September 8, 1998 – Mark McGwire, the man who saved baseball, hits his 62nd Home Run!
America is a Baseball Nation again, and McGwire is its head of state. Every time he marches to the plate at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, every fan in attendance rises to his feet out of respect and awe. Virtually all Americans cheer him with a loving acceptance that sadly escaped the two men before him who drove Babe Ruth from the record book. (via SI Vault)
All this was true.
20 years have passed and there are probably younger readers who don’t quite remember that summer.
It was indeed electric, and baseball was alive and exciting and had SUPERSTARS the way it does not have now and people actually talked about it and watched it.
It also ruined things forever.
If you watched that summer, you “knew.” You felt something wasn’t right. The MSM went along with it. The money was back. Fox had a thing. Joe Buck called the plays. Everyone went along.
And 62 happened. And 70. And Sammy Sosa tagged along and even got a ticker tape parade in New York City for some reason (really, look it up).
And you kinda knew.
And then Bonds decided, eff this bullcrap, and really ruined the record books.
And here we are 20 years later. It takes me a minute to call up what the HR records even are. The crowds have left, the buzz is gone, the record book forever destroyed, their are no superstars in the sport, baseball saved for 20 years but maybe not 40. What’s the fix now, Mike Trout hits 80 HRs?
The game could use another jolt. But you knew what was up, and everyone played along.
None of the guys I mentioned made the Hall of Fame despite “saving baseball.”
Hypocrisy much?
