MLB ALL-STAR GAME

July 6, 1998

Mark McGwire

JAY ALVES: Do you find the guys that come in here for the first time overcompensate for the ballpark, swing too hard?

MARK McGWIRE: You can. I mean, if you go to Boston, you can't try to swing and hit it over the green monster. You have to realize that Coors Field has a gigantic outfield, where balls will fall in. Normal singles in most ballparks will be doubles, if you have speed. It's a great hitter's ballpark. You know, hitting is staying within yourself. You can't worry about if the ball carries really far here. I mean, you still got to hit it, right? So that's what it comes down to.

JAY ALVES: How do you look at the Central Division race for the Astros as for the Cardinals?

MARK McGWIRE: Well, we're not in a good position right now, twelve and a half games out. Do we have the potential of catching them? Oh, yeah. Second half is the weirdest time of the year. Everybody has seen gigantic leads dwindle down to one or two games. I hope the Cardinals will catch Houston. We start off Thursday playing Houston if we come out, play hard, we can send a message, say we're for real, want to come back.

MARK McGWIRE: I think it's pretty big. 12 and a half games out, playing four at home in St. Louis, it's pretty big.

MARK McGWIRE: No. Absolutely unbelievable. I was watching the game last night. It's so remarkable. Anybody to have over 100 RBIs by the All-Star break, you know, tip my hat to them. It's fantastic. What can you say? He's a great, great hitter. He won the MVP, what, in '96? He's on his way to another one. But, you know, the sad thing, if somebody said who was the 1996 MVP in the American League, I bet you nobody really knows Juan Gonzales. Every year, year in and year out, he just puts up the numbers every year. It just seems like he doesn't get the notoriety that he should. That's why this game, it's a great game right now. I think that's why a lot of fans are coming back because all the great things are happening. It's just fun to watch him on TV. I'm sorry I can't watch him in person anymore. But I will here (laughter).

MARK McGWIRE: Well, I think I've taken a lot of pride in becoming a better hitter. I'm a better hitter overall. You know, I know I've hit the home runs, but I'm pretty happy where I'm sitting a little over 300. Hopefully I can keep it up. My mind is very, very strong. I've learned that this game is 99.9 percent mental. If you get in that box and you're mentally prepared, gives you a better chance. Doesn't mean you're going to get a hit every day, but gives you a better chance. Understanding this is a game of adjustments, you have to make adjustments every pitch, every at bat, every day. You just can't sit on one thing at one time.

MARK McGWIRE: Well, when I'm playing the game, it's not a problem at all. I mean, that's my -- every other player that plays this game, it's their own domain. It's what we know how and what to do. The media stuff, it comes with the game. I am overwhelmed with all the media attention I've been getting this year. But I understand it. But, you know what, like I've been doing for the last few weeks, you know, I've been talking to the media first time into a series, get it over with, go out and play baseball. You know, that's what I'm here to do. I'm here to play baseball. That's what I try to do every day hard.

JAY ALVES: You seem to have a good outlook going into the home run hitting contest. Some others don't. Can you talk a little about that.

MARK McGWIRE: I think it started in '92 when I accepted that I was a home run hitter in the game. It was the first year at San Diego that I really enjoyed hitting in a home run hitting contest. It turns out it's probably the most fun thing to do in the All-Star Game. I mean, it's just -- I enjoy it. Why guys are backing out, I'm sure they all have their own reasons, but I enjoy it. It's something I do. It's something I've accepted that I am.

JAY ALVES: Have you dreaded talking to the media every day, especially this week?

MARK McGWIRE: Well, I don't know if I'll ever enjoy it. That's just not me as a person. But I've come to realize that I have to do something about it, and I have to talk about it. I think the way we set things up in St. Louis, it takes a lot of pressure off me. I think it takes a lot of pressure off the media. It's just something that I'm going to have to deal with the second half of the season. I think what we've set up is good for me.

MARK McGWIRE: Well, surprisingly some of the longer ones I've hit, I didn't really realize that they were going that far because a lot of people say, "What's the feeling?" Actually, there's really no feeling at all. I mean, I know when the ball meets the bat that it's left the ballpark. My swing is nice and easy, short and compact. It's really effortless. Because of that, there's really not that hard feeling that I think some players have. It's a nice, easy thing.

MARK McGWIRE: I think so. I mean, I think there's more kids playing baseball today. Baseball is a year-round thing now. If it's what I'm doing or what the great players in the game are doing right now to bring back the fans, I think it is. You know, the players are going to bring the fans back. How we play the game, what we do, that's what's going to do it. I sort of wish we would promote our players a little bit more on a national level. There's really not that much done about that. I know the other sports do it. Why we haven't done it, I don't know yet. But, you know, we're going to bring the fans back, and I think it's a start this year. If it is, it's great.

MARK McGWIRE: No. The only time is when my foot went out for the third time in '96. It seemed like when I had had it, it seemed like a mystery, but there have been a dozen players in the game that have the same foot injury that I have. Nobody seems to write about it. When I had it, it was national news. If you take away the '93 and '94, where I didn't play all those games, I basically averaged 150 ballgames year, you know. Everybody gets injured in this game. I mean, it's just part of the game. It's the longest -- we play six months of the year. No other sport does that. We play through the hottest time of the year, the travel has been atrocious the last two years. You add all that up, takes a toll on your body. But, you know, I do what I can to prepare myself. I mean, via bad back. I've had a bad back since 1989. It's something I have to deal with. Anybody out there that has had a bad back, you have to deal with it the rest of your life. I swing a bat probably 100,000 times a year, you know.

MARK McGWIRE: I think we're 12 and a half games out. We started off on Thursday four with straight games. We come out and play. If we're not lucky enough to beat -- we played them tough in Houston. We lost two out of three. But we played them tough. WWe were leading all the games. You know, I know we play them tough. You know, if we win four, I think it sends a message to the whole Central that the Cardinals are serious and everybody else is serious. It's one of those divisions that until September, you know, you really won't know.

MARK McGWIRE: It was the first time in my life since I was a little leaguer that I had to sit on the bench and watch a game, you know. Instead of sitting back and moping and saying, "Why me? Why is this happening," I knew it was happening for a reason. What I truly believe is that it made me a better ball player. It might seem weird. But it did. It was the first time that I really started watching pitchers, pitch to hitters, I started watching tapes on how they pitched me. I started watching hitters, how they approached other pitchers. When I came back, I started adapting to my game. I think it made me a better player.

MARK McGWIRE: It still blows me away, it really does. Considering when I was a kid and all I wanted to do was pitch, you know, it wasn't until my sophomore year in college that I turned into a hitter, never knowing I'd ever get a chance to go to the big leagues. Then the next thing you know, they're talking about my name along with Babe Ruth, Maris, Mantle, down the line. It's overwhelming. I don't think it will really hit me until I'm retired, to tell you the truth.

MARK McGWIRE: I want to go like this, home plate (indicating). I don't know. I don't know where it started. You know, I know the guy on the mound is trying his best to get me out. He throws like one or two balls, the stands are booing. Don't piss him off anymore (laughter). It's another thing that has been so overwhelming this year. It makes me feel good. I wish every player could feel the way I feel. That's really about it.

MARK McGWIRE: I have a lot of fun when I'm out there playing, I do. This is the game of baseball that I love to play. You know, I wish I'd hear more players say that. This is a kid's game, that there's millions of kids that were out there that wish they were in our shoes, they're little leaguers, or want to be. I truly appreciate and understand what this game is all about.

MARK McGWIRE: I think I'm a piece of the pie that's help brought fans back in the game. But there's so much great young talent out there right now, it's remarkable. I mean, every time I watch the game, when I go home, if there's a game on TV, I'm watching it. I love watch everybody play the game of baseball. Everybody has certain talents that they're really good at. Right now, I don't think there's ever been a better crop of young, talented players in the game of baseball.

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