Top 10 moments of Mark McGwire's career

Few players in the game have left as big of an impact on two organizations the way Mark McGwire did.

Big Mac slugged 363 of his 583 career home runs with the A’s, which stands as the most by a player in club history. He later was traded to the Cardinals and made history with some prolific power-hitting seasons.

Whether with Oakland or St. Louis, McGwire had plenty of memorable feats. Here are the top 10 moments of his baseball life.

1. Chasing down Roger Maris
1998

McGwire and Sammy Sosa electrified baseball in a 1998 race for the home run crown that reached historic levels when it became evident that both sluggers had a shot at breaking the single-season record for home runs, which at the time was 61 and held by Roger Maris.

Both players eclipsed Maris, though it was McGwire who reached 62 first and finished on top, with 70 big flies. That record would only last a few years, until Barry Bonds crushed 73 homers in 2001, but the show put on by McGwire and Sosa over the '98 campaign will live forever as one of the more entertaining stretches baseball has seen.

2. Bursting onto the scene as a rookie
1987

After receiving his first big league callup and playing in 18 games over the 1986 season, McGwire maintained his rookie status for '87 and truly made his presence felt. Earning an All-Star selection with 33 homers by the break, the slugger finished the year leading the Majors with 49 home runs. He earned AL Rookie of the Year honors and a sixth-place finish in MVP voting as he also drove in 118 runs and slashed .289/.370/.618. His 49 home runs stood as the single-season record by a rookie until Yankees star Aaron Judge hit 52 in 2017 (which was eclipsed two years later by Pete Alonso).

3. Forming one-half of the Bash Brothers
1988

One year before McGwire won Rookie of the Year, it was teammate Jose Canseco who received the honor for his spectacular rookie campaign. The A’s had two superstars who were at the beginning of their careers, and so began the birth of one of the most powerful one-two punches in baseball history.

From the forearm bashes to the “Let’s Bash” T-shirts and even the iconic Bash Brothers poster, McGwire and Canseco took the Bay Area by storm. Together, the two starred on powerhouse Oakland squads that reached the World Series in three consecutive seasons from 1988-90.

4. Winning the '92 Derby
July 13, 1992

Competing in the first of his three Home Run Derby appearances, McGwire dazzled the crowd on hand for the 1992 Derby at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego. He bashed 12 homers, which at the time was a record for the contest, and topped other stars such as Ken Griffey Jr., Fred McGriff and Gary Sheffield to win the event.

"We had tape delay. It was before [the Derby] really became a prime-time show," McGwire said in 2016. "I don't even know how many home runs I hit. I just remember ... that it was pretty awesome winning it. It's the only one that I got to win, even though I've done pretty well in the first rounds [of] a few of them."

5. Mammoth shot over Tiger Stadium
April 20, 1997

In the history of Tiger Stadium -- home of the Detroit Tigers from 1912-99 -- only four players in MLB history managed to slug a home run over the park’s towering left-field roof. McGwire was the last to do it, clearing the roof for a monster homer that was estimated to travel 491 feet.

6. Walking it off in the World Series
Oct. 18, 1988

Though Kirk Gibson had the signature walk-off homer in the 1988 Fall Classic, McGwire hit a pretty important one of his own. With the A’s down 0-2 in the Series against the Dodgers, McGwire helped Oakland get back into it in Game 3 with a walk-off solo blast off Jay Howell that was sent well up the Coliseum’s bleachers in left-center. That home run was McGwire’s only hit of the Series, and the A’s fell to the Dodgers in five games.

7. Winning the Battle of the Bay
1989

McGwire was one of several A’s players who shined in a dominant four-game sweep of the cross-bay rival Giants in the 1989 World Series. He actually stood out that entire postseason, going 12-for-35 (.343) with a homer and four RBIs.

8. Rapid rise to 500 homers
1999

The summer of ’99 saw McGwire blast his 500th career home run. Doing so in just his 1,639th game and 5,487th at-bat, Big Mac became the quickest player to reach 500 homers in Major League history. While a member of the Cardinals, McGwire’s 500th homer came at Busch Stadium off Padres starter Andy Ashby.

9. Getting into coaching
2010

Nine years after retirement, McGwire made a return to MLB as a coach when his former manager Tony La Russa hired him as hitting coach of the Cardinals. While he served the role from 2010-12, the Cardinals led the National League in batting average and on-base percentage while scoring the second-most runs over that stretch. McGwire went on to have stints as a hitting coach with the Dodgers and Padres through 2018 before leaving to focus on coaching his two sons, Max and Mason.

10. Induction into the A’s Hall of Fame
Sept. 21, 2019

With so many historic moments in the final years of his career with the Cardinals that earned him a spot in their Hall of Fame for his five seasons spent in St. Louis, McGwire’s time with the A’s can tend to get overlooked by those outside of the Bay Area. But with accolades that include an AL Rookie of the Year Award, nine All-Star selections and a World Series championship over his 12 seasons with Oakland, McGwire certainly made a big impact while wearing green and gold.

“When I get to the Bay Area, everybody represents me as an A. But when I go to a lot of places, they think I’m a Cardinal,” McGwire said in 2019. “I always say to them, 'I was with the A’s for 14 years and only with the Cardinals for five.' It’s amazing to think that. But now I get the honor of wearing two beautiful jackets, one red and one green. I’ll be looking pretty good at Christmas time.”