Here Today... Gone To Hell!

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_league_stew/post/Axl-Rose-and-Mark-McGwire-Long-lost-brothers-;_ylt=AlGYGU8AznVZ9g8wTGbg.uo5nYcB?urn=mlb,123928

Axl Rose and Mark McGwire: Long-lost brothers?

By 'Duk

In an attempt to 1) fill space on a slow news day and 2) get a small Chinese Democracy mention into the Stew, I have  tried to find any ties between Axl Rose and our great sport of baseball. Perhaps not surprisingly, there weren't many to be found except that some people believe that Mr. Rose strikes a strong resemblance to St. Louis titan Mark McGwire.

Personally, I don't think we have a strong "Separated at birth?" case here. But with both favoring their carrot goats I could see them being some sort of tragic biblical brothers.

Plus their lives and careers actually share a few parallels:

? Welcome to the jungle, we've got fun 'n games: McGwire hit 49 homers in his first season with the A's, while Axl helped drop the seminal Appetite for Destruction, which has sold more than 28 million copies worldwide.

?If I stared too long, I'd probably break down and cry: Foot injuries limited McGwire to a total of only 74 games in 1993 and '94. Meanwhile, Axl and GNR released The Spaghetti Incident in '93.

? Old pictures of friends they'll always never see: Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa and former GNR bassist Duff McKagan are apparently pals. (Of course they are.)

? Been hidin' out and layin' low: Though the once-absent Axl is a bit more visible these days, Big Mac does his hiding out in Orange County mansion these days. (No word if Buckethead is helping him with a possible MLB return.)

? St. Louis shadows still remain: After the Capitol Hill "I'm not here to talk about the past" fiasco, one politician wanted McGwire's name removed from the stretch of I-70 that bears it. Meanwhile, the legendary "Rocket Queen" riot in '91 keeps Axl as a persona non grata in St. Louis to this very day.