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The announcement took the Cardinals by surprise. Manager Tony La
Russa said he and McGwire have spoken often since the end of the season
and the slugger hadn't told him about the decision.
"I would believe he would have told the Cardinals first," La
Russa said. "The guy is a first-class guy. I find it hard to
believe he wouldn't call the owners or (general manager Walt)
Jocketty first."
Jocketty, when he heard that ESPN had received a fax from McGwire and his representative that he was retiring, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, angrily on Sunday night, "I know nothing about this. I'm a little upset about this. It would shock me that he would tell ESPN before he would tell Tony and myself."
La Russa said he had tried to speak to McGwire on Thursday but that McGwire was unavailable. McGwire is out of the country on vacation.
"I'm skeptical enough that until I hear this officially, I don't take the fax as gospel," La Russa said. "But he's warned us so much to make plans. If I had to guess, I would guess that it is real. But there's no harm in waiting until it becomes official, so I'm going to wait till it becomes official. Or at least till he tells it to somebody besides ESPN."
La Russa, who had left two messages for McGwire, said, "He'll call me when the time is right. My guess is that when he explains it, we'll understand it. He has given all of us enough warning so that we were making plans without him."
A Cardinals spokesman said Monday that the team still has not heard from McGwire. |
