Closing in on history
McGwire's 60th homer leaves him one shy of Maris' record
Posted: Saturday September 05, 1998 11:13 PM
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Meet me in St. Louis: In 184 career games with the Cardinals, McGwire has 84 homers, 169 RBIs and 189 walks AP |
ST. LOUIS (AP) -- It's 60 down, two to go for Mark McGwire.
In front of another sellout crowd and with millions watching on national
television, McGwire moved one homer away from Roger Maris' record, hitting
No. 60 in the first inning Saturday as the St. Louis Cardinals
beat the Cincinnati
Reds 7-0.
McGwire, who has five homers in his last four games and 13 in 18 days,
joined Babe Ruth and Maris as the only players to hit 60 homers in a single
season. Ruth hit 60 in 1927, a record that stood until Maris hit 61 in
1961.
"It's unbelievable," McGwire said. "What can you say? Obviously he must
have felt unbelievable, just like I do."
How much longer will Maris' record stand?
"He's capable of doing it any time," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa
said. "He can do it in his first few at-bats, or it could take him a couple
days."
Certainly, there's magic in the 34 1/2-inch, 33-ounce bat McGwire is
using. After breaking the bat that produced No. 55, the replacement has
been responsible for the last five.
"It's got a few [more]," McGwire said. "I don't retire them until they
break."
McGwire has 21 games remaining to set the record. While Maris also played
in a 162-game season, Ruth accomplished his feat over a 154-game schedule.
McGwire is tired of such asterisk talk.
"It's not my fault I was born in a different age," he said. "What can I
say? I'm sorry I was born in 1963."
Saturday's shot off Dennis Reyes
(3-5) put St. Louis ahead 2-0 and left McGwire with a two-homer lead over
the Chicago Cubs' Sammy Sosa, who
hit his 58th Saturday night at Pittsburgh.
McGwire, who got only his 12th homer off left-handers this season, struck
out in his final three at-bats. The sellout crowd of 47,994 stood
throughout each McGwire plate appearance and a few hundred waited through
his 45-minute postgame news conference.
Cincinnati was the last NL team this season to give up a homer to
McGwire. He entered the day 2-for-16 with no RBIs and 12 walks against
Reds' pitching.
After consecutive two-homer games against Florida, McGwire was 0-for-3
with a walk in Friday night's series opener, the start of a five-game
homestand. He appeared determined to come through Saturday, taking big cuts
in every at-bat.
Fun at the ballpark: McGwire may have struck out his final three at-bats Saturday, but he continued to be all smiles, showing no signs of pressure AP | |
John Mabry
singled with one out, Reyes threw two balls inside and McGwire hit a
towering drive that plopped into the left-field stands. The homer was
estimated at 381 feet -- one of his shorter efforts. Only 18 of his homers
have been estimated at less than 400 feet.
"I think for me it's another home run," Reyes said. "I'm not going to be
the last one."
On his way to the dugout, McGwire saluted the Cardinals' owners. He then
emerged for a curtain call and saluted again.
Deni Allen, 22, who works in the St. Louis Rams' marketing department,
sneaked two sections from his seat to be in position to catch the ball.
Allen, who didn't use a glove, snagged the ball after it deflected off
another fan's hands.
"I've watched on the replays and the first guy never catches it," Allen
said. "I knew that, so I waited for the rebound."
All those big cuts have had their downside for McGwire, who has 136
strikeouts, second in the league behind Sosa's 142. He stranded a man on
first in the second, fanned on three high fastballs against Mike
Remlinger in the fifth, and struck out again on a high fastball from John Hudek in the
seventh with runners on second and third.
"They've been going at me," McGwire said. "My last three at-bats, I was
pitched very well. Hudek was flat-out nasty."
Reds manager Jack McKeon bowed to public pressure when he pitched to
McGwire in the seventh.
"We thought about walking him, but then I also thought about all those
people that have been calling my voice mail wanting me to heal the
country," McKeon said. "Since we're going through this healing process, I
figured, well, I'm going to do something good for the country. I'll pitch
to him. "
McGwire laughed at that notion.
"Well, wouldn't that be great, if that's all it came down to?" he said.
Meanwhile, Donovan
Osborne (4-3) pitched a three-hitter and the Cardinals won for the
fifth time in six games, stopping a 10-game losing streak to the Reds.
Osborne didn't appear to mind that only a few of the 600-plus reporters
talked to him,
"I was telling the guys we're never going to be forgotten," Osborne said.
"We played with Mark McGwire the year he set the record."
Fernando Tatis added an RBI double and Ron Gant scored on
a wild pitch in the Cardinals' four-run first. Mabry had an RBI double and
Brian Jordan
had a two-run triple in a three-run seventh.
Notes: McGwire said his 10-year-old son, Matthew, probably will
come to St. Louis when he gets to 61 homers. Matthew, who lives with
McGwire's ex-wife in southern California, serves as bat boy whenever he
visits his father. ... St. Louis has 13 games left this year at Busch
Stadium, where McGwire has 30 homers, nearly twice the previous season
record of 17. McGwire has 84 homers, 169 RBIs and 189 walks in 184 career
games with the Cardinals, who acquired him from Oakland on July 31, 1997.
... Sunday's game will start at 4:10 p.m. EDT instead of 2:10 p.m. and will
be televised by Fox to 80 percent of U.S. television markets. ... Cardinals
center fielder Ray Lankford
was a late scratch due to cold and sinus problems. His replacement in the
order, Mabry, singled ahead of McGwire's 60th homer.
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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