McGwire is going,
going...gone.
Mark
McGwire, the greatest home run hitter in the history of baseball,
announced his retirement Sunday night. McGwire hinted at retirement a
few times during his injury-plagued season in which he batted just .187
but nonetheless hit 29 HR and drove in 64 RBI in just 299 AB. McGwire
had agreed to a two year, $30 million contract extension with the St.
Louis Cardinals at the beginning of the year, but never signed the
contract. He finishes with 583 career home runs, placing him 5th on the
all-time list, just 3 short of Frank Robinson for fourth. He has been
hampered by knee injuries the past two seasons, and never fully
recovered from off-season knee surgery last season.
McGwire issued a statement saying "Last January, Mr. (William) DeWitt
(the team owner) and I verbally
agreed on a generous two-year contract extension from the Cardinal
organization. "After
considerable discussion with those closest to me, I have decided not to
sign the extension, as I am unable to perform at a level equal to the
salary the organization
would be paying me. I believe I owe it to the Cardinals and the fans of
St. Louis to step aside, so a talented free agent can be brought in as
the final piece of what I
expect can be a World Championship-caliber team. "So I am walking away
from the game that has provided me opportunities, experiences, memories
and
friendships to fill ten lifetimes. "For years I have said my motivation
for playing wasn't for fame and fortune, but rather the love of
competing. Baseball is a team sport
and I have been lucky enough to contribute to the success of some great
teams. "I want to thank the St. Louis Cardinal organization, Mr. DeWitt,
Mr. (Walt) Jocketty,
Tony La Russa and the thousands of Cardinal faithful for making St.
Louis home for the past four years. I want to thank the Oakland A's and
all of the fans in
California for giving me my start, and the millions of baseball fans
around the world who have inspired me to compete night in and night
out."
In 1998, Mark McGwire reached legendary status when he broke Roger
Maris's 37-year old single season HR record of 61. McGwire hit
#62 on September 8, 1998 in the 144th game of the season and went on to
finish with an astonishing 70 HR! That mark has since been passed by
Barry Bonds, who hit 73 in 2001, but what Bonds did was nothing compared
to what McGwire did. There was so much attention on McGwire's chase of
the mythical record that he made the front page of every newspaper, not
the sports section, every night. ABC News did a primetime special on
him. The prime minister of Japan wrote him a fan letter. He had to
make curtain calls after every HR he hit, even on the road. Opposing
fans
booed when their own pitcher would throw just one ball to him, and home
fans booed if McGwire hit an RBI single. The pressure was just
enormous, but McGwire came through every single time. He hit #60 with
the ball marked #3, Babe Ruth's number. He hit #61 on his dad's 61st
birthday and #62 the next day on the last home game before a road trip.
He hit #70, a game-winning HR, in his last at bat of the year.
He hit 58 the year before and 65 the year after. McGwire put
together the most amazing 5 seasons of HRs ever! He hit 245 HR from
1996-1999, averaging over 61 per season! He had 284 over 5 seasons
despite missing 1/3 of the 1995 season and a month in 1996. McGwire has
the most HRs over a 2, 3, 4, and 5 year stretch. In the top 10 seasons
in AB/HR ratio ever, after Bonds's 2001 season, McGwire's 1998, 1999,
1995, and 1996 seasons are 2nd-5th, and his 1997 season is 9th. Babe
Ruth holds spots 6, 7, 8, and 10. McGwire's lasting legacy may be his
HR frequency. For his career, McGwire hit a HR every 10.6 at bats, way
better than Babe Ruth's 11.8, and Ruth is twice as far ahead of 3rd
place, Barry Bonds at 14.0 and then Harmon Killebrew at 14.1. McGwire
averaged 50.4 HR per 162 games for his career! The only other member of
the 500 HR club to average better than 40 is of course the Babe with
46.2.
If not for injuries, McGwire could have destroyed Hank Aaron's record of
755 home runs. He spent 335 career games on the DL, and missed around
400 due to injury. That would give him over 700 career HRs if he had
stayed healthy, and possibly even more considering some of the seasons
he was injured were in the middle of his prime. McGwire got 77% of the
way to Hank Aaron's record despite having almost exactly HALF of Aaron's
career at bats! McGwire hit his 583 HRs in only 6187 AB, while Aaron
took 12364. By comparison, Sosa has 6470 AB, Griffey 6716, and Bonds
7932 already. McGwire hit 30+ HRs in a season 11 times, and is the only
player ever to do so in his first four seasons in the majors, including
his rookie season, when he shattered the rookie record by smashing 49.
He hit
40+ 6 times, only Ruth, Aaron, and Killebrew did it more times, and he
hit
50+ 4 times, tied for the most. McGwire led the majors in HRs 5 times.
McGwire is one of three players to hit over 200 in each league. In
fact, he hit his 220 HRs with the Cardinals in only 545 games, on pace
for 65 HR / season, despite the fact that he was limited to a pinch
hitter in many games in 2000 and 2001! And his home runs were not only
frequent, but monsterous! He hit a 538 foot blast off Randy Johnson in
Seattle in 1997. And a 545 footer that left a dent in the St. Louis
Post Dispatch sign in Busch's center field upperdeck that was covered
with a 4 1/2 foot band-aid. He hit 10 500+ foot shots in the 1998 and
1999 season combined, and that's not to mention his legendary
performance at the 1999 All-Star HR Derby in Fenway Park. He hit 13 HRs
in the first round, 12 left the stadium completely and the 13th was to
the deepest part of the park. Some of them hit buildings across the
street!
McGwire hit a game winning HR in the 1988 World Series against the
Dodgers. He was on a World Series champion team with the A's in 1989
(ironically the only A's starter not to homer in the series), went to 3
World Series, and made the postseason 6 times. He has combined, with
longtime A's teammate and Bash Brother, Jose Canseco, for 1045 HRs, 4th
most all-time by any two players that were teammates for at least a few
years (Aaron & Matthews, Ruth & Gehrig, Mays & McCovey).
He was not just a great
batter though, as he won a golden glove as well! Unfortunately, he
never won an MVP award, being robbed in 1998. He did win Rookie of the
Year in 1987 of course though. McGwire will finish 6th all-time in
Slugging Pct, right up there with names like Ruth, Williams, Gehrig,
Foxx, and Greenberg.
The Hall of Fame class 5 years from now will be the best since the
initial class (Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Walter Johnson, and
Christy Matthewson) with McGwire, Cal Ripken, and Tony Gwynn. He is
maybe the third best first basemen ever to play the game behind Gehrig
and Foxx. And maybe the best power hitter ever to play the game,
although I suspect Ruth would hit 90 a season if he played now, but at
least 2nd best. He's not quite the best player of our generation,
that's
Barry Bonds. But over those few seasons, he achieved a mythical status
that few athletes ever do. He trancended the game, and he will always
be remembered as our generation's Babe Ruth.
ESPN.com
coverage
Jayson Stark: Nothing like '98
Mark McGwire Player Card
McGwire's 1998
season
72...No asterisk needed
Barry Bonds has done it. In his first at bat Friday night, Bonds
crushed
his historic, record-breaking 71st HR of the season to right-center
field, passing the 70 HR mark established by
Mark
McGwire in 1998. Not wasting any time, Bonds came up again in the
3rd
and smashed #72, erasing any talk of an asterisk next to the record
because of
McGwire's HR on Sept. 20, 1998 that was mistakenly ruled a ground rule
double. Bonds now stands alone as the single season HR king...for now.
It took 34 years for Ruth's record of 60 to be broken, by one, in the
first 162 game season. It took 37 years for Maris's record of 61 to be
broken by McGwire, but only 3 seasons later, Bonds set a new record.
How long will this one last? Will a healthy Mark McGwire return next
season and hit 75? He hit 65 in '99 and was on pace to break his record
when he got injured in 2000. Where will this era of offensive explosion
stop? 60 HRs has been reached 6 times in the past 4 years compared to 2
times in the previous 130 years. 50 HRs have been hit 16 times since
1995 compared to only 17 all the way until 1994.
Offensive inflation or not, Bonds has had a truly Ruthian season. He is
now slugging .860, easily the best ever, topping Ruth's seemingly
unreachable marks of .847 and .846. McGwire's .752 SLG in 1998 was the
highest since 1927 and now Bonds is over 100 points above that! His
1.374 production (OPB + SLG) is 2nd to Ruth's 1920 season by a single
point, and his efficiency of .958 is third to Ruth's 1921 and '20
seasons.
But the Giants lost the game 11-10 despite Bonds's efforts, elminiating
them from playoff contention. Meanwhile, Mark McGwire and the Cardinals
are tied atop the NL Central with Houston. Ironically, ESPN cut away
from McGwire's impending at bat to show Bonds's first at bat, when he
hit #71. It was Bonds's 56th career multihomer game, placing him 5th on
that list. Ruth holds the record with 72 and McGwire has 67. Bonds has
two games left this season to establish the final number for the new
record, but as amazing a player as Bonds is, its just not the same as
the great HR chase of '98, breaking a record that stood for 37
years...at
least not yet. Only time will tell whether the new record will stand
for a generation like Ruth's and Maris's or will be broken even next
year. What is certain is that Barry Bonds, soon to be 4-time MVP,
future
hall-of-famer, and the greatest player since Ted Williams, has had the
greatest season in the history of baseball by anyone not named Babe
Ruth.
ESPN.com
coverage
Jayson
Stark: No Longer the Great American Record
ESPN.com: Chasing History
Barry Bonds Player Card
Mark McGwire Player Card
McGwire's 1998
season
70! Bonds ties
McGwire
Barry Bonds finally got a pitch to hit in the 9th inning on Thursday
night and he made the most of it. In San Francisco's 159th game of the
season, Barry Bonds smashed his way into history with his 70th home run
of the season, tying
Mark
McGwire's single season record, set in 1998. Just three years after
it was broken for only the second time in 71 years, the most prestigious
record in all of sports has been tied...with three games to go. Bonds
has been nothing short of Ruthian this season, smashing those 70 HRs on
a record pace in only 468 at bats, the best AB/HR ratio in history.
Previously, McGwire and the Babe had held the top 9 single season AB/HR
ratios in history. Bonds's last three games are against the Giants'
arch-rival, the Los Angeles Dodgers, who would hate nothing more than to
give up the HR record to a Giant. Bonds has only 3 HRs in 57 AB vs the
Dodgers this season and statistically has a 50% chance of breaking
McGwire's record.
"I just feel grateful to share something with someone
that I have a lot of respect for," Bonds said after San
Francisco's 10-2 victory. "I just feel proud to be on
the same level with Mark. It's an honor to share this
record with him. He put the home run record where it
is."
But that's not the only thing on Bonds's mind. With 4 games left in the
season, the Giants are still 2 games behind the Diamondbacks for the NL
West pennant, and 3 games behind Houston (whom St. Louis just passed for
sole possession of the NL Central lead) for the NL Wild Card.
Regardless of whether he homers again or not, the most important thing
to Bonds this season is winning a World Series, something he has never
accomplished in his illustrious career. Bonds is on his way to winning
his fourth MVP award, although it should be his sixth, and in addition
to tying McGwire, Bonds has blown away Babe Ruth's 78 year old record of
170 walks in a season, with 175 currently, and counting. Bonds is also
within reach of one of baseball's seemingly untouchable records: Babe
Ruth's .847 slugging pct in 1920, #21 on my list of the 100 greatest
individual achievements of the 20th century. Ruth slugged .847 in 1920
and .846 in 1921, the greatest season in the history of sports, and no
one else has ever slugged .800...until now. Bonds currently stands at
.848, poised to break a record while much less hyped, even more
astonishing than 70 HRs!
70 HRs...what a magical number McGwire set...but McGwire hit 71. That
leads to the possible controversy regarding the HR record. On Sept 20,
1998, after he crushed #65, McGwire hit what should have been #66 in the
same game, but it was mistakenly ruled a ground rule double by the
umpire. The Cardinals filed an appeal with MLB to no avail, and at the
end of the season, it seemed meaningless...until now. Bonds had a very
similar situation this year, but the umpire correctly reversed the
decicion and gave Bonds the HR after hearing his argument.
Bonds also continued to build on the single season walks record he set
on Wednesday. Bonds walked three times to bring his total to 175. Babe
Ruth previously held the record with 170 walks in 1923. Bonds's
production of 1.361 is the second highest ever to Ruth's 1.375 in 1920.
His efficiency of .948 is third only to Ruth's 1921 and 1920 seasons.
Rickey Henderson meanwhile, in dramatic fashion passed Ty Cobb for the
most career runs...with a home run. Rickey kept his promise and slid
into home plate even though he scored the run on a homer. Henderson is
now just two hits shy of 3000 for his career and is now the career
leader in stolen bases, runs, and walks. On the day Henderson set the
career stolen base record, Nolan Ryan pitched his 7th no-hitter...now on
the day he passes Ty Cobb for the runs record, Barry Bonds hits
#70...it seems unfair that Rickey is not getting the attention or credit
he deserves as one of the greatest ever to play the game. He led the
league in runs 5 times...just as many as Cobb, and had 13 100+ run
seasons in his career...only Hank Aaron had more.
Since Henderson couldn't rip out home plate and hold it over his head,
which he did with third base when he became all-time steals leader in
1991, Gwynn presented him with a
gilded major league home plate with a plaque marking the
milestone. So Henderson held that over his head instead.
Henderson then answered a curtain call, bowing to the fans and blowing
kisses.
"Going out and scoring so many runs, it's just not an
individual record," said Henderson,
who added that he also wants the real home plate. "It's
a record that you've got to have
your teammates help you out. Over 23 years, I have had
some great teammates who have battled for me, have knocked me in and
I've come
across the plate to achieve this record."
Henderson said the only thing better would be to set the
runs record with his 3,000th hit.
Homering for the record was still a dream, he said.
"When I knew it was out, so much joy came to me that it
was finally over with and I had broken the record."
ESPN.com: Chasing History
Barry Bonds Player Card
Mark McGwire Player Card
McGwire's 1998
season
Rickey
Henderson Player Card
Bonds Fastest to 40; Mac ties Reggie
July 12, 2001
Barry Bonds got back on track, hitting his 40th HR of the season in his
first AB since the all-star break. Bonds is the fastest player to reach
40 HR, hitting it in the Giants' 89th game of the season.
Mark
McGwire hit #39 and #40 in his team's 90th game when he set the
record
of 70 HR in a season in 1998. Bonds's HR was the 534th of his career,
tying him with Hall of Famer Jimmie Foxx for 10th on the all-time list.
Legendary Yankee Mickey Mantle is in 9th place with 536 homers. Not to
be outdone, though, McGwire blasted his 9th HR of the season and 563rd
of his career, tying him with Reggie Jackson for 6th on the all-time
list. McGwire needs 10 more to tie Harmon Killebrew and move into the
top five. It was McGwire's 200th career HR as a Cardinal, making him
only the third player ever to hit 200 homers in each league (Frank
Robinson, Fred McGriff). McGwire has incredibly hit those 200 HRs in only
489 games, averaging only 7.835 AB/HR! No one other than McGwire has
ever had a ratio that good for even a single season.
ESPN.com: Chasing History
Barry Bonds Player Card
Mark McGwire Player Card
McGwire's 1998
season
Old Reports
McGwire first player to hit 50 HR 3 straight seasons!
NEW YORK (AP) -- By his own admission, Mark McGwire can
now catch Roger Maris. And he might do it faster than even he
thought possible.
McGwire became the first player in history to hit 50 home runs in
three consecutive seasons Thursday night with a towering shot in
the seventh inning of the St. Louis Cardinals' 2-0 win over the
New York Mets in the first game of doubleheader.
McGwire wasted no time hitting
No. 51, connecting in the first
inning of the second game to
move within 10 of tying Maris'
record of 61 homers in a season.
Since spring training, McGwire
has been hounded by questions
as to whether he or anyone else
could break baseball's most
hallowed record.
"That's what I truly believe," he
said Thursday afternoon before
the game. "Ever since I was a
young kid hitting home runs. I
mean if someone gets to 50 by
September 1, they have a shot
down the stretch run."
Well, Mark, you're there.
After Brian Jordan led off the seventh with a homer off Willie
Blair (4-16), McGwire sent a 2-1 pitch over the wall in left-center.
McGwire pumped his right fist above his head as he rounded
first base as the large Shea Stadium crowd gave him a standing
ovation.
Only Ruth (1920-21 and 1927-28) and McGwire had hit 50 or
more homers in back-to-back seasons before McGwire's
369-foot shot in the first game. McGwire hit 52 homers in 1996
for Oakland and 58 for the Athletics and Cardinals last year.
"It's nice to be a part of major-league
history, and to have done so in such
a historic baseball city as New
York," McGwire said in a statement.
"Ironically, I broke Babe Ruth's
record just across town from the
stadium he played in."
When he came off the field after
Game 1, McGwire was greeted by
high-fives and congratulations from
some of his teammates outside the
Cardinals clubhouse.
"Beautiful," said Donovan Osborne
(3-2). "Nobody deserves it more than
he does. Everybody is excited, we're
all rooting for him."
In the first inning of the second game
against Rick Reed, McGwire lined a
3-2 pitch into the left-field seats for
No. 51. It was his fourth homer in
three games. He hit Nos. 48 and 49
on Wednesday in Chicago.
With McGwire in town and their club in the NL wild-card chase,
Mets fans came out early to see two games for the price of one
and maybe even a little history.
They cheered McGwire during batting practice and most of them
kept it up when he came to the plate in the game. Only a couple
of wise guys behind home plate chanted "So-sa, So-sa,"
referring to the Cubs' Sammy Sosa, who has 48 homers.
"It's never been done before and this game has been around a
long time," Blair said. "I'd like to see him do it, but I don't want
to see him any more against us. If anybody does it, I hope he
does it."
Osborne shut out the Mets on four hits in eight innings. The
left-hander allowed just a pair of walks through five innings
before Phillips flared a 1-0 pitch to left for a single with one out
in the sixth. One out later, Matt Franco grounded a single to
right, but Osborne worked out of the jam by striking out Mike
Piazza.
Former Met Juan Acevedo pitched the ninth for his third save.
Blair didn't look like a pitcher who now leads the major leagues
in losses. The right-hander gave up three hits and two runs in
seven innings.
McGwire, who earlier this season hit his 400th homer in New
York off Reed, is the sixth NL player to hit 50 in a season and
first since George Foster hit 52 in 1977 for Cincinnati.
The milestone ball was caught by fan Mike Scelsi, 31, of
Yonkers, N.Y.
"I was in the right place at the right time. I'm a happy guy," said
Scelsi, who was offered $10,000 for the ball by another fan who
was handing out flyers before the game.
"I want to talk to Mr. McGwire to see what he wants to do," he
said.
McGwire hits 50 HR for 2nd straight season
Placing his name next to Babe Ruth's in the record books left
Mark McGwire in awe -- of himself.
McGwire joined Ruth as the only players in major-league
history with consecutive
50-homer seasons by hitting a a 446-foot shot Wednesday
during his St. Louis
Cardinals' 7-6, 10-inning loss to the San Francisco Giants.
"Any time you can have your name
associated with Babe Ruth, it's a pretty
awesome thing to think about,"
McGwire said. "I'm blown away. I
think I'm sort of in awe of myself. I've
surpassed anything I ever expected to
do in the game of baseball."
McGwire led off the third inning with
a drive down the left-field line off
Shawn Estes. It was McGwire's 16th
homer in 34 games since joining the
Cardinals in a July 31 trade from the
Oakland Athletics.
McGwire had spent his entire career in
Oakland before the trade to St. Louis,
where he rejoined longtime Athletics
manager and current Cardinals
manager Tony La Russa.
The San Francisco crowd gave
McGwire, who got the ball back from
a fan in exchange for two autographed
bats, a standing ovation after the
homer.
"It was nice to do it here. I was born
and raised a major-league baseball
player across the Bay in Oakland,"
McGwire said. "To hit the 50th here
with him (La Russa) meant something
special to me."
McGwire, who hit a major league-leading 52 homers for
Oakland last season,
became the first player with back-to-back 50-homer seasons
since Ruth did it in
1927 and 1928. Ruth also accomplished the feat in 1920 and
1921.
McGwire became the sixth player to reach 50 homers twice,
joining Ruth -- who did
it four times -- and Jimmie Foxx, Mickey Mantle, Willie
Mays and Ralph Kiner.
The 50-homer level has been reached 23
times. McGwire is the first to do it while
playing for two teams in a season.
McGwire and Ken Griffey Jr. who began
the day with 50 homers for the Seattle
Mariners, became only the fifth pair of
players to hit 50 homers in the same
season. This is the first time it's been done
in consecutive years.
McGwire and Brady Anderson (50) did it
last year. The other pairs were Roger
Maris and Mickey Mantle (1961), Kiner
and Mize (1947) and Hank Greenberg and
Foxx (1938).
McGwire, playing in the Bay area for the
first time since the trade, also homered in the Cardinals'
5-3 win over the Giants on
Tuesday night. He has homered six times in his last six
games.
"I played with the great Hank Aaron and played against guys
like Willie Mays and
Willie McCovey, and they never accomplished it," Giants
manager Dusty Baker said
Baker of the 50-50 feat.
Baker also said he's rooting for McGwire to surpass the
record of 61 homers in a
season set by Roger Maris in 1961, especially since the
Cardinals are host to the Los
Angeles Dodgers -- whom the Giants are chasing in the NL
West -- in a pair of
games next week.
But McGwire was not ready to start thinking seriously about
Maris' record.
"Let's just savor the moment now, and if it happens it
happens," he said.
McGwire traded to Cardinals
The deal will reunite McGwire, 33, with St. Louis manager Tony La Russa,
who was with the A's from 1986 to 1995. In return for McGwire, the A's
got right-handed pitchers T.J.
Mathews, Eric Ludwick
and Blake Stein. Mathews was the only
one of the three in the major leagues at the time of the trade.
McGwire, who led the majors last season with 52 homers and is
among the leaders with 34 this year, has homered with more
frequency -- once every 12.25 at-bats -- than any player in history
other than Babe Ruth.
"I don't know how much longer I'm going to play major league
baseball," McGwire said. "If I have a chance to help somebody go
to the playoffs and World Series, I want to do that now. Oakland is
rebuilding and I don't know how much longer it's going to take
them."
The A's feared they wouldn't be able to re-sign McGwire,
whose
five-year, $28 million contract expires at the end of the season.
St. Louis isn't worried yet about re-signing the first baseman, and
is more concerned about making up seven games on the first-place
Houston Astros in the NL Central.
The Cardinals, who won the division last season, are struggling
to score runs. John Mabry and Dmitri Young, the Cardinals' primary
first basemen, have combined for just eight home runs.
McGwire, who has hit 363 home runs to rank 42nd on baseball's
career list, is eligible for free agency at the end of the season.
He said he is open to all possibilities, and that playing in the NL
for the first time may help him decide where to sign as a free
agent after this season.
The Anaheim Angels are rumored to be interested in signing
McGwire as a free agent.
"He decided to be reunited, at least for the time being, with
Tony La Russa and some other former members of the A's," Oakland
general manager Sandy Alderson said. "Our long-range goal is to
build a contending team. We hope the players we have acquired for
Mark will help us achieve that goal."
The deal was announced 3½ hours before baseball's midnight EST
trading deadline.
McGwire, batting .284 with 81 RBIs this season, began his major
league career with the A's in 1986. He was the AL rookie of the
year in 1987, when he hit 49 homers, and has only played for
Oakland.
McGwire was a 10-and-5 player -- 10 years in the majors, the last
five with the same team -- and had the right to accept or reject any
trade.
"It's not an easy decision to make, but I think you come to a
crossroads in your life where change is good for you," McGwire
said. "I came to that crossroads."
McGwire was the only player with the A's constantly since
Oakland won three straight AL pennants in 1988-90. Jose Canseco,
who also was on those teams, returned to Oakland this season after
4½ years with Texas and Boston.
"Right now is probably the saddest day of my career," said
Jason Giambi, who idolized McGwire and will replace him at first
for the A's. "He taught me how to play the game. Maybe I can do
that for some kid someday."
Giambi, who considered McGwire his best friend, said the last
few days -- as trade talk swirled around the team -- were tough on
McGwire.
"It was killing him. It was a big struggle for him," Giambi
said. "He wanted to be with the A's for his whole career."
McGwire acknowledged it was difficult dealing with all the
recent trade talk.
"I don't ever want to be in this position again," he said.
"I'm the kind of person I like to be grounded. Now I know what's
going to happen, now I can go play baseball. It's been going on
probably for three or four days. It was just a matter of agreeing
on players."
Mathews, 27, is 4-4 with a 2.15 ERA. Ludwick, 25, is 0-1 with a
9.45 ERA in limited time with St. Louis.
Stein, 24 next week, was 16-5 last season with Class A St.
Petersburg. He led the Cardinals' minor league organization in
victories.
A spokesperson from the Athletics said the deal is contingent upon both
players passing their
physicals. The two teams had been discussing a trade for weeks, but
Oakland originally balked
at giving the Red Sox Wasdin.
According to Saturday's Boston Globe, The Athletics would also be
responsible for all but
$500,000 of Canseco's $4.5 million salary.
The 32-year-old Canseco has been on the disabled list several times
since being acquired from
Texas after the 1994 season. He had surgery to repair a ruptured disc
in early August and did
not return to the lineup until mid-September. Used primarily as a
designated hitter, Canseco
batted .289 with 28 homers and 82 RBI last season. He demanded to be
traded following the
firing of manager Kevin Kennedy.
The 32-year-old Canseco began his career with Oakland in 1985 and was
the American League
MVP with the Athletics in 1988, when he became the only player in
major-league history to hit
40 homers and steal 40 bases in the same season.
The trade will reunite Canseco with fellow "Bash Brother" McGwire, who
led the majors with
52 homers last season. The duo powered Oakland to the 1989 World Series
title.
Wasdin, a 24-year-old, posted an 8-7 record with a 5.96 ERA in 25 games
this season, inlcuding
21 starts.
Barry Bonds stole second base in the third inning of San Francisco's 9-3
win over Colorado last night to join the most exclusive club in MLB. He
became only the second player in major league history to hit at least 40
HR and steal at least 40 bases in the same season. Jose Canseco became the charter member of the 40-40 club when
he hit 42 HR and stole 40 bases for Oakland in 1988. Bonds stole his
40th base on the first pitch from Armando Reynoso. He reached second
easily as Jeff Reed's throw bounced on the third-base side of the bag.
Bonds hit his 40th home run on Sept 15, but only had 31 stolen bases at
the time. He has stolen 9 bases in his last 11 games to reach the 40-40
club.
Jose Canseco stole his 40th base of the season when he stole
second base on September 23, 1988 against the Milwaukee Brewers.
Canseco led the league in HR (42), RBI (124), and SLG pct (.569), and
hit .307 that year, and was unanimously voted AL MVP. Both Canseco and
Bonds had 42 HR when they reached the 40-40 club and both did it by
stealing second base. "The good thing is Jose owes me money, he lost a
bet," Bonds said. "He just said I couldn't do it. We have the same
agent, so it was kind of a battle back and forth."
San Francisco manager Dusty Baker played with Canseco for one year in
1986. "I feel very fortunate to have played with Canseco and managed
Barry," Baker said. "That's quite a feat. Most power hitters don't run
that good, and if they do, they don't have the great instincts that
Barry does." This is the fourth year Bonds has reached the 30-30 mark.
His father, Bobby Bonds has the ML record, reaching 30-30 five times-
and coming one homer shy of the 40-40 club in 1973.
In game 150 of the season, Bonds now stands at 66. Bonds smashed 2
homers in the Giants' 11-2 win over San Diego and credits them to a chat
he had with Tony Gwynn before the game. Bonds is now only 4 HR short of
Barry Bonds now stands alone with 63 HR, the most ever in a season
by a left-handed hitter. He tied and passed Roger Maris's lefty record
of 61 on Sunday. Bonds hit #61 in the first inning against the Rockies'
Scott
Elarton on a 1-1 count. He blasted the ball 488 feet to center field,
where
it hit a beer sign. It was the third longest HR in Coors field history
and
the biggest of Barry Bonds's illustrious career. Four innings later, it
was only the second biggest in his career, as Bonds crushed #62! But he
still wasn't done. In the top of the 11th inning with two on and one
out, Bonds went for the hat trick as he blasted #63! Bonds had not
homered in the previous two games at Coors field, but made up for it and
then some today. Bonds reached 61 in the first inning of his team's
144th
game, 62 in the 5th inning, and 63 in the 11th.
Barry Bonds now stands alone with 62 HR, the most ever in a season
by a left-handed hitter. He tied and passed Roger Maris's lefty record
of 61 on Sunday. Bonds hit #61 in the first inning against the Rockies'
Scott
Elarton on a 1-1 count. He blasted the ball 488 feet to center field,
where
it hit a beer sign. It was the third longest HR in Coors field history
and
the biggest of Barry Bonds's illustrious career. Four innings later, it
was only the second biggest in his career, as Bonds crushed #62! Bonds
reached 61 in the first inning of his team's 144th game and 62 in the
5th inning.
August 1, 2001
The Oakland Athletics have scheduled a news conference for 6:30 pm EST
in which they are
expected to announce they have acquired Canseco from the Boston Red Sox
in exchange for
right-handed pitcher John Wasdin.
After going down 2 games to nothing at home, the New York Yankees came
back and won the last four to clinch their first World Series since
1978. Jimmy Key and four relievers held the Braves to 2 runs on 8 hits
and Joe Girardi drove in a run with a triple and scored in the Yankees
3-run third inning against 4-time Cy Young winner Greg Maddux. The
Yankees 3-2 victory gave them their 23rd World Series, 14 more than any
other team. The Yankees comeback in the series started with an 8-6 win
in 10 innings in game 4 after going down 6-0. They then shut out the
Braves, 1-0, in game 5, their only run coming off an error. The Braves
have now made 4 of the last 5 World Series. The Braves were down 3-1
going into the ninth, but back-to-back singles by Ryan Klesko and Terry
Pendleton gave the Braves runners at the corners with one out. Marquis
Grissom singled with 2 outs to bring in Klesko and put the tying run in
scoring position, but John Wetteland, the series MVP, got Mark Lemke to
pop up to Charlie Hayes (pictured) in foul territory to end the series.