Suddenly It's
This
Close:
An Inside Look
Posted: Wed September 16,
1998
In July, senior writer Gary Smith spent 72 hours on the
road pursuing Mark McGwire, Ken Griffey Jr. and Sammy Sosa
in the Great Home Run
Chase. Last week he was in the leftfield bleachers at Busch
Stadium for five games as McGwire made his final assault on
Roger Maris's 61. In this week's issue, which reaches
newsstands and subscribers starting today, Smith recounts
Sosa's ascent to 62 and also tells the story of the fans
who retrieved McGwire's home
runs.
SMITH SOUNDS
OFF:
 On the Home Run
Chase (481K)
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(Chuck Solomon)
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CNN/SI:
Are these guys genuinely having as much fun as they appear
to
be?
Gary Smith:
I think McGwire wasn't. When
I was around him in July, he really wasn't having a lot of
fun with this. He was putting a mask on when he needed to
to get through it and to block out everything around him,
and he is definitely the kind of person who needs
to block out the surroundings to get the job done. But
somehow, between the time when
I saw him in July and when I saw him in St. Louis last week
when he broke the record, there was a change in him: maybe
his friends talked to him, maybe something Sammy
said to him or maybe his watching how Sammy was going
through this, made him realize he's got to just have fun
with it.
I think he's a person who needs to fulfill people's
expectations, and that was weighing on him. But he
definitely evolved with this
whole thing, and
I think if you could sit down with him and had a very
personal talk he could probably tell you some interesting
things about how he's
grown.
There are not as many deep, profound things going on with
Sammy through all this as there is with McGwire as a
person. Sammy has handled it on a pretty even keel all the
way, and he really hasn't let it get to him. He's used
McGwire as his cover, and
kind of enjoyed having McGwire in front of
him.
CNN/SI:
Would Sammy be sitting on 62 if he had faced the kind of
scrutiny and pressure McGwire has had to deal
with?
Smith:
I think fate has really conspired for this home run race to
go like it has gone. Sammy has historically been a guy who
can start pressing and try to mash the ball 100 miles, and
when he starts doing that he strikes out a lot, hits ground
balls because
he's just trying to yank it out of the park.
I think if he'd been in front the whole way, and also if he
didn't have the pennant race going on—he knows there's
so many situations when he's coming up and the team just
needs a single or him to get on base
to start a rally—things like that have just made him
keep his discipline as a hitter. But
I think even sometimes this season there are times when the
home run hoopla does get to his swing and he'll go up there
and he's just trying to jerk everything, but
nowhere near like it would've when he was younger and
nowhere near like it would've if McGwire hadn't been one,
two, three, four home runs in front of him most of the
season and all the focus had been on this one man, Sammy
Sosa, stalking the legend
alone.
I think it really would've affected him much more than it has
the way it's played
out.
CNN/SI:
How big an oversight was Major League Baseball's decision
not to send a representative to Wrigley when Sosa hit
62?
Smith:
I think it was mistake, a mistake that a lot of people made,
not just Major League Baseball. People just kind of got
lulled; there was such a huge focus and celebration on
McGwire—rightly so in some ways because he was the one
who did break the
37-year-old record. But you go back to May 24, and since that date
Sammy's got 53 homers and McGwire's got 38. So if you just
look at those numbers, it's kind of silly for a moment to
have counted Sammy out of this and not to stay right on top
with him. Yes, he
did it five days later than McGwire, but that's a pretty
small thing; it's such a phenomenal record. So everyone,
including Major League Baseball, should've been right there
with this.
I still can't believe they're not out there marking the balls
with
Sammy now, with all the fighting over these home run
balls.
It just seems like they're inviting more trouble by not
jumping on top of this and staying on top of this all the
way from here on out. Because at this point any home run
could be the final home run that wins it all and is the
all-time record. Either
one of these guys could pull a hamstring or whatever and that
would be it.
I think it is a real oversight. Who knows how much of it is
racial overtones, unconscious or conscious—more likely
unconscious, probably, but who
knows? But there's no doubt that
McGwire is the great American legend
here.
CNN/SI:
Can you compare the atmosphere in the Busch Stadium
bleachers during the five games you were there last week
versus the time you spent in various parks during your home
run chase in
July.
Smith:
In July, everyone was just enjoying this home-run race,
talking about it, all the factors, but once we got to St.
Louis and McGwire was on the doorstep of the record, it
wasn't so much figuring the angles and who's going to do
what and which player has
which advantage because of which ballpark or which
pennant-race situation. Then it was just sheer ecstasy and
incredible desire that this record occur when we were in
the ballpark. Everyone there wanted to see it happen and
knew McGwire was going to be
hitting the road after Tuesday, and just wanted to (a) say
they were there when it happened and pass it on to their
kids and grandkids, and (b) maybe even have a shot at the
ball. Everyone standing not just on the ground but on their
seats to get a little
bit higher, their arms up, screaming, pounding their
baseball gloves—doing all that, and also trying to
snap a photograph at the same time so they could have a
picture of the swing that the record-breaking home run
occured on. It wasn't easy managing
all that at the same time, but everyone was trying to do it,
so it was quite a scene. Seats were going for $350 by the
end of it—these are $6 outfield seats. So everything
was upside down: Everyone wanted the farthest away
seats—they went for the most
money. It was just a crazy, topsy-turvy
scene.
CNN/SI:
In another story in this week's issue you discuss the
options presented to the fans who retrieved the home run
baseballs. What would you have done with the
ball?
Smith:
I think
I would've had to turn that baby back over to Mr. McGwire.
I'm not a collector of things, so I never would've wanted
to bring it home and just keep it in my house. That doesn't
really appeal to me.
I really would like to see the thing in the
Hall of Fame for kids for generations to go to look at it and
think about what it stands
for.
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