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Mark McGwire and wife Stephanie Slemer received a major surprise in 2020 when the couple found out she was pregnant with triplets. McGwire felt like a cartoon character when she broke the news they were expecting three babies.
“Well, you know that cartoon that we all grew up with where the mouth just drops all the way down to the floor,” McGwire admitted to Fox Sports San Diego. “They [his kids] are all M’s. I don’t know why I did that. My older son is Matt then I have Max then Mason, Marlo, Monet and Monroe. And to this day, I still screw it all up.”
According to People Magazine, Slemer is a former pharmaceutical sales rep. The couple got married in Las Vegas on April 20, 2002 at the MGM Grand Hotel. McGwire was previously married to Kathlene Hughes from 1984 to 1990.
Stephanie Had a Health Scare in 2016
The couple endured a scary time in 2016 when Slemer was dealing with an illness. McGwire was coaching for the Padres at the time and took a few weeks away from the team to be with his wife. The former slugger declined to go into details on what happened only to say that the tests came back negative which was a good sign.
“I had to take care of my wife and my five children,” McGwire said at the time, per Friar Wire. “I think she’s on the backside of this right now, so she’s getting better. It wasn’t life-threatening, thank God. All tests came back negative, but it was important enough for me to be there for three weeks.”
The couple has five kids together, and McGwire also has a child from his previous marriage. During the difficult time, McGwire was on full-out dad duty which included homework, grocery shopping and carpool driving.
“Needing to be home, and wanting to be here, it was tough,” McGwire explained. “But family’s first and anybody that’s ever been put in the position I was, you’d do the same thing. I’ve got five young kids and you want to try to keep things normal. When mom’s down, you gotta get ’em to their practices, you gotta get ’em to school. They’ve got homework, you gotta go grocery shopping, gotta do the laundry. There’s so many things. I have the ultimate respect for moms out there that do all that stuff, especially for mothers or wives of ballplayers or athletes because we’re gone so much and to really understand — I like shopping and doing that stuff, don’t get me wrong, but it’s a tough job.”
After Mark Admitted to Using Steroids, Stephanie Believed His Coaching Career Could Help Alter the Public Perception
McGwire did not initially connect his coaching career as a way to help rebuild trust with fans. Yet, Slemer believed that it could help him start to rehabilitate his image.
“I don’t know why I never thought of it: The last image people have of me was standing up with my right hand in front of Congress,” McGwire explained to The Oklahoman. “And she goes, ‘Now that you’re going to be a hitting coach, people are going to see you in uniform again.’ It’s unfortunate that I’m not going to be able to play. But also now my two young boys are going to see their dad in a uniform.”
McGwire spent time as a coach with the Cardinals, Dodgers and Padres from 2010 to 2018 before once again stepping away from the game to be with his family. McGwire started as a hitting coach for the Cardinals and Dodgers before ending things as a bench coach with the Padres.
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