If you were anywhere near a television in the summer of 1998, you remember the red jersey. You remember the forearms that looked like they belonged to a Greek god, and you definitely remember that short, violent swing that made baseballs disappear into the humid St. Louis night. Mark McGwire wasn’t just a player for the St. Louis Cardinals back then. He was a folk hero. A savior. Honestly, he was the only thing people wanted to talk about at the water cooler.
But looking back now, the relationship between Mark McGwire and the St. Louis Cardinals is... complicated. It’s a mix of pure, unadulterated joy and a lingering, awkward hangover. We’ve had decades to process the 70-home run season, the Congressional hearings, and the 2010 confession. Yet, whenever the Cardinals play the Cubs or a highlight of #25 pops up on social media, the debate starts all over again.
The Trade That Changed Everything
It’s easy to forget that Big Mac wasn’t a "Cardinals lifer." He was an Oakland icon first. When he landed in St. Louis in July 1997, it felt like a rental. People thought he’d hit a few homers, finish his contract, and head back to California to be closer to home.
The city of St. Louis had other ideas.
They fell in love with him instantly. He hit 24 home runs in just 51 games after the trade. That’s an insane pace. By the time the season ended, he had 58 total between the two teams. But more importantly, he felt a connection to the Midwest that nobody expected. He signed a contract extension before the '97 season even wrapped up, choosing the red birds over the sunny West Coast.
That decision set the stage for 1998.
The Summer of 70
1998 was weird. Baseball was still struggling to find its footing after the 1994 strike. The fans were bitter. Attendance was shaky. Then, McGwire and Sammy Sosa started hitting balls into orbit.
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Every night was an event.
The chase for Roger Maris’s record of 61 home runs became a national obsession. On September 8, 1998, against the Cubs, McGwire hit a line drive off Steve Trachsel that just barely cleared the left-field wall. It was his 62nd. He missed first base because he was so excited. He hugged the Maris family. He hugged Sammy Sosa. It was, quite literally, the peak of the sport’s popularity in the modern era.
He finished with 70.
Think about that number for a second. Seventy home runs in 162 games. He was averaging a home run every 7.27 at-bats. It’s a statistic that feels like a glitch in a video game. But for those of us watching, it was real. Or at least, it felt real at the time.
The Elephant in the Room: Steroids and the Fall
You can't talk about Mark McGwire and the St. Louis Cardinals without talking about the "Andro" bottle in the locker or the 2005 testimony.
"I'm not here to talk about the past."
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That sentence haunted him. When McGwire sat before Congress and refused to answer questions about performance-enhancing drugs, his legacy crumbled in real-time. The man who saved baseball was suddenly the man who "cheated" it. Fans felt burned. The Hall of Fame voters, who usually love a guy with 583 career home runs, shut the door and locked it.
Then came 2010.
When he was hired as the Cardinals' hitting coach, he knew he couldn't hide anymore. He admitted to using steroids off and on for over a decade, including during that 1998 season. He claimed it was for health and recovery, not strength.
Does that change how we view the 70 homers? For a lot of people, yeah. But for others, the 1998 season was a vibe that transcended the chemistry. It was about the feeling in the stadium, the way the city came together, and the fact that everyone—including the Commissioner—was along for the ride.
The Coaching Comeback
Most people forget that McGwire’s second act with the Cardinals was actually incredibly successful. He wasn't just a figurehead.
As a hitting coach from 2010 to 2012, he was a bit of a wizard.
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Under his watch, the 2011 Cardinals won a World Series. His hitters weren't just swinging for the fences; they were leading the National League in batting average and on-base percentage. He taught guys like Jon Jay and Matt Carpenter how to work counts. He proved he had a "baseball brain" that went way beyond just being a big guy who could hit a ball 500 feet.
Key Stats from his St. Louis Tenure:
- Playing Career (STL): 220 Home Runs, 1.222 OPS (highest in franchise history).
- Coaching Career: Helped lead the team to the 2011 World Series title.
- Records: Still holds the MLB record for career at-bats per home run (10.6).
What We Get Wrong About the Legacy
There's this idea that McGwire was just a "product of his era." That's a bit of a cop-out. Plenty of guys were on the "cream and the clear," and they weren't hitting 70 home runs. McGwire had an elite eye. He walked 162 times in 1998. He was a student of the swing long before he became a coach.
Was he a saint? No.
But was he a villain? It’s hard to see him that way when you look at how much he’s apologized and how much he truly loves the game. He didn’t run away. He came back, faced the music, and helped the next generation of Cardinals get better.
Moving Forward: How to Appreciate the History
If you're a fan trying to reconcile the Mark McGwire St. Louis Cardinals era, don't feel like you have to pick a side. You can acknowledge the help he had while still appreciating the sheer theater of what he did.
Here is how to look at it through a 2026 lens:
- Separate the era from the individual. The 90s were the Wild West of baseball. It wasn't just one guy; it was a systemic failure of leadership and oversight.
- Appreciate the coaching years. McGwire's contribution to the 2011 championship is a legitimate part of Cardinals history that deserves its own space.
- Visit the Hall of Fame (the team one). McGwire was inducted into the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame in 2017. The fans voted him in. That tells you everything you need to know about how the city feels.
The best way to engage with this history is to watch the old 1998 highlights. Look at the faces in the crowd. They weren't thinking about syringes or lab reports; they were watching a man do something impossible. Sometimes, it’s okay to just remember why we loved the game in the first place.
Next steps for fans: If you want to see the impact of McGwire’s coaching, look up the 2011 World Series hitting stats. It’s a masterclass in situational hitting that stands in stark contrast to the "three true outcomes" style of today's game. You might also check out the Mark McGwire Foundation for Children, which he has quietly supported for years, showing a side of the man that rarely makes the sports headlines.