Bottom of the seventh. It's 4:19 pm on September 27. Everyone knows this might be
Mark McGwire's
last at bat of the season. The first pitch from Carl Pavano, a fastball, is delivered --
swing and
Bottom of the seventh. It's 4:19 pm on September 27. Everyone knows this might be
Mark McGwire's
last at bat of the season. The first pitch from Carl Pavano, a fastball, is delivered --
swing and
It couldn't have been scripted any better. Mark McGwire's historic season ended the same way it began: with a home run. He hit 4 home runs in his first four games of the year and ended the season with 4 home runs in his last two games. I would call it a Ruthian feat, but I could just as easily call Babe Ruth's many feats McGwiresque.
"I've never even thought about it, dreamed about it," McGwire said. "It's absolutely amazing! It blows me away!" "This is a season I will never, ever forget, and I hope everybody in baseball never forgets." And no one ever will forget it.
Big Mac's 70th blast of the season broke Roger Maris' record by an astounding 15%! By comparison, Wilt Chamberlain has the NBA record for points per game in a season with 50.4. To break it by 15%, someone would have to average 58 ppg. Even in his most selfish season, Jordan only averaged 37.1 ppg and only broke 35 ppg one other time. Dan Marino passed for over 5,000 yards in 1984. Someone would need to throw for about 5,800 yards to break it by 15%. No one has even come within 1500 yards of doing that. The thought of someone breaking either of those records by 15% is preposterous. So was the thought of anybody hitting 70 home runs -- anybody but Mark McGwire.
McGwire hit those 70 home runs in only 509 at bats, also setting the NL record for most walks in a season (tied for 2nd with Ted Williams overall) with 162. That's a home run every 7.27 at bats, shattering his own record of one every 8.13 at bats set in 1995 and tied in '96. By comparison, Ruth had 540 at bats to hit his 60 and Maris had 580 to hit 61. And Sammy Sosa had a ridiculous 643 at bats to hit 66 HR this year, only one every 9.74 at bats.
Earlier in the game, McGwire connected on his 69th home run off a 1-1 fastball. After crossing home plate, he made several salutes to the crowd, who demanded and got two curtain calls.
McGwire said that #70 felt almost like #62 with the crowd at fever pitch and the Expos shaking his hand as he circled the bases. McGwire now has 457 career home runs, 20th on the all-time list. He would need to average 50 home runs a year for the next six years -- until a few days before his 41st birthday -- to break Hank Aaron's record of 755. Not likely? Yes, but who knows what McGwire's capable of. He has averaged 60 home runs the last three seasons and says he wants to play until he's 40.
Will the record ever be broken? Who knows. But probably the only person playing now that is a serious threat to break it is McGwire himself. Who knows what he could do if he gets more at bats. If he got the number of at bats Sosa did this year, he would have a projected 88 home runs! If McGwire doesn't break it himself, it should stand the test of time. But that's a big if. Big Mac said that he doesn't want to break his own record next year, but maybe the year after that. We'll have to just have to wait and see...
From ESPNET Sportszone
ST. LOUIS (AP) -- An incredible 70 home runs. Even
Mark McGwire
couldn't believe it.
"I've never even thought about it, dreamed about it," he said. "It's absolutely amazing! It blows me away!"
The St. Louis Cardinals' slugger ended his record-smashing season as mightily as he started it. He hit his 69th and 70th homers on the season's last day, a fitting finale for a year he began with a grand slam on Opening Day.
 | |
| Mark McGwire rounds the bases for the 69th time this season. |
"This is a season I will never, ever forget, and I hope everybody in baseball never forgets," McGwire told the cheering crowd after the game.
Big Mac, who hit five homers on the final weekend, connected against Montreal rookie Mike Thurman in the third inning Sunday, then homered off Carl Pavano for No. 70 in the seventh. McGwire moved four ahead of Sammy Sosa and ended nine -- nine! -- in front of Roger Maris' old record.
Sosa went 2-for-5 with no homers as the Cubs lost 4-3 to Houston in 11 innings, but his season is not done. The Cubs will face San Francisco at Wrigley Field on Monday night in a one-game playoff for the wild-card spot -- a game in which Sosa's stats will count.
"I wish him the best of luck, along with the Giants," McGwire said.
McGwire, who has 10 multihomer games this year and 53 in his career, left many in awe.
"It's stranger than fiction, what this man has done," manager Tony La Russa said.
Expos manager Felipe Alou told his young pitchers to challenge McGwire.
"I left it up to God and the kid on the mound," Alou said. "I didn't want to tamper with history.
McGwire hit a 1-1 fastball 377 feet into the left-field seats at 2:10 p.m. CT for No. 69. After stomping on home plate, he took a few slow steps, then made several salutes to the sellout crowd. The fans who had stood well before his at-bat demanded and got two curtain calls.
Kerry Woodson, a 22-year-old body-shop worker from Maryland Heights, Mo., wound up with the ball and said he didn't know what he would do with it.
| The numerical breakdown of Mark McGwire's record-setting season: | ||||
| HR | HR | |||
| vs. RHP | 55 | Home | 38 | |
| vs. LHP | 15 | Away | 32 | |
| Day | 21 | 1st inn. | 11 | |
| Night | 49 | 2nd inn. | 0 | |
| Sunday | 10 | 3rd inn. | 8 | |
| Monday | 5 | 4th inn. | 13 | |
| Tuesday | 16 | 5th inn. | 9 | |
| Wednesday | 8 | 6th inn. | 2 | |
| Thursday | 7 | 7th inn. | 10 | |
| Friday | 11 | 8th inn. | 9 | |
| Saturday | 13 | 9th inn. | 4 | |
| Solo | 33 | Extra inn. | 4 | |
| Two-run | 28 | No outs | 23 | |
| Three-run | 7 | One out | 21 | |
| Grand slam | 2 | Two outs | 26 | |
| Cards trailing | 25 | Score tied | 25 | |
| Cards ahead | 20 | |||
| Longest | 545 feet | |||
| Shortest | 341 feet | |||
| Cards record when he homers | 34-24 | |||
"I reached up, closed my eyes, and it landed in my glove," Woodson said. "It's a dream come true. I hope he doesn't hit any more today."
He didn't get his wish.
With two on and two outs in the seventh and the score 3-all, he connected off Pavano (6-9), lining a first-pitch fastball 370 feet over the left-field wall at 3:19 p.m., sending the Cardinals on to a 6-3 win over the Expos.
"Every time the replay is shown, I'm not going to turn the TV off," Pavano said. "I hope he hits 75 next year so people will forget I gave up No. 70.
"C'mon Mark, I'm rooting for you."
This time, even a curtain call from McGwire didn't quiet the 46,110 fans, who remained on their feet, cheering even as Brian Jordan took a called third strike for the third out of the inning.
McGwire said No. 70 felt almost like No. 62, the homer that broke Maris' record, with the crowd at fever pitch and Expos infielders shaking his hand as he rounded the bases.
"What can I say?" McGwire said. "I'm speechless."
The second home run ball landed in a party box and was snared by Phil Ozersky, 26, of Olivette, Mo., attending the game with a group of Washington University research lab scientists. He said he didn't know what he'd do with the ball, which is worth a lot of money on the collectibles market.
McGwire opened the year with a slam on March 31 against the Dodgers' Ramon Martinez, then led the home run race all season except when Sosa twice passed him briefly -- and then for only 103 minutes in all.
Sosa led for 58 minutes on Aug. 19 before McGwire regained went back ahead with his 48th and 49th homers in the same game at Chicago. Sosa led for 45 minutes on Friday when he hit his 66th before McGwire answered.
Before connecting Friday, McGwire had been homerless in 14 at-bats.
Across town, the homer cost the Rams a 5-yard penalty. A huge cheer spread through the Trans World Dome late in the third quarter as the Rams faced a third down just inside Arizona territory. The sudden uproar seemed to disrupt the play calling, leading to an illegal motion penalty.
McGwire drew his NL record 162nd walk, tying Ted Williams (1947 and 1949) for the second-highest total in major-league history, on a pitch that nearly beaned him in the fifth. Thurman threw the last three balls way inside and was booed vociferously after ball four.
McGwire has 180 homers the last three seasons. In 206 career games with the Cardinals, he has 94 homers, 189 RBI and 205 walks. At Busch Stadium, he has 51 homers and 102 RBI in 106 games.
The distances of his homers is 29,598 feet, nearly 400 feet higher than the peak of Mount Everest. It's also 5.6 miles of homers.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
| Montreal | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 9 | 1 |
| St. Louis | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | x | 6 | 9 | 2 |
| MONTREAL | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | LOB | AVG |
| W Guerrero 2b Te Jones cf De May lf R Perez lf V Guerrero rf Seguignol rf Fullmer 1b Barrett c Andrews 3b O Cabrera ss Thurman p a-Vidro ph Pavano p b-Mcguire ph Telford p Totals |
5 5 3 1 4 0 4 3 3 4 2 1 0 1 0 36 |
1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 |
2 1 0 0 2 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 9 |
0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 |
0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 |
0 0 0 0 2 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 5 |
2 1 2 0 1 0 2 2 2 3 2 0 0 0 0 17 |
.284 .217 .239 .236 .324 .262 .273 .304 .238 .280 .000 .220 .158 .186 .250 |
a-hit into fielder's choice for Thurman in the 6th; b-struck out for Pavano in the 8th.
BATTING
2B: Barrett (2, M Morris).
HR: O Cabrera (3, 4th
inning off M Morris 0 on, 0 out).
Rbi: V Guerrero (109),
Barrett (2), O Cabrera (22).
2-out rbi: Barrett.
Runners left
in scoring position, 2 out: Thurman 1, Andrews 2, Barrett 1.
Gidp: W Guerrero.
Team LOB: 9.
FIELDING
a-flied to center for M Morris in the 4th; b-grounded to second
for J Frascatore in the 7th; c-pinch-hit for C King in the 8th;
d-struck out for W Mcgee in the 8th.
E: Andrews (20, throw).
ST LOUIS
AB
R
H
RBI
BB
SO
LOB
AVG
Mcewing 2b-lf
Drew rf-cf
M Mcgwire 1b
Kelly 2b
B Jordan cf
Little rf
Gant lf
C King p
c-W Mcgee ph
d-R Lankford ph
Acevedo p
F Tatis 3b
Ordaz ss
M Morris p
a-Deshields ph
J Frascatore p
b-Mabry ph-lf-1b
Marrero c
Lampkin c
Totals3
4
3
0
4
0
3
0
0
1
0
4
4
1
1
0
2
3
0
332
1
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
62
2
3
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
90
0
4
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
60
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
10
0
0
0
1
0
1
0
0
1
0
1
0
1
0
0
0
1
0
60
1
0
0
3
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
2
0
1
0
1
0
0
9.200
.417
.299
.216
.316
.083
.240
.000
.253
.293
.176
.287
.203
.069
.290
.167
.249
.244
.231
BATTING
2B: Gant (17, Thurman); Drew (3, Thurman).
HR -: F Tatis (8, 2nd inning off Thurman 0 on, 0 out); M Mcgwire 2 (70,
3rd inning off Thurman 0 on, 2 out, 7th inning off Pavano 2 on,
2 out).
Rbi: B Jordan (91), F Tatis (26), M Mcgwire 4 (147).
2-out rbi: M Mcgwire 4.
Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Gant 1, Deshields 1, B Jordan 1, Mabry 1.
Team LOB: 5.
BASERUNNING
SB: B Jordan (17, 2nd base off Thurman/Barrett).
CS: Mcewing (1, 2nd base by Thurman/Barrett).
FIELDING
WP: M Morris.
E: F Tatis (12, throw); Ordaz (13, catch).
DP: 1 (Ordaz-Mcewing-M Mcgwire).
Pitching
MONTREAL
IP
H
R
ER
BB
SO
HR
ERA
Thurman
Pavano (L, 6-9)
Telford5
2
16
3
03
3
03
3
01
0
03
2
12
1
04.70
4.21
3.86
ST LOUIS
IP
H
R
ER
BB
SO
HR
ERA
M Morris
J Frascatore (W, 3-4)
C King (H, 3)
Acevedo (S, 15)4
3
1
16
3
0
03
0
0
03
0
0
03
0
0
02
2
1
01
0
0
02.53
4.14
3.53
2.56
HBP: Mcewing (by Thurman).
Pitches-strikes:: M Morris 74-42; J Frascatore 34-25; C King 13-7; Acevedo 7-4;
Thurman 82-50; Pavano 32-23; Telford 14-8.
Ground balls-fly
balls: M Morris 5-5; J Frascatore 5-2; C King 1-1; Acevedo 0-3;
Thurman 4-7; Pavano 2-2; Telford 1-1.
Batters faced: M Morris
21; J Frascatore 12; C King 3; Acevedo 3; Thurman 22; Pavano 9;
Telford 4.
Umpires: HP: Rich Rieker. 1B--Joe West. 2B--Kerwin Danley.
3B--Brian Gorman.
T: 2:33.
Att: 46,110.
Weather: 90 degrees, sunny.
Wind: 14
mph, out to left.