It’s September 8, 1998. A 12 year old boy is sitting on the floor in front of the television with his father watching a baseball game. It’s a school night, but the father doesn’t mind that his son doesn’t have all of his homework done. History is going to happen tonight. They could feel it. This was the moment they had been waiting for all summer long. Watching game after game, this was the night that records were to be broken. Then at 8:18pm it happens. A swing and a line drive into left field; the ball is hit low, but it is just hanging up in the air. Just hanging and traveling so fast that it could make it. It had to make it. It will make it. It DID make it.As flashbulbs go off throughout the stadium packed with 43, 688 and fireworks go off nonstop, our hero rounds the bases, nearly forgetting to touch first base on his celebratory trot around the diamond. He’s smiling, pumping his fist and receiving congratulations from the opposing team as he head towards home. As he stomps on home plate, he picks up the batboy, his son, and shakes him in excitement as the rest of his team comes out to greet him.
Back at that 12 year old’s house, it is a similar, though not as boisterous scene. Both father and son are no longer sitting, but rather standing, jumping up and down and hugging each other. Signs of tears are in the father’s eyes, but he doesn’t let them even come close to dripping down his cheeks. The boy is all smiles. His hero has done it. A record that many thought to be untouchable had finally been broken.
By now I’m sure you know what event I’m talking about. On September 8, 1998 at approximately 8:18 pm, Mark McGwire rewrote the history books with one swing as he sent his 62nd home run of the season into left field, just barely clearing the wall. The celebration that ensued was a spectacle unlike anyone had ever seen, one which may never be seen again in the history of baseball.
I was that 12 year old boy. And I remember that night like it was yesterday. My mom was out of the house and my dad and I were in the family room watching the game on the floor together, both of us locked in to the television set, just waiting for the moment to happen. I had my back resting on the couch and my dad was lying on his side, resting on the old brown and white floor pillow that we have. When McGwire sent that ball over the wall, my dad jumped from his position and in mid-air let out a loud, “YEAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!” I was right behind him jumping for joy. We had both watched McGwire chase history game after game that summer and this was the culmination of that season. We hugged briefly and stood side by side watching the celebration unfold on TV. As we watched McGwire round the bases and leap into the stands, I looked up at my dad. The smile he had on his face at that moment never left his face the rest of the night.
“Why are you smiling so much,” I asked.
“Because,” my dad responded. “That’s Mark McGwire. And I will never see anything like this again.”
Lying in bed that night was fruitless. As I tossed and turned, the image of McGwire’s blast landing 341 feet away (his shortest home run of the season) kept playing in my mind. In my ear’s I continuously heard Joe Buck’s call:
“Down the left field line! Is it enough? GONE!! THERE IT IS!! 62!! TOUCH FIRST MARK! YOU ARE THE NEW SINGLE SEASON HOME RUN KING!.”
It was a call and a moment that neither I, nor my dad, will ever forget.
Fast forward now to January 11, 2010. McGwire is crying again, but they are no longer tears of joy. He’s pouring his heart out to Bob Costas, barely able to form sentences and taking long breathes between questions. He’s admitted to steroid use and admitted that he used them during that magical 1998 season. The image is quite the contrast to the one painted nearly twelve years earlier.
McGwire’s revelation came as a shock to few. His records and his career had already been tainted because of his horrid testimony before Congress back in 2005. Yesterday was simply a continuation, if not a conclusion to that testimony nearly five years ago.
Of course some fans were outraged by all of this and some were supportive. Some felt as though they had been cheated and lied to, while others simply accepted it.
I would be in the supportive group. I’m disappointed by this news, but I also understand why McGwire did what he did and others should be more understanding too.
Like it or not, come the first day of Spring Training, McGwire is this teams hitting coach and he will need the support of not just his players, but all of Cardinal Nation as well. To those wishing McGwire would just stay out of sight, here are a few facts that I would like to point out.
1. MCGWIRE DID NOTHING ILLEGAL
It’s common knowledge by now that steroids were not illegal in baseball during McGwire’s playing days. What he did can be considered morally wrong, but it did not go against the rulebook at the time. McGwire simply took part in a trend that several ballplayers were giving into. We are just now learning the extent as to how deep the steroid ring in baseball really was. McGwire was going with the way the game was played. In order to stay competitive, you have to stay up to par with the competition. Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Gibson was asked if he would take steroids if they were legal in an interview conducted several months ago. Gibson, known for his competitive and hard nosed attitude responded very bluntly, “Absolutely. Anything to give me an edge.” Not that Gibson saying he would take steroids clears McGwire of any wrong doing, but it does give insight into how competitive Major League Baseball is and how far players are willing to go to stay competitive.
2. MARK MCGWIRE LED THE CARDINALS TO A WORLD SERIES
This one sounds odd because the Cardinals won the World Series five years after McGwire retired, but that championship would not have been possible without him. The Cardinals traded for McGwire at the trade deadline in 1997. On the day of the trade, the Cardinals were 51-56 and 7.5 games out of first place and going no where fast. The team was aging (the average age of that team was over the age of 30) and nobody was standing out as a franchise player. While McGwire didn’t address the problem of age, he did answer the call to be the star that the team was lacking. In his first full year, the Cardinals won 83 games (a 10 game improvement) and drew over three million fans for the first time since 1989. The next year, the Cardinals record didn’t improve (in fact it got worse) but more than three million fans entered Busch Stadium again.
With fans entering Busch at record rates to witness McGwire swing for history night after night, the Cardinals had found their star, but he needed a supporting cast for the team to be a true contender. The 1999-2000 offseason became key as General Manager Walt Jocketty made several key moves to give Big Mac the supporting cast he needed. In early November the Cardinals traded for veteran pitcher and 1996 Cy Young award winter Pat Hentgen to help bolster the starting rotation. The ballclub would also acquire catching specialist and all around hard guy Mike Matheny to be their backstop.
Five days later the team made a large trade with the Colorado Rockies that brought in Dave Veres and Darryl Kile. Veres would save 29 games for the Cardinals in 2000 and Kile would quickly become the ace of the pitching staff winning 20 games for the club.
The biggest acquisition came just days before the start of Spring Training when Jocketty traded Kent Bottenfield to the Anaheim Angles for centerfielder Jim Edmonds. Edmonds’ impact was immediate as he hit a career high 42 home runs and recorded 108 RBIs in his first season in a Redbird uniform as well as winning a Gold Glove.
2000 saw the supporting cast that McGwire had been waiting for and had needed. Though he went down with injury, Big Mac still managed to hit 32 home runs, but his biggest impact came in his relationship with Edmonds. Both were from California and both formed an immediate friendship. McGwire wooed Edmonds into signing a long term deal with the Cardinals, telling him how great of a place St. Louis is to play baseball for. Edmonds listened to McGwire’s wisdom and signed a long term deal.
No Mark McGwire = No Jim Edmonds.
2001 saw the rise of Albert Pujols. Pujols quickly became a fan favorite and under the tutelage of McGwire and Edmonds, became a team leader and the future face of the franchise.
McGwire retired after that 2001 season, but his effect was still being felt throughout Busch Stadium. The Cardinals were once again in contention in 2002 and this year brought another franchise player to St. Louis: Scott Rolen. Rolen was a local talent and after listening to both Edmonds and Pujols (as well as several others by this point) about how great of a baseball city St. Louis was, Rolen almost immediately signed a long term deal with the team.
No Mark McGwire = No Jim Edmonds = No Scott Rolen
In 2003, the Cardinals struggled almost the entire season. But the victory came in the offseason, when the team signed Albert Pujols to a long term deal worth $100 million over seven years with a team option for an 8th year. Back then it was the most lucrative deal in club history. How could the Cardinals afford to pay one player so much money? From 1998 to 2002, the Cardinals drew over three million fans, the longest such streak in team history. With so many fans coming through the turnstiles at a record rate, there was bound to be some extra cash to dedicate to the team payroll. It’s no coincidence that the team started drawing three million fans annually when McGwire first came to town.
No Mark McGwire = No Jim Edmonds = No Scott Rolen = No long term deal for Pujols
Together, the trio of Edmonds, Rolen and Pujols (affectionately called the MV3) created the greatest heart of any batting order during the 2000s. They lead the team to 105 wins and a National League Pennant in 2004, 100 wins in 2005 and of course, the 2006 World Series Championship.
No Mark McGwire = No Jim Edmonds = No Scott Rolen = No long term deal for Pujols = No World Championship for St. Louis.
It took a while, but McGwire’s influence on the ballclub was turning the Cardinals from a team on the brink of disaster into a National League powerhouse in the span of an eight years.
3. MCGWIRE (AND SAMMY SOSA) SAVED AND UNITED BASEBALL
In 1998, several fans were still hurt and left with a sour taste in their mouths after the 1994-1995 baseball strike. Fans were jaded and were letting their teams know it by no longer showing up to the ballpark on gameday. Somebody needed to let the fans know they could come back and give them something exciting to watch, something to look forward to. Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa did just that with their historical home run race.
Every night, fans couldn’t help but turn on Sportscenter and watch the highlights to see if McGwire or Sosa or both homered that night. It was a spectacle and it was a traveling one at that. Everywhere McGwire went, the fans went. Everywhere Sosa went, the fans followed. Not only had the fans come back, but they were all united with a common goal: To see history in the making.
McGwire would get a standing ovation on the road whenever he would go deep (including at Wrigley Field) and the same went for Sosa (including at Busch Stadium). Fans were packing some ballparks in record numbers as the historic home run chase renewed interest in the game for older fans and helped introduce the game to younger fans as well. The 1998 season saved baseball. And the game has been growing ever since.
4. WHAT HAPPENED IN 1998 HAPPENED, NOTHING CAN CHANGE THAT
Some baseball writer’s will tell you that the statistics created during the Steroid Era were lies. But pictures and videotape will tell you otherwise. McGwire still hit the longest home run in Busch Stadium II history. He still hit 70 home runs in 1998 and 65 in 1999. While those numbers may be skewed because of steroids or human growth hormone, they still happened.
But more importantly is the memories and the moments that those events created. The fans jumping up and down and screaming at the top of their lungs happened. The flashbulbs lighting up the stadium in every corner happened. The curtain calls on all the road trips happened. The hugs, the tears, the joy all happened.
But most of all, that moment at 8:18pm on September 8, 1998 in the family room of my home with my dad happened. Those yells happened. Those tears happened. My dad’s smile happened and the vision of that baseball disappearing over the wall happened. No sportswriter can tell me that that moment wasn’t real.
McGwire did more than hit home runs. He gave all of St. Louis and the country memories that will last a lifetime. He gave us smiles, joy, bewilderment and a handful of those “Oh my God” moments whenever we saw a ball land where we didn’t think it was possible. Did steroids play a role in that? Yes. But hitting a baseball is still the hardest thing to do in sports and it still requires a load of talent to be good at it.
McGwire admitted the darkest secret he’s ever kept to an entire nation. He did what was right and sometimes that is the hardest thing to do. In my mind, that makes him more of a hero and more of a man than a 535 foot home run ever could.
When baseball returns to St. Louis on April 12 this year, I plan on being in attendance. And when McGwire is introduced as the Cardinals hitting coach in the traditional motorcade that lines the warning track around the field, I will stand and I will cheer him on the same way I did when I was twelve and I hope everyone does the same. Because there’s a new generation of Cardinal fans out there and they need to be taught how to cheer and need to know how to forgive a person who’s done wrong. That’s what makes St. Louis so great.
We need to do it for that young fan who doesn’t know who Mark McGwire is and what he accomplished (steroids or not). When I see him, I’m going to jump out of my seat, scream and clap as loud as I can. And some tears may even enter my eyes, but I will be smiling the entire time.
My little brother will be with me. He was one year old in 1998.
“Why are you smiling so much,” he’ll ask.
“Because,” I’ll respond. “That’s Mark McGwire. And I will never see anyone like him again.”
McGwire's 62nd HR from David Levine on Vimeo.
