Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa's race for home run history deserves a deep rewind

it's September 8th 1998 we're in St Louis where the visiting Chicago Cubs lead the hometown Cardinals two to nothing in the bottom of the fourth inning there's plenty of game left but if you look around at this packed out crowd on their feet you would think the Cardinals were headed to the World Series I don't see a free hot dog promotion or a t-shirt giveaway in sight so why the hell are these fans so hyped it's only one way to find out we gotta rewind this episode of rewinder is presented by T-Mobile America's largest 5G Network these fans in Busch Stadium have a chance to witness history while it looks like they are plotting this beefy red-haired dude for his impressively large arms they're waiting to see what he can do with those muscles with this at bat Mark McGuire could become the new leader for most home runs in a single season it's a record that hasn't been broken in nearly four decades but if anyone can do it Mark's the guy 61 homers is a magic number that Maguire is chasing set by Roger Maris in the early 60s over the years a few players came Within Reach of toppling mirrors but McGuire has been the most consistent during his rookie year in 87 Big Mac smashed 49 dingers with the Oakland Athletics and continued to display his superb hitting power during his time in the bay Maguire's slugging prowess alongside his Justice shredded team-mate Jose Canseco earned the two the nickname the bash Brothers but after several post-season shortcomings and a deteriorated relationship with his brother by bashing Maguire soured on the A's entering the 97 season Oakland traded him in July and despite a season of uncertainty Maguire still managed to mash 58 homers [Music] besides McGuire MLB began to experience a sudden spike in Elite home run hitters leading journalists to believe maris's record would be cooked sooner rather than later Maguire was the poster boy to do damage before the 98th season he graced the cover of Sports illustrated's March issue with the headline get ready for slugfest where the publication gave the Slugger a 4-1 odds to make history which wasn't surprising the dude excelled at crushing pitches to the upper decks of stadiums to the point where I wouldn't be surprised if he'd been created in the lab now numerous people did believe that lab work came with steroid injections throughout his career Maguire suffered numerous injuries that Spectators attributed to his gigantic frame Big Mac had haters but insisted that a guy could have biceps the size of someone's head all by simply putting in hard work [Music] despite all that hard work he put in Maguire had often found himself on the DL because of that SI gave King rifi Jr slightly better odds to surpass Maris either way they expected dingers come season time in April Maguire and Griffey both dropped bombs at a rapid pace and found themselves tied at 15 home runs in mid-may although by Memorial Day not only did Big Mac set himself apart from the kid he was on track to obliterate the record journalists constantly want to update some McGuire's thoughts as he got closer to Maris but no matter how much they pressed he didn't seem interested it's not that he wasn't confident Maguire didn't feel comfortable comparing himself to Baseball Legends with so much time left in the season the pressure and attention of the chase clearly began to weigh on them he became a traveling Sideshow where thousands of fans flocked the stadiums early just to see him in batting practice hell even opposing managers stopped what they were doing to watch during a June Row game Maguire compared people swarming his BP to feeling like a caged animal for being so great at something that brought excitement to others Mark didn't seem to find much joy in the chase but that didn't mean he stopped demolishing pitches Maguire still leads the league in homers and with this at bat he could make history if Big Mac isn't thrilled about the chance to put his name in the record books this dude in right field would be more than happy to take his place okay I know in 1998 there is room for advancement in picture quality but I'm positive that's not Ken Griffey Jr right fielder for the Cubs right fielder that's Sammy Sosa but what does he have to do with any of this in terms of people in the conversation that break maris's record entering the 98th season Sosa was an afterthought that is when he was even thought of at all sorry Sammy Chicago obviously valued him enough to extend him to a lucrative deal the previous season but he wasn't known as a reliable hitter that's putting it kindly considering journalists described him as a hitter who swung at anything with a sloppy plate approach that led to easy outs damn by the end of May the Home Run Chase started to take shape and Sammy was barely in the picture the flashes of power but it would take a ton of long balls for him to catch up to McGuire's double-digit lead quantifying the exact amount that equals a ton varies by person but setting the record for most home runs in a month certainly met the quota semi-spectacular month catapulted him into the national Spotlight expanding the Home Run Chase to a three-man race slamming Sammy attributed his sudden surge to finally finding peace within the stresses that came with the game working with new hitting coach Jeff Hinton Sammy also benefited heavily by making severe changes to his swing mechanics while McGuire shied away from all the attention the chase brought Sammy thrived in the spotlight crushed balls and bounced out of the batter's box as if he was setting up to do a salsa move he played to the crowd giving kerning calls after home runs even during Rogue games unlike McGuire who spoke fearfully out of respect for baseball's past Sosa talked freely about the record growing up as a shoe shine boy in the Dominican Republic so so worried about providing for his family he didn't have time to idolize Baseball Stars he'd been through the trenches and thought there were more serious issues going on in the world than a home run Chase so why not Revel in the moment which is exactly what he kept doing as Sami kept slapping balls Griffey ran out of gas and the chase became the McGuire and Sosa show it's like they tunted each other with deep bombs by mid-august Sammy did the unthinkable and caught McGuire he went from the darkest of horses to journalists believing he would be crowned the new single season home run King although Sammy didn't see it that way he treated Maguire respectfully and believed he would be the first to cross 61. Maguire viewed Sosa in the same light he didn't see the chase as a competition between the two and only focused on what he could do at the plate as they entered the final stretch of the Season tied at 55 it was clear there would be a new leader by The Season's end no matter their nonchalant attitude of oh you break the record first someone had to do it and with this booming St Louis crowd cheering him on looks like Big Mac will be the one you can feel the energy through the screen but this moment goes Far Beyond St Louis more than anything MLB desperately needed this for a sport that Prides itself on being America's pastime MLB hasn't had this many eyes on it in quite some time a few years ago players went on strike and shut down everything entirely in the seasons that followed the league struggled to keep fans interested to get Butts back in seats it took a couple of beefy boys hitting Moon shots as they pursued history but it just wasn't inside stadiums the hype of the chase was inescapable Nike capitalized on the moment and ran ads with the tagline chicks dig the long ball the commercials feature jealous Cy Young award-winning pitchers Greg Madison Tom glavin attempting to strengthen their hitting skills because Mark got all the attention from the ladies [Music] I talked chicks dig the long ball sluck has got all the love nothing can slow down people's hunger for homers although there were some hiccups in mid-august a reporter from the Associated Press published a piece about McGuire's use of androstino Dion after spotting the supplement in his locker the testosterone producing pill had been banned in other sports but was clean to use in MLB that's why Maguire kept the pills in plain sight and forcefully defended himself saying he's only doing what every other player in the league does well maybe not everyone but instead of condemning Mark most media members took their anger out on the reporter how could that try to label Mark as a cheater when he's done nothing but provide good clean entertainment for the whole nation Big Mac should have stuffed that nerd in his locker right then and there when he questioned him baseball was so back damn it and no dude who scribbled on paper could kill that I apologize I blacked out there for a second it reached a point where major networks found themselves scrambling to air games so the nation could keep track as he approached Marist Maguire even relaxed knowing he had a duty to fulfill for everyone taking notice the chase swallowed the league hole and turned any other major story into a footnote several of the MLB's top players changed teams the Yankees looked poised a set of record of Their Own pushing 40 Ricky Henderson's white bags like a youngin but none of it mattered home runs were all the country cared about when they went into September tide Mark took off from Sammy but thanks to the serendipitous scheduling of MLB one of the two could break the record while the other watched as Big Mac stood one home run behind tying Maris the Cardinals were set to face off against the Cubs in the two-game series in anticipation the league went all out and had the Home Run Heroes ride golf carts together to join press conferences where they played off one another like some weird buddy cop comedy it was odd to see division Rivals so chummy but the promotion clearly worked in the first of the two games besides the sold out crowd at Busch Stadium ESPN drew his most viewers for a baseball game in the Network's history during the game Maguire made his own history putting himself in the record books next to Maris in this game tonight though Maguire can stand alone sitting three homers behind Mark Sammy needs to have a hell of a game tonight to make things interesting but even then Big Mac just needs one the pressure is on him Maguire got his chance in the bottom of the first inning but grounded out Sosa is having a decent game but a single and grounding out in the third don't help his chances the Cardinals went three up and three down in the bottom of the third and with Maguire slotted to come back up the next inning that brings us here with one swing Big Mac could be thrown Mares he didn't set out to make history but he grew to understand the magnitude of what he could achieve and what it meant for the sport not a single soul predicted Sosa would be in the mix but he's shined when the lights were bright and helped capture the nation's attention alongside McGuire the lead up here was almost tainted with silly accusations but we can't control the past or future so let's focus on the present welcome to a moment in history [Applause] Touch first Mark you are the new single season home run King foreign [Music] nothing else happened after that game no court rulings or anything just good clean baseball if you enjoyed that video we got plenty more for you to check out now hurry to like And subscribe get out of here I say

Channel: Secret Base

Views: 242,003

Keywords: Ken Griffey Jr., babe ruth, baseball, chicago, chicago cubs, greg maddux, home run chase, mark mcgwire, mlb, nl central, roger maris, sammy sosa, st. louis cardinals, st.louis, tom glavine, secret base, secretbase, joe ali, sbnation, sb nation, rewinder, deep rewind

Id: huOZF4C76CQ

Length: 13min 11sec (791 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 18 2023