Former Mariners UT McLemore on MLB’s return, Astros scandal

Mark McLemore, a key member of the 2000-2001 Mariners teams and current Texas Rangers broadcast team joined the Danny and Gallant show Wednesday morning. Like everyone else, he’s looking forward to baseball and other sports returning, but wants to see it done the right, and safe way.

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“I think they need to take the approach of what’s best for society,” he said. “It’s more than just baseball and whether baseball or any sport will be played, it’s about being safe and keeping as many people safe as possible until this thing is under control.”

Also on hold right now, the fallout from the division rival Astros’ cheating scandal. The coronavirus pandemic wiped the Astros off the baseball front page, but McLemore doesn’t believe that they will get off scot-free when it comes to public and peer scrutiny. A baseball player’s memory is long.

“Once we get back to baseball I think the talk is going to be what postponed baseball. Then as we get further into the season, then I think the Astros stuff will probably dominate the news in every Astros game,” he said with a chuckle.

“I think it will come back, they are not going to totally escape it,” he continued. “Obviously this postponement is definitely going to help the as they were going to be in for it from what we saw in spring training. The fans may forget about it but I promise you the players will not.”

While on most issues, players will go out of their way to avoid controversy and will be careful about what they say about other players or teams but this spring many were not shy about expressing their displeasure about what the Astros had done. There were a few questionable hit by pitches as well. A lot of things happen within the game that fall into a grey area or into an unwritten rules category but in McLemore’s view, what the Astros did was different.

“The lengths that they went to to make that happen, obviously there have been stories about teams having cameras in certain cities, doing certain things at certain times but the system that these guys were able to enact was unbelievable,” he said. “It was really, really… it was just blatant. They didn’t care. They were warned by MLB, and they continued to do it. they’re just going to have to suffer the consequences whatever that may be. Whether it is fans getting all over them or what, they’re just going to have to wear it.”

In McLemore’s day (1986-2004) it is highly likely a number of pitchers would have taken the matter into their own hands. It is hard to imagine you wouldn’t see a scuffle or two. Today, the game is different and not just in a less hard-nosed manner. Play is dominated by the numbers, processes, percentages. There is little room for emotion or gut plays between the lines. Mike Salk, sitting in for Danny O’Neil, asked McLemore how baseball might counteract this kind of play.

“I think you have just got to let them play,” he said. “The game is going to evolve, it does every few years. Every generation it’s different. The guys playing now were kids watching me play, they, it’s just a totally different look. They want to express their feelings more and now you see that.”

So what comes next?

“It’s hard to say what that’s going to look like because honestly if you asked me 20 years ago what this game is going to look like now I would say there’s no way its going to look like this but it’s evolved and everybody has just got to be on board. Some will follow along kicking and screaming, the old school purist, but it’s going to evolve. I think as it evolves people will continue to watch baseball. They’re going to continue to be involved and be excited about it as they have been in any part of history.”

Listen to the full discussion with McLemore at this link or in the player below.

Follow 710 ESPN Seattle’s Paul Gallant and Mike Salk on Twitter.

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