Fans to Sosa: Show me the money
Posted: Sunday September 13, 1998 11:05 PM
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John Witt of Dixon, Ill., holds up Sammy Sosa's 61st home run ball outside Wrigley Field in Chicago AP |
CHICAGO (AP) -- Sammy Sosa didn't
have any warm-and-fuzzy meetings with the guys who caught Nos. 61 and 62.
The fans apparently were more interested in cold, hard cash.
Both of Sosa's historic home runs sailed over the left-field fence at
Wrigley Field on Sunday, and a pack of fans chased them as they bounced
along Waveland Avenue. Major league baseball did not mark any balls Sosa
hit as it did for Mark McGwire.
Moe Mullins claims he got 62, but it wasn't in his hands for
long. “Fifty people landed on top of me. One guy bit my left
hand and wrestled the ball away,” said Mullins, whose hand was bleeding.
“People tried to help me catch the guy, but the cops took him off in a
squad car.” The man, whose name was not immediately available,
was taken to a police station near Wrigley Field, said Chicago police Sgt.
Mary O'Toole. The man, described as being in his late 20s, left the police
station a short time later, she said. “We got him out of there
because we thought he was going to get his behind kicked,” she said. “We
brought him over here for his own safety. “The story is
changing now every minute,” she added. “It's a big mess. The guy who has it
is not the guy who started out with it.” Mullins planned to
file a police report about the incident. Unlike McGwire's 61st
and 62nd balls, which were immediately returned to him by St. Louis Cardinals'
fans, no one has contacted the Cubs to offer Sosa either ball, team
spokesman Chuck Wasserstrom said. Sosa didn't say whether he
wanted the balls back, but when he heard there'd been a mad scramble for
them, he laughed. “If I wasn't a player, I'd be fighting, too,
for that ball,” he said. Sosa has been known to let the fans
who catch them keep them. After the woman who caught No. 56, which tied
Hack Wilson's NL and club record, offered Sosa the ball, he autographed it
and returned it. He did take No. 60, giving the fan who caught it four
autographed balls in return. John W. Witt, a former clubhouse
manager for the Chicago
Cubs' minor league team, reportedly was offered a five-figure sum for
No. 61. “How do you know what it's worth?” Witt said.
Witt, of Dixon, Illinois, was sitting in a van off Kenmore Avenue outside
the stadium, watching the game on a small TV when he saw Sosa swing. He
jumped out of the van, and after bouncing a couple of times, the ball
landed at his feet. “I didn't think I had a chance,” said Witt,
who came into the ball park afterward for an on-camera interview with
WGN-TV during the game. “It's an unbelievable feeling.” With
the balls gone, Sosa doesn't have much left to remind him of his historic
day. Representatives from the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New
York, took his bat and the jersey he was wearing. Beginning
Monday, they'll be on display as part of “The March on Maris” exhibit.
Sosa's bat, which he used to hit home runs No. 58-62, will be placed
alongside the bat McGwire used for home run 62 and the bat Roger Maris used
to hit his 61st home run. “Both are tied,” said Jeff Idelson of
the Hall of Fame. “As far as we're concerned, they're both worthy of
recognition.” The hall also got the gold number “3” that was
placed on the Cubs' manual scoreboard Saturday after Sosa hit No. 60, a
three-run homer. Sosa looked a little reluctant to give up his
natural wood-colored bat. He gave the Hall of Fame representatives a long
look and kissed the bat before finally placing it in a green, canvas bag.
“I don't want to give that bat from today,” he said earlier,
smiling. “I feel great for that bat.”
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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