Mark McGwire - First Baseman

Oakland Athletics 1986-1997

St. Louis Cardinals 1997-2001

Awards

1987 AL Rookie of the Year

1990 AL Gold Glove - 1B

1992 AL Silver Slugger - 1B

1996 AL Silver Slugger - 1B

1998 NL Silver Slugger - 1B

All-Star Selections: 12 (1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000)

League Leader

1987: Homeruns, Slugging %, HR/AB

1989: HR/AB

1990: Walks

1992: Slugging %, HR/AB, OPS+

1995: HR/AB

1996: Homeruns, OBP, Slugging %, HR/AB, OPS, OPS+

1998: Homeruns, Walks, OBP, Slugging %, HR/AB, Runs Created, OPS, OPS+

1999: Homeruns, RBI, HR/AB, OPS+

Career Ranks

HR: 7th

RBI: 60th

BB: 34th

OBP: 78th

SLG: 10th

HR/AB: 1st

RC: 82nd

OPS: 13th

OPS+: 11th

Hall of Fame Stats

Black Ink: Batting - 36 (41) (Average HOFer ≈ 27)

Gray Ink: Batting - 110 (189) (Average HOFer ≈ 144)

HOF Standards: Batting - 42.0 (126) (Average HOFer ≈ 50)

HOF Monitor: Batting - 169.5 (60) (Likely HOFer > 100)

Similar Batters in HOF: 2 (Harmon Killewbrew, Willie McCovey)

Other Similar Batters: Jim Thome, Jose Canseco, Carlos Delgado, Manny Ramirez, Juan Gonzalez, Norm Cash, Jason Giambi, Dave Kingman

Year-by-Year Win Shares & Wins Above Replacement Level (WARP3)

1986: 1/-0.1

1987: 30/8.9

1988: 28/7.6

1989: 21/7.0

1990: 27/10.0

1991: 18/6.1

1992: 29/10.1

1993: 6/2.5

1994: 6/2.5

1995: 23/7.8

1996: 29/9.8

1997: 25/9.4

1998: 41/11.6

1999: 30/8.6

2000: 20/6.0

2001: 8/1.5

Career Win Shares: 342

Career WARP3: 109.5

Would he get my vote?

Yes. I thought about doing a very long rant about the entire issue regarding if McGwire should go into the HOF or not but we all know that when the results are announced Tuesday he will not have been elected so this issue is going to last for at least one more year so I'm not going to waste my time for now. What I will say when it comes to considering a player for the HOF who has either been proven to have used steroids or have likely used steroids I feel that if a player is a true borderline candidate that use of steroids can tip the scales against a player as being a deserving HOF. Mark McGwire is not a borderline candidate. 7th all-time in homeruns, 10th all-time in Slugging, 11th all-time OPS+, a .394 career OBP, and he averaged 50 homeruns for every 162 games played. Whether or not he will ever get in, it is too early to tell. The projection seems to be he'll get only 25-30% of the vote on this first ballot and this percentage should increase substantially next year as several voters are using an arbitrary one-year boycott for likely steroid users. What is revealed or not revealed in the following years about his use of steroids and the use of others during his playing days will determine if he ever gets in. No one should feel sorry for McGwire if he never gets in but I think it'd be a real shame if he didn't.