SEVENTY - Big Mac and the Summer of '98

GeoCities.us » Colosseum » Field

VOL. 2, NO. 1 · BELLEVILLE, ILLINOIS · ANNIVERSARY EDITION · FREE
The Ruebsam Report

SEVENTY.
One year ago tonight, Big Mac broke the record. Here's the whole summer, the way I remember it.

By DENNIS RUEBSAM
Report Staff (that's me)

BELLEVILLE, Ill. — One year ago tonight, on Tuesday, September 8, 1998, Mark McGwire hit a low line drive off the Cubs' Steve Trachsel that just barely cleared the left-field wall at Busch Stadium. It was the shortest home run he hit all year, 341 feet. It was also number 62, and Roger Maris's record, which had stood since 1961, was gone.

I watched it in my living room, fifteen miles from the ballpark, with my dad. He's 76 now. He saw Maris play right field for the Cardinals in '67 and '68, and when the ball went out he didn't cheer. He just said "well," very quietly, and wiped his eyes with his thumb. That's how I'll remember it. My wife says I was the one yelling.

The things I'll never forget: Mac got so excited he missed first base and had to go back and touch it. He picked up his son Matt, who was the Cardinals batboy, and swung him around at home plate. Sammy Sosa came all the way in from right field to hug him. Then Mac went over to the stands and hugged Roger Maris's children, who were there to see it. And the young man on the grounds crew who found the ball behind the wall didn't sell it. He walked it back to Mac. In a year when everybody was talking about what that ball would be worth, I thought that was the best part of the whole night.

The night before, on Labor Day, he tied Maris with number 61 off the Cubs' Mike Morgan. It was his father's 61st birthday. You couldn't make that up.

THE SUMMER, IN SHORT

Opening Day. He hit a grand slam off the Dodgers' Ramon Martinez in the very first game of the season, and homered in each of the first four games. We knew it might be a year.

May. The tape-measure shots. One against the Marlins in May was measured at 545 feet. People started showing up two hours early just to watch him take batting practice. I did that in July with my boy, Kevin. Mac went 0-for-3 that night and we didn't care one bit. We'd already seen him put three balls into the upper deck before the game started.

June. Sammy Sosa hit 20 home runs in one month, a major league record, and all of a sudden it was a race.

September. 61, 62, and then the two of them traded shots all month. On Friday the 25th, Sammy hit his 66th in Houston and led the league in home runs for about 45 minutes, until Mac hit his 66th against Montreal. That was the start of a finish where Mac hit five home runs in the last three games of the year, 66 through 70. Number 70 came on the last Sunday, off Carl Pavano of the Expos.

After. Sammy finished with 66 and won the MVP, and good for him. Number 70 was sold at an auction in January for about three million dollars, to Todd McFarlane, the fellow who draws the Spawn comic books. My boy thinks that's the coolest thing that ever happened.

BOX SCORE: THE BIG ONES

HR	DATE	OPP / PITCHER
1	Tue 3/31/98	LA / R. Martinez (slam)
61	Mon 9/7/98	CHI / M. Morgan
62	Tue 9/8/98	CHI / S. Trachsel
70	Sun 9/27/98	MON / C. Pavano

1998 FINAL: 70 HR, 147 RBI, .299 AVG, 162 BB (NL record)

AND NOW, 1999
Anybody who thought last year was a fluke hasn't been paying attention. On Thursday, August 5, at Busch, Mac hit his 500th career home run against San Diego, and then hit number 501 later the same game, like he couldn't be bothered to wait. He and Sammy are both hitting them out again this September, and I'm checking the box scores every morning before I start my route, same as last year. The Cardinals aren't going anywhere this season, but I don't care. I'd pay to watch that man take batting practice.

A note on Sammy: I've gotten a couple of e-mails calling Sammy names because he's a Cub. Not on my page, you don't. The two of them made the whole country watch baseball again after the strike, and they were gentlemen to each other the whole way. That's the other thing I want my boy to remember.

WHAT'S IN MY SCRAPBOOK
• The Post-Dispatch front page from the morning after 62, and the one from the morning after 70
• Our ticket stubs from the July game, with Kevin's scorecard (he spelled Lankford three different ways)
• A newspaper photo of Mac and the Maris family, cut out and laminated at the print shop downtown
• The Sports Illustrated with Mac and Sammy together

I'd put pictures of all of it up here, but I don't have a scanner. My nephew says he'll bring his over at Thanksgiving. We'll see.

Circulation since this edition went to press:

(The counter started in October 1998. My first web page, be kind.)

Letters to the editor: [email protected]
Tell me where you were for 62.

Last updated Wednesday, September 8, 1999, one year to the night.
I'm just a fan. Nothing here is official from the Cardinals or Major League Baseball.
© 1999 Dennis Ruebsam