Elite Co.
Sosa joins Ruth, Maris, McGwire at 60-HR plateau
Posted: Sunday September 13, 1998 01:32 AM
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Friendly confines: Sosa's 33 homers at Wrigley ties Hack Wilson's mark set in 1930 AP |
CHICAGO (AP) - Sammy Sosa joined
the 60-something club Saturday. What an exclusive one it is. Before
this month, only two players -- Babe Ruth and Roger Maris -- had reached 60
homers in a season this century. Now Sosa and Mark McGwire
have done it in an eight-day span. "I just have to say that I could
never feel more happy than I do today," a smiling Sosa said after he hit
his 60th homer and his team, the Chicago Cubs, rallied
with five ninth-inning runs for a wild 15-12 win over the Milwaukee Brewers.
Nearly an hour after the game had ended on Orlando
Merced's dramatic three-run, pinch-hit homer, hundreds of fans stayed
in their seats at Wrigley Field, hoping for a another glimpse of Sosa, who
with Michael Jordan pondering retirement, is the most popular man in the
city. And as he emerged from the dugout after an interview session,
they began chanting his name again. He waved. Sosa, now tied with
the legendary Ruth, who hit 60 homers in 1927, is one shy of the 61 hit by
Maris in 1961. And he trails contemporary and good friend McGwire by two
after the St. Louis slugger failed to homer in Houston. "Babe Ruth
was one of the greatest guys to play baseball," Sosa said. "He never really
died. He's still alive. Everybody remembers him like it was yesterday.
"It's great to be tied with the Babe and be behind Roger Maris and Mark."
Sosa drove a seventh-inning pitch from Milwaukee Brewers reliever
Valerio De Los Santos over the back fence and out of Wrigley Field.
The 430-foot blast ended up on the front steps of a house across the street
from the park. The three-run homer cut Milwaukee's lead to 12-7 after the
Brewers had forged a 10-2 lead following an eight-run third inning.
Atonement: After grounding into a rally-killing double play in the ninth inning Friday, Merced bounced back with his first Cub home run AP | |
"We had second and third and I didn't want to strike out," said Sosa, who
fought off several pitches. "I came through. I hit 60, I jumped up and said
` Yes,' and that was about it. I didn't want to show the other team up."
Sosa, who went 2-for-3 with two walks, gave the crowd of 39,170 what
they came to see. They were already on their feet when his line drive to
left took off -- there was never a doubt where it was headed. The
crowd went bonkers, standing and cheering and chanting his name until the
man who once sold fruit and shined shoes on the dusty streets of his native
Dominican Republic came out for a thunderous curtain call. "Sammy's
homer just lifted us, it gave us hope," Cubs manager Jim Riggleman said.
"This is probably the sweetest win I've ever been involved with, if the not
the strangest." Sosa wasn't finished. With the Cubs trailing 12-10,
he started the rally in the ninth off Bob Wickman
(6-9) with a single. Glenallen
Hill singled and after a sacrifice by Gary Gaetti, Mickey
Morandini walked to load the bases before Tyler Houston
hit a game-tying two-run single. Then Merced, with his third team
this season, drove one over the wall in right center, touching off a
celebration in both the ball park and at the hundreds of eating and
drinking establishments that surround it. It was Merced's first Cubs
homer since joining the team seven days ago as an extra bat for the playoff
run. "When I came here Sammy was the first one to come up to me and
tell me he was glad I was here. Now I'm glad I'm here," Merced said.
When McGwire hit his his 61st and 62nd homers last week in St. Louis
against Chicago, Sosa congratulated him heartily, reminding his friend to
wait for him to catch up.
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Gotta have heart: The Cubs won after they trailed after eight innings for only the third time this season AP |
"You think he's waiting for me?" Sosa
joked. After a five-game homerless drought of his own, Sosa now has
two in the last two days. He's got 13 games left to play. "If it
happens, I'll be there. If not, that's fine. If we go to the playoffs, I'd
feel a lot better if I win the home run race," Sosa said. The Cubs
entered the game tied with the Mets for the NL wild card. Chicago's win
also postponed Houston's clinching the NL Central title. The Astros beat
St. Louis on Saturday to reduce their magic number to one. With the
wind blowing out at 8 mph on a spectacular 86-degree day, the Cubs also got
homers from Jose
Hernandez, Gaetti, Hill -- whose homer followed Sosa's in the seventh
-- and Houston, whose blast also came as pinch-hitter. And they were
were able to overcome Milwaukee's eight-run third-inning, which featured a
bases-loaded triple from Dave Nilsson
and homers from Jeromy
Burnitz, Geoff Jenkins and Bobby Hughes. It was the Brewers' biggest
inning of the season. All eight runs came off Mike Morgan, who
had served up McGwire's 61st homer last Monday in St. Louis.
Milwaukee scored six runs in the third inning Friday in a 13-11 victory.
"It was just a tough, tough loss," Brewers manager Phil Garner said.
"This one was wilder than yesterday." Notes: Sosa's 60th was
retrieved by Herb Neurauter of Chicago. He returned the ball to Sosa and
his only request was to have some pictures taken with the star and four
autographed balls, one signed with the number 60. ... Sosa now has 33
homers at Wrigley this season, tying Hack Wilson's mark set in 1930. He
also has 96 over the last two seasons, one more than Wilson's previous club
record set in 1929 and 1930. ... The pitching-desperate Cubs acquired
left-hander Chris
Haney for cash considerations from Kansas City, a move announced during
the game. ... Mike Utley, the former Detroit Lions lineman paralyzed in a
game several years ago, watched batting practice and met Sosa and Kerry
Wood. ... Actress Joan Cusack, a native of Evanston, Illinois, led the
singing of "Take Me Out To the Ballgame." ... Morandini's second-inning,
two-run single gave him 50 RBIs, a career high.
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