The Super Genius' Magical Fantasy Land

NEW YORK (AP) -- Tony La Russa will defend Mark McGwire until the end: To him, Big Mac is a Hall of Famer.

"I've believed in him from day one. I still believe in him," the St. Louis Cardinals manager said Tuesday in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.

McGwire is appearing on the Hall of Fame ballot for the first time, and an AP survey of 125 baseball writers who are eligible to vote -- about 20 percent of the total -- showed that only one in four who gave an opinion planned to vote for McGwire.

"It would be two in five then. I'd make it two in five," La Russa said. "I can't answer for anybody else, what priorities they give and how they weigh stuff. I know what my personal opinion is, and that's the way it stays."

[snip]

"I've watched him for years and years and years work out and take care of himself, and if any of us do that, we get bigger and stronger," La Russa said.

Look, no one knows for sure whether McGwire juiced or not. No matter how loudly they scream their opinion.

And the Super Genius' loyalty to one of his guys is certainly admirable, I guess.

But at what point does loyalty become fooling oneself?