It's still a little difficult for me to imagine, but there's a generation of St. Louis Cardinals fans growing up now who only know Mark McGwire as the big, surly looking hitting coach who may or may not have screwed up Brendan Ryan last year. I can't blame those kids, though, when you think about it—Mark McGwire's Major League debut was 25 years ago today, which means his career will now get the best rates when it rents cars at the airport counter.
↵Chris Jaffe's got the litany of McGwire facts on the subject that will make you feel old—McGwire the third baseman, Joaquin Andujar and Dave Kingman on board the (Tony La Russa-led) Oakland Athletics roster, Lou Piniella the rookie manager on the other side of the field. If it's any consolation, we're only a year removed from the last time La Russa suggested he'd like to activate Mark McGwire as a pinch hitter in September.
↵And as of this blog post publishing we're only seconds removed from the last time I thought that would be really awesome, and hoped the Cardinals would actually do it.
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