St. Louis Cardinals: How Mark McGwire reinvigorated St. Louis

Mark McGwire’s 1998 baseball season was not only important because he broke Roger Maris’ home run record. It was also important to St. Louis Cardinals fans because it reinvigorated a franchise that had been locked in mediocrity.

Prior to Mark McGwire‘s arrival in St. Louis in 1997, the St. Louis Cardinals had only made one postseason appearance since 1987. In fact, since Whitey Herzog‘s exit as manager in 1990, the St. Louis Cardinals didn’t come close to the postseason for the next five seasons. It was in Tony LaRussa’s first season as the Cardinals’ skipper in 1996 that the birds on the bat finally made it to the postseason with a division title.

The postseason drought also meant a significant drop in attendance. But the 1994 baseball strike made attendance issues at Busch Stadium even worse.

It was in the 1987 World Series year in which we saw attendance at Bush Stadium hit over 3 million for the first time in franchise history. During Herzog’s last full season in 1989, it reached 3 million for the second and last time until 1998.

During the next eight seasons, attendance was never higher than 2.8 million and as low as 1.7 million during the post-strike year of 1995, which was actually lower than the strike-shortened year of 1994 (1.8 million).

The 1996 Central Division Championship run saw the attendance at Busch Stadium increase to 2.6 million, certainly a significant improvement over 1995. But it wasn’t until the Mark McGwire-Sammy Sosa chase for the Maris record in 1998 which finally reinvigorated the Cardinal fan base.

In comes Big Mac

Mark McGwire arrived in a trade with the Oakland Athletics on July 31, 1997, for T.J. Mathews, Eric Ludwick, and Blake Stein. Although attendance at Busch Stadium still hovered around 2.6 million in 1997, the energy McGwire brought to St. Louis was felt immediately. In 51 games as a Cardinal in 1997, his right-handed bat hit 24 HR and slashed 42 RBI in just 51 games.

But it was the McGwire/Sosa home run chase to break the Maris record in 1998 which really reinvigorated the Cardinal fan base and started setting attendance records at Busch Stadium. In 1998, the attendance at Busch stadium increased to 3.2 million, a new Busch Stadium record.

Only once since 1998 has attendance at Busch Stadium been less than 3 million, hitting over 3.5 million in 2005, 2007, 2014, and 2015. It was in 2003 that attendance did drop to 2.9 million.

Major League Baseball also benefited from Mark McGwire’s stint with the Cardinals. In 1997, still trying to recover from the 1994 strike, MLB’s total attendance was 63,168,000. During the McGwire/Sosa home run derby in 1998,  attendance soared across major league baseball to 70,600,000. Over 18 of the next 22 years, MLB attendance has stayed above 70 million and hasn’t been less than 67 million.

Big Mac’s impact on the roster after 1998

A reinvigorated fan base meant increased attendance at Busch Stadium and more revenues for the ownership group led by Bill DeWitt Jr, and General Manager Walt Jocketty. This in turn led to improvements with the roster after 1998, which turned the St. Louis Cardinals into consistent winners.

Over the next few seasons, we saw the Cardinal front office bring in the likes of Jim Edmonds, Chris Carpenter, Scott Rolen, Jason Isringhausen, and Edgar Renteria, which built a foundation for the next several years. Some were brought in by trade, such as Rolen, and Edmunds, in which the organization was able to offer extensions due to the improved revenue situation after 1998.

Of course, it shouldn’t be overlooked how the Cardinals were able to invest in their farm system over the years which produced the likes of Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina. At least part of the credit of this investment should be given to Mark McGwire’s tenure in St. Louis.

Some Personal thoughts about Mark McGwire

Even though I’m a life long Cardinal fan, after the demise of the Herzog era and before the arrival of McGwire, the years in between caused me to lose some of my passion for baseball. My perceived lack of commitment by Anheuser Busch in the last few years of its ownership of the team and the 1994 strike were a period of disenchantment for me with the St. Louis Cardinals and baseball in general.

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However, 1998 re-energized my love of the St. Louis Cardinals and baseball. I was living in Nashville, TN, and hadn’t been to a game since 1990. But the McGwire/Sosa home run race brought my passion back to the game and the Cardinals as I tracked it on ESPN. I haven’t left since.

I’m also a baseball traditionalist and therefore have mixed feelings about Mark McGwire. His admitted PED use has taken much of the meaning of his achievement in 1998 away for me. However, I will always appreciate how his 1998 season helped bring the game back to where it is today.

Should we celebrate an event we know was a product of PED use? That’s the question many have debated since McGwire’s use of PED’s became known.

In my opinion, Mark McGwire should never be in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Nevertheless, he did have a positive impact on the game, and at a needed time. I guess that’s what I’ll try to remember this weekend when I am watching the Long Gone Summer documentary on ESPN.