JUPITER, Fla. — “Whammo! . . . Whammo! . . . Whammo!”
With each swing, Cardinals shortstop Brendan Ryan exults in the batting cage as the ball leaves his bat and hitting coach Mark McGwire nods his approval.
Ryan, former Rockies outfielder Matt Holliday, Cardinals second baseman Skip Schumaker and outfielder Ryan Ludwick have become disciples of a man many consider more pariah than leader. When the Cardinals hired McGwire this offseason, wails of protest were heard in St. Louis and beyond because Big Mac got big while taking steroids. He finally fessed up last month to what most everyone believed for years.
McGwire’s mea culpa, and his past, doesn’t seem to concern Holliday.
“I thought it was cool,” Holliday said of the Cardinals hiring McGwire. “We’re good friends. I’m excited to get to spend some time with him and pick his brain. I think he’s a great teacher.”
Holliday has followed McGwire’s teachings since meeting him in August 2006. McGwire visited Coors Field as a guest of former teammate Mike Gallego, the Rockies’ hitting coach at the time. McGwire broke down Holliday’s swing on videotape and suggested he use a leg kick as a timing device, while also preaching the need to drive through the ball.
“We hit in the cage one day,” Holliday said. “That’s one of his big things, hitting down and through the ball. That’s pretty much what he’s been preaching ever since I met him.”
Holliday hit 12 home runs in his final 147 at-bats that season.
Another word for Whammo? Eureka.
Holliday not only hit the ball better than ever, he hit a huge payday this offseason, signing a $120 million, seven-year free-agent deal with St. Louis.
“He’s very, very talented,” Mc-Gwire said. “He’s got a huge future ahead of him.”
And suddenly McGwire, a man with a controversial past, has a future as a hitting coach.
“He’s got some good things to offer,” Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said of McGwire, who hit what was then a record 70 home runs during the 1998 season.
McGwire is excited to be back in the game after a self-imposed exile that followed his retirement after the 2001 season. He preaches the same thing, over and over.
“You have a round ball with a round bat and there’s only one way to hit it squarely. You have to go down to it,” McGwire said.
Holliday is now a firmly established hitter who will bat cleanup behind three-time MVP Albert Pujols, as he did the final two months last season after the Oakland A’s traded him.
“He thinks Albert has the perfect swing and he’s trying to hone in on why Albert is so successful,” Schumaker said. “That’s one of the reasons, is that he drives down through the ball.”
Although he hit 49 home runs his rookie season with Oakland in 1987, it wasn’t until 1992 that McGwire began driving down and through the ball off his front foot.
“I used to be a back-legged hitter,” McGwire said. “Over the course of doing years and years of tee-work and soft toss, my body just started getting into a different position and the ball started doing this, instead of that.”
This is otherwise known as “whammo.” That’s what it sounds like when a great hitter makes contact. Hang in there, Brendan Ryan.
“I have a picture of Hank Aaron in my house and it’s amazing; Hank Aaron pretty much finished (his swing) the way I finished,” McGwire said of the second-most prolific home run hitter of all time. “Albert Pujols finishes on his front leg. He uses all the energy that he can possibly use.”
And McGwire’s energy now goes into transforming the Ryans of the Cardinals’ roster.
David Wright: 303-954-1318 or dwright@denverpost.com
