In which A_QB's head explodes

Please.

The best hitting coaches of all time -- well, outside of Teddy Ballgame and Ty Cobb, of course -- hit .255 (Lau) and .253 (Hriniak), respectively.

Merv Rettenmund, who was a highly successful hitting coach for 30 years, hit .271 career -- .246 for the nine years after he went into a permanent slump in 1972.

Rudy Jaramillo, widely regarded as one of the top hitting coaches in the game today, hit .258 in the minor leagues and never made it above Double-A.

McGwire's personal stats don't mean squat. That said, it's going to be awful tough to be a good hitting coach if he doesn't come out of his shell and connect with his players. By most accounts, he was pretty distant from his teammates. Can't imagine his personality's changed so much during his post-retirement "exile" that he's going to be an effective teacher. But I could be wrong.

 

Thank you, buck.

Let's not forget that the esteemed hitting coach of the Cincinnati Reds is a career .270 hitter.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/j/jacobbr01.shtml

 

Yeah but he made multiple All-Star Games.

 

Two!

 

Leave it up to buck to complete ruin my argument with facts.

 

I'm so impressed with co-atch McGwire's steroid-masking techniques. I give them my full endorsement.

 

If Cardinals fans embrace this move, can Joe Buck (and others) stop with the "Smartest fans in baseball" jive?

 

Ladies and Gentlemen, your new hitting coach of the Chicago Cubs .... Sammy Sosa!

 

The difference, Buck, is that none of the guys you mentioned were all-or-nothing power swingers, they had the discipline to teach, they just weren't talented enough to cash in on their knowledge during their careers.

McGwire isn't Rob Deer-bad when it came to free-swinging, but he isn't close to the first person you think of when you think of ex-players who are hitting coach timber.

 

Would McGwire be the first quasi-admitted steroid user to be a coach? I get the skepticism of his credentials, but most coaching staffs are stocked with cronies of the manager. McGwire won't be the first. He seems to have a passion for helping players with their hitting. If he screws up Pujols (if he's even allowed to work with Pujols) - he'll be sent on his way.

 

There is nothing about hitting that Mark McGwire could teach Albert Pujols.