LOS ANGELES — The McGwire family is set to see the other side of things in one of baseball’s best rivalries.
Mason McGwire, son of 12-time All-Star slugger Mark, was selected in the eighth round of baseball’s amateur draft by the Cubs on Monday.
Mark spent five of his 16 major league seasons with the rival St. Louis Cardinals, including the memorable 1998 season when he and Cubs star Sammy Sosa raced to break Roger Maris’ single-season home run mark. McGwire ended up with 70 and Sosa with 66 before both of their reputations were tarnished amid steroid revelations.
Mason is a right-handed pitcher out of Capistrano Valley High School in California. The 18-year-old — born several years after Mark’s playing days ended — is committed to the University of Oklahoma, where his 19-year-old brother Max is an infielder. There’s no indication yet if Mason plans to turn pro, but teams seldom use picks in the top 10 rounds on players who they think are unsignable.
Mark was also drafted in the eighth round out of high school in 1981 by the Montreal Expos as a first baseman and right-handed pitcher. He opted to attend college at Southern California, where he led college baseball in home runs in 1984 before being chosen 10th overall by Oakland.
Mason is one of several sons of big leaguers taken in this year’s draft, including the top two picks — Jackson Holliday, son of Matt, went first overall to Baltimore while Druw Jones, son of Andruw, went second to Arizona. Justin Crawford, whose dad was All-Star Carl Crawford, was selected 17th overall by the Philadelphia Phillies.
