'Is it enough? Gone!'
Radio, TV calls will go down in history with No. 62
Posted: Tuesday September 08, 1998 11:42 PM
| |
Joe Buck: "Down the left-field line, is it enough? Gone! There it is, 62. Touch first Mark, you are the new single-season home run king!" AP |
St. LOUIS (AP) -- Mark McGwire's
record home run screamed out of the park so fast, there was barely time for
a dramatic call. Fox's Joe Buck rose to the task, though, delivering
a home run call Tuesday night that immediately goes down as one of the most
memorable in history. "Down the left-field line, is it enough? Gone!
There it is, 62. Touch first Mark, you are the new single-season home run
king!" Buck said before letting the pictures take over for the next 3 1/2
minutes. There were shots of McGwire almost missing first base,
giving high-fives to the Cubs infielders, hugging and kissing his son Matt,
embracing his teammates, saluting the crowd, being shown the ball by a
stadium worker, celebrating with Sammy Sosa and
climbing into the stands to hug the Maris family. The silence ended
with Buck saying, "Folks, it couldn't happen to a better man. You will
always remember where you were when it happened -- 8:18 central time,
September 8, 1998." It had to be a particularly special moment for
Buck, who also calls Cardinals games locally and whose father Jack is a
longtime Cardinals announcer. Buck was not the only one to call
history Tuesday night. Mike Shannon, a former teammate and best friend of
Maris, made the call on St. Louis radio station KMOX-AM.
McGwire's 449 career home runs place him 21st on the all-time list AP | |
"A shot
into the corner! It might make it! There it is -- 62, folks! And we have a
new home run champion -- a new Sultan of Swat!" Fox producer John
Filippelli handled the moment with restraint, holding off on replays and
keeping the camera on McGwire for more than four minutes after the home
run. Then came the reaction replays from manager Tony La Russa, the Maris
family and Sosa. There were also replays of the swing and the home run
trot, on which McGwire almost missed first base. Fox set up the
drama with an opening montage of his recent homers and an interview with
McGwire and Sosa. Moments before the record-breaker was a shot of McGwire
in the dugout with his eyes closed, concentrating on the task at hand.
In the eighth inning, Fox showed reactions from other ballparks. There
was Juan
Gonzalez taking his glove off and clapping after watching the shot in
Texas and a standing ovation from George Steinbrenner at Fenway Park. Fox
analyst Tim McCarver, himself a former teammate of Maris, summed up
McGwire's feat in the seventh inning. "There's a big difference
between breaking a record and breaking the record," he said. "Mark
McGwire broke the most revered record in all of sports." McGwire was
obviously the focus of Fox's entire telecast. He was the only reason Fox
preempted its regular entertainment programming to show the first
nationally televised prime-time regular-season baseball game since 1989.
While he was at the plate, the focus was on the moment. When he was
in the field or watching from the dugout, Fox took that time to delve into
other issues.
There were discussions of McGwire's staggering
statistics, graphics on the number of home runs per season, interviews with
the Maris family, lessons on the tax code and a visit in the booth from the
director of the Hall of Fame who brought the bat Maris used to hit No. 61.
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
| 
