Big Mac back but where's his Bash Brother?

<p>Remember the Bash Brothers? The dynamic duo of Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco led the Tony La Russa-managed Oakland Athletics to three straight World Series appearances, including the 1989 title — the Bay Area’s only baseball championship in the past 35 years.</p><p>Funny thing happened to the Bash Brothers on their way to the Hall of Fame. Well, funny only if you get a chuckle over the whole steroids mess. McGwire and Canseco became poster boys for the performance-enhancement era and widely lambasted — for intriguingly opposite reasons; McGwire because he refused to talk, and Canseco because he refuses to stop talking. That says as much about the public’s split personality as it does about the moral choices of two muscular ballplayers.</p><p>La Russa, who with the A’s and Cardinals managed McGwire for more than 15 seasons, made a gracious move last week in hiring Big Mac as the St. Louis batting coach, bringing the 1987 American League Rookie of the Year and the majors’ former single-season home-run king back to the big leagues after an eight-year self-imposed absence.</p><p>But La Russa didn’t go far enough.</p><p>He should have brought back the other Bash Brother, too. La Russa, the wise father figure, should have made it a prodigal sons reunion of biblical proportions. McGwire is the hitting coach? OK. How about Canseco as pitching coach? Well, why not?</p><p>Think of it. The Bash Brothers. Together again, for a third time. (That’s right, trivia nerds, besides playing together on the A’s from 1987 to the middle of the ’92 season, McGwire and Canseco were also Oakland teammates for the first half of the ’97 season.)</p><p>At first glance, the Cardinals’ hiring of McGwire as hitting coach seems a bit odd for a number of reasons, not least of which is his thoroughly mediocre .263 batting average over 17 big-league seasons. The man he replaces, Hal McRae, had a .290 batting average over 19 seasons.</p><p>But it might not be so odd. Putting the steroid issue aside, McGwire hit 583 homers. That’s a ton of homers, 392 more than McRae. So, if nothing else, he may be well qualified to teach home-run hitting — not a useless skill for a team to possess. And McGwire’s on-base percentage of .394 is 43 points higher than McRae’s. So there.</p><p>Besides, some of the most notable batting coaches over the past several decades weren’t high-average hitters. Just two examples:</p><p>Charlie Lau, George Brett’s guru with the Kansas City Royals of the 1970s and 1980s (and, incidentally, McRae’s K.C. hitting coach, too), had a .255 career average over 11 major-league seasons.</p><p>Jim Lefebvre, who has been a hitting instructor for several teams and has authored books about hitting, batted .251 over an eight-season career.</p><p>So, you might grant me that the Cardinals’ choice of McGwire as batting coach isn’t that odd after all.</p><p>But, come on, you say, Canseco as a pitching coach? That’s insane, you say. Forget everything else about the man. The fact is: He wasn’t a pitcher.</p><p>Oh, yes he was. One inning. For George W. Bush’s Texas Rangers in 1993. You can look it up. His 27.00 ERA? A learning experience.</p><p>Besides, the Cardinals’ current and longtime pitching coach, Dave Duncan, wasn’t a pitcher, either. He was a catcher.</p><p>OK, La Russa would never part with Duncan. “Where he coaches, I manage, he’s that good,” La Russa said last week. Their relationship has lasted longer than most marriages, and with far fewer arguments.</p><p>But Canseco hit 462 home runs. And he stole 200 bases. He must know something about playing baseball. Hey, his career batting average is three points higher than Mac’s. </p><p>La Russa could have hired Canseco as a co-hitting coach. Something. Anything.</p><p>Too bad. La Russa made a bold statement in bringing Big Mac back to the big leagues. But he missed an opportunity to make a much bolder statement.</p><p>Robert Rubino can be reached at robert.rubino@pressdemocrat.com or 521-5261.</p>