The Chris Moeller Archives

McGwire's underwriters

Remember that whole dust-up over Mark McGwire using the then-legal and available-over-the-counter supplement Androstenedione in 1998? An earnest Associated Press reporter named Steve Wilstein went snooping through the slugger's locker, uncovered the scandal, the United States Constitution died a little inside, and a generation of young baseball players grew up believing that it was ok to put any substance they wanted into their body.

Turns out that McGwire was required to take the supplement in connection with a disability insurance policy he had taken out on his banged-up knees through Lloyd's of London during that historic summer. The drug "was part of the underwriting interest for (the) policy," according to Jonathan Thomas, a group accident health underwriter for Lloyd's.

---

I wish you were all with me at my home this evening enjoying the latest Tim McCarver CD that arrived by mail today from Amazon. Yes, the longtime baseball broadcaster and greatest Cardinals catcher in history has just launched a third career singing songs from the Chris Moeller Karaoke Collection. The offering is entitled "Tim McCarver Sings Selections From the Great American Songbook."

I really enjoyed it. McCarver, backed by a fine jazz combo from his native Memphis, lays it all out quite courageously in his dulcet, Southern-tinted tone, delivering a clear reading on such classics as "(This Will Be) My Shining Hour," Irving Berlin's "Change Partners," and "A Nightengale Sang In Berkeley Square." McCarver reportedly has had a finished product on his hands for over a year, but the several thousand CDs that were produced sat in a closet at his home because he didn't know how or where to sell them. Released two weeks ago, McCarver says he hopes people will judge his efforts as "not bad." If I had to choose one adjective to describe his work on the disc, it would be "charming."

posted by CM @ 8:09 PM