Word: mcgwires
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...older fans, who always viewed Maris as a placeholder until the second Ruth, are rooting for McGwire to erase the imprint of the asterisk. The younger fans are pulling for him too. So the pressure is entirely different from what Maris faced. Still, even the positive pressure can be draining. Paul Molitor, who made a go at Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak, says, "I would go home after a game, and it was like an out-of-body experience. My face would be up there [on TV], and everyone would be talking about whether I was going...
...McGwire, who grew up educated and middle class and is tight with his family, has some built-in advantages over the less-educated Maris. He has the kind of even-tempered nature often found in those who work hard at their craft. "I've seen two or three other kids with the same kind of talent, but it was Mark who went all the way," says Tom Carroll, his coach at Damien, a Roman Catholic high school in suburban Los Angeles. "He really wanted it. He has the work ethic." Even his dentist father, who also sired Dan McGwire, backup...
There's no shame in this for Senior, though, because Junior has since eclipsed everyone playing the game, McGwire included. At the age of 28, he has already hit more than 300 homers; only three players in history have done it at a younger age. During one stretch in 1993, he homered in eight consecutive games, tying the major league record. Last season, after hitting .304, leading the American League in runs and RBIs, socking 56 home runs and winning an eighth straight Gold Glove, he was unanimously voted the league's most valuable player. "When you look at what...
Even if it is McGwire who, as most people (including Griffey and Sosa) suspect, will set the record this year, it won't last 37 years, as Maris' did, or even 34, as Ruth's. Griffey is young, and the record is most likely to be his someday. He has one of the most perfect swings in baseball history: a long, smooth, straight, upper-body cut that makes McGwire's short, compact, hip-driven swing look like a shot put. Griffey's swing is the learned, refined movement of someone who grew up in major league dugouts. "Junior's never...
While Griffey has the potential to hit 62 (he hit 56 last year), the fans haven't been pulling for him in the home-run race the way they have for McGwire. Which is odd, since Griffey is more popular. Even this year he got more All-Star votes from fans than McGwire. He's a better all-around player, more affable, more telegenic, more starlike, younger, hipper and more street than McGwire (though even Dan Quayle is more street than McGwire). Three of McGwire's black teammates refused to comment as to whether the attention to McGwire over Griffey...