Major League Baseball

McGwire's stats may not be HOF worthy

Published Jan. 3, 2010 12:00 a.m. ET

foxsports

Mark McGwire has two strikes against him in his bid for election to the Hall of Fame.

McGwire was baseball's feel-good story in 1998 when he outdueled Sammy Sosa to break Roger Maris’ single-season home run record. That challenge seemed to revive baseball fans turned off by the players’ strike that led to the cancellation of the 1994 postseason and the delayed start of the 1995 season.

But now that he is on the Hall of Fame ballot for the fourth time (out of a possible 15), Big Mac has found himself attacked on not one, but two facets of his career.

There are those who have vowed to never vote for McGwire or any others tainted by the use of performance enhancing drugs.

And there is another faction that simply doesn’t feel that McGwire’s career taken in total, not just focusing on his miraculous power-hitting, isn’t Hall of Fame worthy.

McGwire does have his supporters, although the strength of the pro-McGwire faction has been surprisingly low. McGwire has received support from fewer than 25 percent of the voters in each of his first three years of eligibility, checking in at 21.9 percent a year ago.

It is doubtful that McGwire will gain much in his support when this year’s results are announced by the Hall of Fame on Wednesday.

The PED argument is an emotional challenge of McGwire’s career. It’s based off the fact he was "exposed’’ by a reporter for using an over-the-counter supplement he purchased at a nutrition store that contained Androstenedione, a testosterone-producing pill that has since been made illegal.

When McGwire declined to answer questions for a congressional subcommittee investigating the use of PEDs in baseball, he did himself no favors, either.

Over time, the PED issue will die down. As time goes on it becomes apparent that the use of PEDs is more common than baseball would like to admit, and it is not like it was something that suddenly happened.

The PEDs are more refined than in the past, but athletes have always looked for something that would give them an edge, including amphetamines, which were commonplace in the '60s and '70s.

The stats, however, will be a continuing debate.

The McGwire backers will talk about the 70 home runs he hit in 1998 when he broke the record of 61 in a season established by Maris in 1961. They will point to the 583 career home runs, which ranks eighth all-time, and the fact he is ninth all-time with a .588 slugging percentage.

Those who hesitate to support McGwire will cite the feeling that McGwire was a one-dimensional player — a power hitter who did not run well nor play defense well nor even hit well. His career was built around a five-year domination from 1995-2000 when he hit 284 of his 583 home runs, and had 620 of his 1,414 RBI.

They will base their argument on such things as the fact he had had only 1,626 career hits, compiling fewer than 100 hits in eight of his 16 big-league seasons, and played in fewer than 100 games in five of those seasons.

He had a career .262 average, hitting .300 in only two seasons in which he qualified for a batting title, and for all his power dominance won the Silver Slugger, voted by players to the best hitter at each position, only three times.