The Great Home Run Race of 1998

For me (just like he was for every other baseball fan in St. Louis), Mark McGwire was a larger than life figure. On July 31, 1997, I remember being on vacation with my extended family in Oklahoma. That evening, while they all sat in our cabin, I sat outside in my car, tuned in to the Cardinals game on KMOX hoping to receive word of a trade for Big Mac.

Similarly, I remember it was on my second wedding anniversary a month and a half later that he signed the 3-year, $28.5 million extension that meant he would be staying in St. Louis. In typically dramatic Big Mac fashion, that night the first time he stepped to the plate, he hit a 500+ foot home run off Dodgers pitcher Ramon Martinez (Pedro’s brother). It was his 52nd of the year and McGwire-mania was on the rise.

It was just short of a year later that McGwire-mania hit its apex. All season long, Big Mac had been “must-see TV.” If I was outside listening to the game on my headphones while I mowed the lawn, you could be sure that I’d just happen to come inside for a cold glass of water every time Big Mac came to the plate. You knew that if he was at the plate, something special might happen. And you didn’t want to miss it.

This was never more true than September 8, 1998. It was a Tuesday, and the Cards were hosting the Cubs for the finale of the odd two-game series before heading out on a road trip. After a season’s worth of speculation and anticipation, McGwire stood on the precipice of history. Having hit his 61st home run the day before to tie Roger Maris’s epic 1961 total, he now had the chance to claim the record for himself.

There was no doubt in my mind that McGwire would do it that night. And there was no doubt in my mind that I had to be there. I didn’t have tickets and certainly didn’t have the kind of money that scalpers were requesting, but I decided that I wanted to at least be at Busch Stadium when it happened, even if I couldn’t be inside Busch Stadium.

I owned a little handheld TV, and I figured that I could watch history happen on TV there just as easily as anywhere else. The only issue was, I needed to make sure I had batteries to keep me powered up throughout the game, so I ran to the store over my lunch break to grab some. While there, I got a call from my wife with the most amazing news: Her best friend had planned on going to the game with her husband, Kevin, but had decided to stay home and wanted to offer me her ticket!

After getting off of work, I met Kevin (who was also a good friend of mine), and we headed to the game. Our tickets were in the upper deck of left field. There was a lot of talk about how much the home run ball would be worth. This speculation didn’t seem to apply to our situation, as we were high above where anybody could possibly ever hit one. Even so, McGwire did have a penchant for doing the impossible…

Every game I went to, I always purchased a scorecard and kept score. This night though, they were sold out of scorecards. Speculators had bought up all of them in hopes of being able to resell them at a huge profit. I had to get resourceful. Not having any other options, I kept score on the back of one of my business cards!

Big Mac’s first time at the plate, he grounded out to short to end the first inning. There were two out in the fourth the second time he came to the plate. Delino DeShields had led off the first with a single, but had been caught stealing and Cubs hurler Steve Trachsel had retired all ten of the other batters he had faced, including four via the strikeout. On his first pitch in this at bat though, McGwire uncurled his Paul Bunyanesque frame with a swing that send a line drive screaming toward the left-field corner. It would barely clear the wall, and end up being the shortest home run McGwire would hit all season!

From our angle in the upper deck in right field, it was impossible to see the ball fly over the wall. Interestingly, I had the same type of experience almost 13 years earlier when I was high in the right field stands for Ozzie Smith’s “Go Crazy, Folks!” home run off the Dodgers. And as crazy as we went on that October afternoon in 1985, I think we went even more crazy on this September night in 1998.

Big Mac circled the bases, congratulated by Cubs fielders near each base before being greeted by his teammates at the plate. Fireworks exploded, streamers flew. Within two minutes, a giant sign with a picture of McGwire and the number “62” was raised above the centerfield scoreboard. 

The rest of the game was pretty much the most anti-climactic experience I had ever had, with the exception of a couple things. Most folks probably don’t remember this, but that was also the night J.D. Drew made his MLB debut. Kevin and I both knew what a huge prospect he was supposed to be and we counted ourselves fortunate to have been there for the first plate appearance of what we hoped would be a Hall of Fame career with the Cardinals. He would be solid, though not spectacular, with the Cardinals over the next five seasons, and his lasting legacy with the Redbirds rests primarily in the fact that he was the main player traded in the deal that brought Adam Wainwright to St. Louis.

The other thing that happened that night was we of course got to cheer for McGwire in his remaining two plate experiences, both of which ended in walks. After one of them (in the sixth), Ray Lankford and Ron Gant hit back-to-back home runs, but frankly, nobody cared. And the Cardinals beat the Cubs that night 6-3, but again, that was really inconsequential. We all (Cubs fans and Cardinals fans alike) had gotten to see what we wanted to see: History.

After the game, Kevin and I headed down to the field boxes where his sister and her husband were sitting. From there we watched the post-game festivities which included the Cardinals lavishing McGwire with gifts and Cardinals groundskeeper Tim Forneris (who had retrieved the potential million dollar souvenir) informing him “Mr. McGwire, I think I have something that belongs to you.”

By the time we left the stadium, it must have been at least an hour after the game had ended. Even so, people were all over the place. There were folks selling (and selling out of) every kind of souvenir imaginable. Extra editions of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch were being distributed and the feeling of euphoria was not dissimilar to what it would have been had the Cardinals won the World Series that night!

Unbeknownst to me, Kevin purchased a scorecard from a scalper outside the stadium and gave it to me, knowing I hadn’t been able to get one.  Moved by his generosity throughout the night and thankful for the amazing experience I’d had, I wanted to do something for him. The next day I got a Mark McGwire rookie card form my card collection and gave it to him for his son, who had been born just months earlier.

As the season wound down, the Cardinals failed to catch the Cubs for a playoff spot. Even so, heading into the season’s final weekend, there was still a race Cardinals fans cared deeply about: The Great Home Run Race of 1998. Heading into the final three games on the schedule, both McGwire and Sosa had 65 home runs. Big Mac had only hit three homers in the 15 games since September 8^th, but on Friday night, he tallied number 66. Sosa also hit a home run, so heading game 161, they were tied.

I was (of course) thrilled to be going to the final two games of the season, again with Kevin. I vividly remember the discussion we had on our way to Saturday’s game. As we drove toward the stadium I had the craziest thought. “You know?” I said. “All he has to do is hit two today AND hit two tomorrow, and he’d end up with 70.” It was a preposterous thought. To expect somebody (even Big Mac) to hit two home runs in a game was ridiculous. To expect it in back-to-back games was patently absurd. And yet, with all that he had shown us that season, it didn’t seem that outrageous.

We were sitting in the same section as we had been when McGwire hit number 62. And once again, he put on a show for us. In the bottom of the 4^th of a scoreless game against the Expos and future Cardinal, Dustin Hermanson, Big Mac hit a line drive over the left field wall. It gave the Cardinals a 1-0 lead, but far more importantly, it gave him 67 on the season and stretched his lead over Sosa to two.

Then in the bottom of the seventh, with the Expos leading by a pair, McGwire hit a two-run bomb that tied the game. The Expos would score in the tenth, but McGwire would get one more at bat. Joe McEwing and J.D. Drew were retired to lead off the bottom half, but with the Cardinals down to their final out, the crowd rose to its feet in anticipation of some more Big Mac magic. On a 3-2 pitch, our hero grounded out to third, ending the game. Our disappointment was tempered though not only by the fact that McGwire had twice that afternoon added to his magical season, but also by the hope that there might still be a little magic left for the next day.

We arrived at Busch Stadium and settled into our (incredible) seats. For years, Kevin’s family had not just season tickets, but row one field box seats. On this day, for game 162 of the season, Kevin had the family tickets, and I once again was the beneficiary.

In the first, McGwire hit a single to centerfield, leaving us all strangely disappointed. When he came to the plate in the 3^rd, the score was now 2-2 with two out and nobody on. He would not disappoint again. He launched number 69 on the season deep to left field to give the Cardinals a 3-2 lead. The crowd erupted and jubilation reigned as Big Mac once again trotted around the bases. He was now three ahead of Sosa, a lead that seemed comfortable if not unbeatable.

  

McGwire’s work for the day was not over yet though. I recalled the conversation I’d had with Kevin a little more than 24 hours earlier. Seventy would be such a nice, round number! In the fifth, much to the displeasure of the sell-out crowd, Expos hurler Mike Thurman (who had allowed number 69) walked McGwire on four pitches. We all knew that he would likely only get one more opportunity.

That opportunity came in the eighth. The game was once again tied, with two on and two out. McGwire jumped on the first pitch he saw from Carl Pavano and sent a line shot into left field. It cleared the left outfield wall and we were amazed at what he’d accomplished. At the same time though, we really weren’t all that surprised. All season long, McGwire had done the impossible.

Of course, when Barry Bonds broke McGwire’s record three years later, that took a little of the shine off the experience. And it was even more greatly diminished by the revelations that subsequently came out regarding McGwire steroid usage. Even so, the way I felt (both on September 8^th and September 27^th) is something that will always stick with me. What a blessing it was to have witnessed such events in person!