McGwire Hits One Into History

By BILL PLASCHKE

Sept. 8, 1998 12 AM PT

ST. LOUIS — The baseball cut through the thick river air, soaring toward a third-deck restaurant window, and the biggest man became the quietest man.

While a stadium around him erupted in joyous bedlam, Mark McGwire simply spread his giant arms, attempting to embrace a moment that sometimes even he never thought possible.

The ball bounced off the window in fair territory, dropped into the lower deck stands, and now that hug will last forever.

McGwire’s 61st home run for the St. Louis Cardinals in the first inning against the Chicago Cubs and Mike Morgan on Monday tied baseball’s most revered single-season record set 37 years ago by Roger Maris.

Fans danced, players from both teams cheered, his parents hugged, and his 10-year-old batboy son chuckled as the emotion flowed through oven-like Busch Stadium like a soothing breeze.

Even Cub rival Sammy Sosa, who began and ended the day with 58 home runs, clapped from right field.

“What do you want me to do?” Sosa said later. “He is my friend.”

After a dignified home run trot which included uncommon greetings from two Cub infielders, McGwire crossed home plate, exchanged a playful punch with teammate Ray Lankford, then picked up his son and carried him halfway to the dugout.

‘Happy Birthday’ for McGwire’s Father

Just before he was mobbed by teammates, in typical McGwire fashion, he made certain that special friends in the crowd could share this embrace.

First, he pointed to his parents and mouthed the words, “Happy Birthday.”

It was then that lip readers realized this amazing coincidence: McGwire had hit his 61st home run on the 61st birthday of his father, John, a Pomona dentist.

Then, in a move that illustrated the class with which McGwire has handled this chase, McGwire pointed to the family of the late Roger Maris and tapped his heart.

“I wanted them to know that Roger was in my heart at this moment, that he was with me,” he said.

In this one gesture, he provided Maris more positive recognition than the former slugger received during his entire hostile 1961 chase of a record held by the popular Babe Ruth.

After the game, in an interview broadcast over the public address system to hundreds who remained to hear it, McGwire developed a lump in his throat the size of a biceps.

“I’m never letting go of this moment,” he said. “I don’t know if I’ll ever be here again. How can you let it go?”

All this, and he has one moment left.

“Imagine, he still has one more home run to hit!” Cardinal catcher Tom Lampkin said. “If it’s that emotional today, I can’t imagine what’s going to happen when he hits No. 62.”

McGwire hopes that occurs tonight here against the Cubs, the Cardinals’ last game at home for nearly a week.

Although he is almost certain to break the record sometime during his team’s last 19 games, he wants to do it in a city which filled this 42,877-seat stadium more than 8,000 over capacity Monday, filling every beer-stained nook in 92-degree heat.

“It’s been a long, tough road, and now to be just one swing away. . . . I think I’ve amazed myself, and other people,” McGwire said.

Especially after what happened Monday when the fates, and McGwire’s dignity in dealing with them, turned yet another home run into a wondrous celebration.

First, there was the birthday celebration. John McGwire said his son had actually agreed to a birthday home run Sunday night at a local restaurant.

“I said, ‘I did 61, so should you,’ ” the elder McGwire recalled.

McGwire smiled and shrugged.

“I didn’t have a chance to call him today to wish him happy birthday, so. . . .” he said.

There isn’t a chance that McGwire knows anyone celebrating their 62nd birthday today, is there?

McGwire frowned. Didn’t think so.

Second, McGwire hit his 61st home run just moments after the arrival of his son from Orange County, where he lives with McGwire’s ex-wife.

Matthew landed just before the start of the game, rushed to the stadium to put on his batboy uniform, then hustled to the dugout in the bottom of the first inning.

“I gave him a kiss, told him I loved him, and next thing I know, I’m hitting a home run,” McGwire said.

The pitch, Morgan’s third to McGwire in the first inning, was a sinking fastball that didn’t sink.

But it probably didn’t matter what it was. The hit gave McGwire 14 home runs in his last 60 at-bats, an incredibly hot streak during the most tense time of the summer.

Hitting at that pace over an entire season, McGwire would finish with 129 home runs.

A Day of Coincidences

“Sometimes you go to the plate and you’re so nervous, your heart is pounding and your hands are shaking,” McGwire explained after the Cardinals’ 3-2 victory. “But not this time. I was very calm.”

In a final coincidence, the ball he hit was randomly marked with an “8” by the baseball commissioner’s office to make sure they retrieved the right ball.

Guess what Roger Maris’ first number in professional baseball was? Yep, it was “8.”

By now you may already know that his 60th home run, the one which tied Babe Ruth’s old single-season record, was coincidentally marked “3.”

That was the number worn by Ruth.

“There’s just all kinds of weird things going on,” McGwire said, shaking his head at the wonderment of it all.

The guy who caught the 61st homer? A catering manager from St. Louis named Mike Davidson who picked the ball up from underneath his seat and stuck it into his baseball jersey.

Again, coincidentally, we think, that shirt was a $57 Cardinal jersey with McGwire’s name on the back. The guy purchased it on the way to the game.

“It’s like, I’m in awe,” McGwire said of the fans’ response the last few hours, days, weeks.

Join the club. Even the most cynical sports observers have been moved to admiration these past few weeks as McGwire and Sosa have conducted the most watched record chase in sports history with the sort of grace often not found among their brethren.

This duel was splendidly illustrated Monday morning when, together for the first time in several weeks, McGwire and Sosa exchanged jokes and praise in front of the media.

“Baseball been very, very good to me,” said Sosa, howling and shaking hands with McGwire.

“God Bless America,” said a laughing McGwire.

“What a country,” replied Sosa.

McGwire said he wanted to recognize Sosa after the home run, but the right-fielder’s head was momentarily down. Later, they hugged and laughed together at first base.

“I’d like to point to everybody in the world right now,” McGwire said, his voice cracking and eyes swelling as he trots to the edge of history.

Funny, but this is exactly what they are doing, with admiration and wonderment, to him.