Mark Mcgwire

Biography

Mark McGwire was the first player to break Roger Maris's 1961 record of 61 home runs in a single season. McGwire set the new mark by hitting 70 homers in 1998. (Chicago Cub star Sammy Sosa hit 66 homers the same year.) The next year McGwire became the 17th player to hit 500 home runs or more in a career, joining Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle, among others. McGwire played his first major league game in 1986 and was a star for the Oakland Athletics before being traded to St. Louis in 1997. In November of 2001 he announced his retirement from professional baseball.

McGwire's single-season record was broken by Barry Bonds, who hit 73 homers during the 2001 season... McGwire batted right-handed and wore #25... McGwire played for the 1984 U.S. Olympic team... He founded the Mark McGwire Foundation for Children, which supports agencies that work with child-abuse victims... McGwire's use of a body-building drug, androstenedione, was much discussed during his record-breaking season; though legal in professional baseball, "andro" was banned by many other professional sports leagues. McGwire later stopped taking the supplement, saying he didn't want others to emulate him... Hank Aaron is the American career home run leader, with 755; Sadaharu Oh had 868 in his career in the Japan League.