Are The Cards Hiding A Mark McGwire Statue in St. Louis?

Why yes, they sure are. Here, read about it:

The Cardinals commissioned the statue after McGwire hit 70 homers in 1998, obliterating Roger Maris' 37-year-old record. There's a place set aside for it alongside other mini-monuments to Cardinals legends outside Busch Stadium.

But the bronze is draped in cloth, hidden in a downtown warehouse. Its place in the limelight has been thrown into question, like so much of McGwire's legacy, by suspicion that steroid use enhanced his career.

Now, the statue was commissioned in 2002 before McGwire's whole Congress debacle, so you can't fault the organization there. I mean, at the time, he was pretty much a shoe-in for the Hall and his number was most certainly going to be retired by the Cards - both supposed requirements for a statue.

Cardinals president Mark Lamping said team policy is that statues are reserved for Hall of Famers whose numbers have been retired. An exception is Kenny Boyer's No. 14, retired in 1984 even though he did not make it to the Hall.

"It really isn't something we need to even worry about at this point because his number is not retired," Lamping said. "If you look at the past and use that as your guide, retiring a jersey would be the guide."

To recap: Mark McGwire was once baseball's darling slugger, the man who revived the game. Now, he's hiding out somewhere and having statues of his likeness revoked and hidden in a secret location, known only by the sculptor and the Cards organization.

Sammy Sosa is pw3ning you right now, Big Mac.