Posted by Paul on 11/4/2007, 1:12:19, in reply to "Good times"
Travis,
Thanks for sharing. You should take pictures of your shrine and upload them here. Man, I have DVD's with hours and hours of footage I made into a boxed set. People roll their eyes when I bring them out so there aren't many to share the memories with.
Aparently, McGwire helps young players work on their swings every now and then so he's lurking around the game still.
The first time I saw McGwire was at the 1990 All Star Game warm up day at Wrigley Field in the homerun derby. I got to see the bash brothers at the Old Comiskey but only managed to see Canseco homer.
I went to a few games in 1996 and enjoyed batting practice more than anything. He hit them on the concourse behind the bleachers off of the tents of the hot dog vendors. He his a blast 450 feet to center field which was the record longest there at the time. I went back the next day and met him getting out of the cab but didn't get a signature because I wanted to give him a Bible. I worked at a Christian bookstore at the time and someone returned a green leatherbound Bible, so I engraved his name on it in gold (Oakland colors) and thought he might like it, hearing he was a good Catholic. He didn't take it, saying he already had one.
I was upset that he turned down my gift and feeling rejected, I went home early. I walked in the door and heard on the TV that he had just hit a 472 foot homerun on the concourse. And I walked out! It bounced out of the ballpark, and Julia Roberts was filming a movie in the skybox there. She sent a crew member to look for the ball. He climbed up on the roof area and was ejected from the ballpark! The next day in Toronto, McGwire hit one 488 feet into the fifth deck, then hit a pinch hit homer the day after.
I didn't see McGwire again until 1998 and he happened to pop one up that just got over the fence.
It's such a shame that he's so far out of people's memories and so disrespected these days. His publicist needs to get him out of recluse already.
Maybe his agent can ask the Yankees for $350 million to manage the team.
Paul
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