus (43), Randy Quaid (57), Rod Carew (62), Stella Stevens (71), Julie Andrews (72), Tom Bosley (80), and Pres. Jimmy Carter (83).
This Day In History: In one of life’s little coinkydinks, Roger Maris hit his 61st home run on this day, beating Babe Ruth’s longstanding record (1961).