'I'm pulling for Mark'
Sosa predicts McGwire will finish HR derby with 70
Posted: Friday September 04, 1998 09:45 PM
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Sammy Sosa: "Everybody knows I'm pulling for Mark. I just want to make the playoffs and if that happens, the whole season will be better." AP |
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Sammy Sosa raised
the bar in the home run derby on Friday, predicting Mark McGwire
will finish with 70 homers -- nine more than the record Roger Maris set in
1961.
Sosa then went out and put more pressure on McGwire by hitting his
57th homer in the first inning in Pittsburgh to set the Cubs' single-season
record. Sosa's third homer in four games broke Hack Wilson's club record of
56 in 1930.
Still, Sosa insisted McGwire -- who took 59 homers into the Cardinals'
home game Friday against the Reds -- would almost certainly break
baseball's most storied record before he did.
"He's only two away. He has 59. He's right there. There's no way he
can't do it," Sosa said. "Seventy, he can do it. He's Superman."
A few minutes later, Sosa was asked if he was kidding.
"He'll probably finish with 69 or 70," Sosa said. "Everybody knows I'm
pulling for Mark. I've been admiring him ever since he played for Oakland
and he hit 49 as a rookie and he played with Jose Canseco.
That was the most unbelievable duo I've seen in my life."
And what if Sosa's prediction comes true? Will Sosa feel disappointed
if he hits 62 or 64 or 66, a history-making feat in any other season, but
only good enough for second place this year?
"No, no, no, I love this country. What is it Don King always said,
'Only in America?' Well, I love this country," Sosa said. "Everybody knows
I'm pulling for Mark. I just want to make the playoffs and if that happens,
the whole season will be better. I just love what is happening."
Sosa was his usual animated self during a 40-minute news conference,
saying he wants to hang out with McGwire during the off-season and get to
know the man -- not just the player he's met at the ballpark.
"He's a great guy," Sosa said. "We haven't gone out but we're going to
go out. Maybe we'll even go to the Dominican together. Here, in America,
he's the man, but in the Dominican, I'm the man."
Sosa even took credit for McGwire's increasingly relaxed nature and
improved rapport with the reporters.
"He must have watched how Sammy took care of everybody," Sosa said. "I
think he was shy before, but I know he's enjoying it right now. He's much
better now. Maybe he watched me and the way I am and said, 'Wait, maybe I
should do the same way Sammy does, how he has such a good time playing the
game.'"
But Sosa doesn't know if the fans will embrace him as warmly as they
do McGwire should he overtake McGwire by season's end.
"We'll have to wait for that," he said. "I've done all the right
things. I've done all I've had to do. But you can't change people's
minds."
Sosa's homer came against the only NL team he hadn't homered against
this season. He was 2-for-12 with two singles in five games against
Pittsburgh before hitting a 2-0 pitch from Jason Schmidt
off an auxiliary scoreboard in right field. It was Sosa's first
homer in Pittsburgh since an inside-the-park homer May 26, 1997.
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