ST. LOUIS — Mark McGwire is back in baseball, reunited with Tony La Russa as the St. Louis Cardinals’ hitting coach.
La Russa agreed to return for a 15th year as manager Monday with a one-year contract, the first time he hasn’t had a multiyear deal with the team. All of his coaches will return except for Hal McRae, who will be replaced by the former star.
“Mark is passionate about the game, passionate about the Cardinals,” chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. said. “Tony thinks he’ll be a great coach, and I think he’s got a lot to offer.”
McGwire was not at the news conference at Busch Stadium, but La Russa and general manager John Mozeliak said there will be no effort to shield McGwire from questions about steroids. The team anticipated a telephone news conference with McGwire.
“By no means is he trying to hide, and by no means are we trying to hide him,” Mozeliak said.
McGwire hit a then-record 70 home runs in 1998. He famously refused to answer questions about steroids use during a March 2005 congressional hearing.
Jay-Z to perform Wednesday
NEW YORK — Jay-Z and fellow New Yorker Alicia Keys are set to perform the hit “Empire State of Mind” on Wednesday, as the Yankees take on the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 1 of the World Series.
NYC fans choose Yanks
NEW YORK — FOX said Monday that its coverage of Game 6 of the AL championship series was watched by 26.4 percent of New York homes with televisions and 40 percent of households with TVs in use at the time. The numbers for NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” were 9.3 and 14.
Padres introduce Hoyer
SAN DIEGO — Jeff Moorad is so enamored with the way the Boston Red Sox do business that he hired another one of Theo Epstein’s assistants, this time to run the San Diego Padres.
Jed Hoyer was formally introduced as the Padres’ general manager on Monday. He was hired during the weekend after spending eight seasons with the Red Sox. He’d been an assistant to Epstein since the end of the 2003 season.
ESPN’s Phillips woman fired
BRISTOL, Conn. — The ESPN production assistant whose affair with baseball analyst Steve Phillips led to his termination has also been fired from the sports network, a spokesman said Monday.
Mike Soltys, a representative of ESPN, did not say why.
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