All-Time Top ABL Players #7: Mark McGwire

#7 Mark McGwire
1B - 1982 Anchorage Glacier Pilots
Bats: Right - Throws: Right
Drafted: Oakland, 1984. 1st Rd. (#10)
MLB Career: 1986-2001
MLB Teams: Oakland, St. Louis

It may be the understatement of the century to say that Mark McGwire is not the most popular figure in baseball these days. His confession that he used performance enhancing drugs gained him little sympathy and, if anything, reminded many of his detractors why they dislike him so much. That being said, if I were to make a list of the top 20 ABL Players of all time and not include the former Home Run King, I would be a complete idiot and would deserve to have this blog taken away from me.



Everyone knows that McGwire was one of the greatest sluggers to ever play the game. But what most people don't know about "Big Mac" is that without his time in the Alaska League he may not have been known at all. In 1982 McGwire signed up with the Glacier Pilots, not as an infielder, but as a pitcher. During his USC days his coaches did not see much potential in his bat. As a Freshman he routinely crushed balls in batting practice, but during games he hit like a pitcher, and so that's where he stuck.

That is until he was recommended to then-Glacier Pilots manager Jim Dietz as a last-minute replacement to fill the sole remaining roster spot on the team. The only problem was that Dietz didn't need another pitcher; he needed a first baseman. McGwire was not too thrilled about being taken off the mound, but after a little encouragement he stuck out the season. The rest is history. The Alaska League taught McGwire to hit, and when he went back to school the next year he slammed a Trojan-record 19 homers as a sophomore.

How would history have changed if McGwire had not agreed to Dietz' request, way back in 1982, to give first base a try? Fast forward to 1998, the year that McGwire out-homered Sammy Sosa in a two-way race to break Roger Maris' single-season home run record. The story was compelling enough to bring baseball back from the brink of NHL-like disinterest after the season-ending labor dispute four years earlier which left many fans with a bitter taste in their mouth. Without McGwire's pivotal season in the ABL, that may never have happened.

Besides literally saving Major League Baseball, McGwire has some other heroic feats to his credit. Consider that, over the course of his career, "Big Mac" averaged a homer every 10.61 at-bats. That's the best ratio in the history of the game. If there was one person you would want to wager would hit a home run in any particular trip to the plate, Mark McGwire was the safest bet, ever. Throw into the mix 12 All-Star appearances, a Gold Glove, a World Series championship, three Silver Sluggers, etc. etc....you get the idea.

Of course, there is the steroid thing. McGwire admitted last month that he used performance-enhancing drugs for several years during his career, including his record-breaking season. But in his confession he said one thing that I partially agree with: he would have hit a ton of home runs anyway. The media lambasted him for this. They really raked him over the coals, suggesting that he would have been nothing without steroids. But how idiotic is that? Maybe he wouldn't have hit 583. Maybe he would have only hit a paltry 500 homers. Anyone could do that, right? Wrong. Steroids or not, Mark McGwire is #7 on our all-time countdown. Comments are open, flame away at me!