Word: mcgwires
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...major-league baseball's 123rd year, are two men--Mark McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals and the Chicago Cubs' Sammy Sosa--suddenly destined to cream the home-run record as if it were a pitiful little Rawlings sphere? And, dammit, with so little suspense! Since 1961, hot stovers have debated whether Maris' feat, in a 162-game season, truly equaled Ruth's in a 154-game span. But on Saturday, when McGwire pummeled his 60th homer against Cincinnati, his team was playing only its 141st game. Sosa had a just slightly less preposterous 58 dingers in 142 Cubs games...
Sluggers like McGwire--batters who swing for the fences four times a day and damn the torpedoes--are, pardon the iconoclasm, a dime a dozen. Second-rate ballplayers like Dave Kingman, George Foster and Cecil Fielder have put up roughly comparable numbers with exponentially less hoopla...
...McGwire's 129 RBI, 80 percent have come on home runs, and the Cardinals have only won 29 times when McGwire has gone yard. St. Louis' sub-.500 record demonstrates that Mac and the rest of the St. Louis baseball family packed in the pennant race some time...
Sosa, by contrast, must consider taking a strategic walk, hitting to the opposite field to move runners over, avoiding the strikeout in run-scoring opportunities. For every situation in which good fundamental baseball dictates that trying to homer is unpalatable, Sosa must buy out of the race. McGwire observes no such constraints...
...should Trachsel fear Zachary's fate--footnote to a broken record--maybe he could console himself with a less rare, but no less precious piece of history. Photographer Crimson I LOVE YOU, MAC:MARK MCGWIRE and SAMMY SOSA share a moment...