(Thumbnail image: The Seattle Times)

“The Cardinals made two announcements.  One was expected.  The other came is a bit of a surprise.  The redbirds announced that in addition to Tony LaRussa returning for his 15th season as skipper, he’ll have a new hitting coach with him for 2010.  Mark McGwire replaces Hal McRae on the coaching staff for next season, as the former single seed homerun king will make his first appearance in uniform since retiring after the 2001 season." (MLB.com)

In the late 90s McGwire was one of the most popular figures in baseball as he chased Roger Maris’ single season homerun record.

But after not admitting nor denying steroid use in front of Congress, ...

"I’m not here to talk about the past”(C-SPAN)

and staying away from public life since 2001, attitudes toward McGwire have shifted.

We are analyzing what the hiring means for fans, baseball, and McGwire’s hall of fame chances from MLB.com, ESPN, CBS Sports, Fox Sports, and TC Palm.

We start with ESPN who has the hometown fan perspective from a radio personality in St. Louis.

“Well it's like anything else that you think would be controversial.  It’s a pretty good split.  There is a good segment of Cardinal nation that loves McGwire unconditionally and are always going to accept him no matter what stories come out.  Then there’s another part of the city that’s not going to accept anything that he does because of the stories and what happened in front of Congress.”

Harold Reynolds of Mlb.com believes McGwire is getting a second chance.

“But, I look at like he’s giving him an opportunity for Mark to rehab his name and maybe an opportunity for Mark to get to the hall of fame." 

 A columnist for the TC Palm disagrees and says that McGwire doesn’t deserve a second chance and he is just a reminder of cheating in baseball.

“Certainly, baseball doesn’t need it. There’s no good reason to dredge up the steroid scandal and remind everyone about the cheating that destroyed the record books.”

An analyst for CBS sports believes that McGwire’s reputation hinges on what he says if and when he addresses the media.

“Do you think he will get more good or bad attention?  I think that depends on how he handles it.  And I don’t think it's as big of a problem as some people expect it to be. *Flash*  They are going to make him available and he’s going to have to answer some of those questions and certainly at the start of spring training, they're going to come up again.”

A writer for FOX Sports says McGwire has a slimmer shot at redemption because of unequal treatment in the steroids era.

“McGwire deserves the opportunity…Manny Ramirez has been caught violating baseball's drug-testing policy, and Dodger fans never wavered in their hero worship. Barry Bonds remains an icon in San Francisco, despite grand jury charges dealing with his association with performance enhancing drugs. What's the knock on [McGwire] and baseball for allowing McGwire to return?”

So how do you feel about Big Mac being back in baseball?  Does he need to come clean about steroid use if that is, in fact, the case?  And do you think he'll ever make it into the Baseball Hall of Fame?