Is everyone with me so far? Good.
Now you would have thought that this happy family would have broken up for good when Canseco was traded away during the 1992 season, and when LaRussa left Oakland after the 1995 season. But these old ties are hard to break.
Canseco was reunited with McGwire briefly during the 1997 season when A’s General Manager Alderson re-acquired Canseco from the Red Sox. This reunion was short lived as Alderson turned around and traded McGwire to the St. Louis Cardinals after 105 games.
However, for the entire spring training and about 100 regular season games of this 1997 season Canseco, McGwire, Giambi and Alejo were working together as teammates under the watchful eye of A’s General Manager Sandy Alderson.
Doesn’t anyone find it suspicious that Alderson would take Canseco back in 1997 and trade McGwire during the same season? What were whispers about Jose’s steroid use in the late 80’s and early 90’s had become ear-splitting shouts by 1997. Is Alderson that clueless or didn’t he care? Hadn’t he learned anything in the eight or nine years that had passed since the Boston fans hit Jose with the “Steroids, Steroids” cheer?
But what happened to Tony LaRussa after he left Oakland? Well, he became the manager of the St. Louis Cardinals in 1996, accompanied by none other than the former and original A’s strength coach – and Jose’s co-authoring workout buddy – Dave McKay. And as I mentioned above, McGwire was sent to the Cardinals at the trading deadline during the 1997 season, where he fizzled out, I mean finished out his career after the 2001 season.
This is McKay’s 20th season of being a member of LaRussa’s staff. The Cardinal pitching coach, Dave Duncan, is also entering his 20th season with LaRussa having followed him from Oakland to St. Louis. That’s a lot of loyalty, isn’t it? Just imagine the stories that these guys can tell, imagine what they really know about not only their team but about each other’s personal lives.
Article comments
1 - Mark
This is a great entry...There is no doubt that Alderson, LaRussa and Selig knew exactly what was going on...what they did went well beyond looking the other way...I think that they actually encouraged it by completely ignoring it...They never considered it a "problem"...Afterall, with all the money that the league was making at the time, the last thing they were going to do was rock the boat.