[:: All Time Fave Oakland A's - 1st Base ::]

From the way he would adjust his contacts before he hit to his unusual stance, I would notice it all. His horrible 1991 didn't cause me to give up hope, the opposite happened. His year-long slump made me depend on my faith when it came to the A's. Many things were said to have caused his worst career  year - divorce, not working out, etc. It didn't matter to me, Mark McGwire was and is my favorite Oakland A's First Baseman.

McGwire's .263 Career BA doesn't show what a threat he was at the plate. We are all familiar with his towering homeruns, his competition with Sammy Sosa for the homerun crown in '98 and '99, and his quick departure from the game.

Although there's a lot of controversy that surround McGwire, I find him one of the best players that existed in my lifetime (I must admit, I'm not to savvy with the early history of the game, I'm not going to front). 

He seemed so superhuman and yet was vulnerable at the same time. The need for privacy on team that thrived in the spotlight was a characteristic that drew me toward him. He was one of the "Bash Brothers," but he was so different when compared to Canseco. [By the way, the poster on the left graced my bedroom door for a good 4 years when I was in my early teen years.]

While McGwire has all but disappeared from the eyes of the media, his impact on the game has not. He helped rejuvenate the game after the bitter taste the strike was left in many fans' mouths.  Just as quickly as his single season HR record was broken by Barry Bonds, Mr. 25 was gone. I did hope for a second that he would join the Rockies as a hitting coach, but that was just an idea that floated around and away. Mark McGwire may be golfing somewhere away from all the cameras and reporters, but he is not lost in my Oakland A's thoughts.