I’ve never been a Mark McGwire fan, and today’s episode of Cubscast just cemented it for me. Now I truly understand why I never cared for him. The hosts of Cubscasts ( an excellent podcast, by the way ) were pondering the fate of McGwire, and one of the hosts, probably Sneetch, brought up the point that the former Cardinals home run king went over ten years without hitting a triple. Ten years!! He then immediately declared that no way would he ever cast a hall of fame vote for a guy who spanned ten years without a triple. I couldn’t help laughing out loud at that one and then it dawned on me why I really disliked McGwire so much.

Are you kidding me? Ten years? I have long held a strong aversion to super jocks who appear as if they are major league baseball players BUT in actuality are only softball players. I’m serious .. softball players. Its ALL about the long ball. Softball players swing for the fence each at bat and ease into second if they mess up and hit a double. Maybe they’ll trot down to first if they accidentally hit a single or turn slowly back into the dugout if they flyout.

Mark McGwire is a major league “softball player” in the mold of Pete Incaviglia or Rob Deer. He just happened to juice up a little more so that his drives to the outfield carried further. Even Sammy Sosa ( who isn’t my favorite player either ) had more tools .. he had the speed and athleticism to at least hit a triple once in awhile.

Andre Dawson, who hit his home runs “the natural way”, deserves to be in the hall of fame. He’s got my vote !