Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2009

Hear the calliope? McGwire circus coming back to the Cardinals

Somebody, somewhere must have thought this was a good idea.

Mark McGwire, back in baseball? Back with the Cardinals? Back as the hitting coach, no less?

What's next? Roger Clemens as pitching coach? Barry Bonds as bench coach? "Shoeless" Joe Jackson as equipment manager?

Yeah, this idea has as many merits as an 89-mph fastball belt-high to Albert Pujols, right down the middle of the plate.

See. You. Later.

Which we will, I suppose, when Big Mac brings his Traveling Show of Baseball Flimflammery to spring training.

Let the circus begin: Which it did even as La Russa appeared at a press conference Monday to announce he was returning for his 15th season as St. Louis skipper. During the 50-minute press conference, there were 42 questions asked; 33 had to do with McGwire.

Just the tip of the iceberg, really: Already, doubts about the propriety of this are coming from all corners of the baseball world, on ESPN and Fox and from baseball writers all over the country.

I think I know what Tony's doing here. Let's not forget he is sure he is smarter than all the rest of us, and I'm certain this is his way of rehabbing Mac's reputation for all of us Hall of Fame voters.

I'm sure, in Tony's mind, Mac spending a couple years back in baseball will let him move on from his famous, "I'm not here to talk about the past" episode before Congress four years ago.

I'm sure, in Tony's mind, that getting Mac back in the game will get us all to forget how excited we were when Mac hit 70 homers 11 seasons ago, and how disappointed we were five years later when there was growing evidence he didn't do it on his own.

Part of me wonders if this sounds like a good idea to Mac on Oct. 26, and might not seem such a good idea on Feb. 26. By then, spring training will be in full swing, and so will the nagging questions about Mac's role in the Steroid Era of baseball.

Surely, Tony and Mac think they're above all that. They think the questions will end because they want them to. They think they can dictate the conversation and make the talk about baseball, not drugs.

That's the part I don't get about all this: Tony talks endlessly about eliminating distractions, and about letting baseball players concentrate on the game at hand, not the off-the-field challenges and questions coming their way.

What do you think will happen if Albert hits six home runs the first week of the 2010 season? Do you thinking anybody might suspect, oh, anything?

It's not fair to Albert. It's not fair to the fans. It's not fair to Tony and the proud legacy he has built here.

Come to think of it, who's to say he's wrong to think this is all so much water under the bridge? Not even a full season removed from their steroid tests proved positive, have you noticed any falloff in fan affection for the likes of Alex Rodriguez and Manny Ramirez?

No, if anything, A-Rod's star burns more brightly than ever, now that he's in the midst of a productive postseason and leading the Yankees toward a 27th World Championship. And Manny was happily embraced by the Dodger faithful, eager to have a winner back on their hands.

Sad to say, this will all come down to how the team hits under Mac's tutelage, and whether it wins. But the only way to make this work, it strikes me, is to put Mac off limits to every writer and TV host who wants to come to town.

And believe me, every time some national guy wants to do a report on drug use in baseball, he'll be checking the ever-dwindling list of airline flights into and out of St. Louis.

Once again, the face of drugs in baseball will have a Cardinals hat perched there.

Don't Cardinal fans deserve better than that? Don't they deserve a team that just plays baseball without the distractions that Mac's once-hulking frame always seemed to provide?

Get ready, everybody: The circus -- to say nothing of the Boy -- is back in town.