1998 Major League Baseball home run record chase

The 1998 Major League Baseball home run chase in Major League Baseball was the race between first baseman Mark McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals and right fielder Sammy Sosa of the Chicago Cubs that resulted in both players breaking Roger Maris's long-standing and highly coveted record of 61 home runs. McGwire broke Maris's record on September 8 against the Cubs and finished with 70 home runs. Sosa finished with 66.

Several players had come close to breaking Maris's record in the years before 1998. Before the 1994 season was cut short by a labor dispute, Matt Williams of the San Francisco Giants and Ken Griffey Jr. of the Seattle Mariners were both on a pace which threatened Maris's record: they hit 43 and 40 home runs respectively in a season which was shortened by approximately 50 of the scheduled 162 games. (So was Jeff Bagwell of the Houston Astros, who was injured shortly before the strike began: he hit 39 home runs.)

In 1995, Albert Belle became the first player since Cecil Fielder in 1990 to hit 50 home runs in a season [cite web| title = Year-by-Year League Leaders & Records for Home Runs|url=http://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/HR_leagues.shtml] . Belle was only the 4th player in the previous three decades to reach the 50 homer milestone. (George Foster hit 52 in 1977, following Willie Mays in 1965.)

In 1996, Brady Anderson of the Baltimore Orioles hit 50 home runs, twice the number he hit during any other season [cite web| title = Brady Anderson Statistics - Baseball-Reference.com|url=http://www.baseball-reference.com/a/anderbr01.shtml] Of more note was Mark McGwire of the Oakland Athletics, who first drew attention by hitting a league-leading 52 home runs that season while only playing in 130 games [cite web| title = Mark McGwire 1996 Batting Gamelogs|url=http://www.baseball-reference.com/pi/gl.cgi?n1=mcgwima01&year=1996&t=b] . The 1997 home run chase featured McGwire against Ken Griffey, Jr. of the Seattle Mariners. It was during that season that full-fledged interest over the record kicked in as both players were on record pace well into the summer [cite web| title = Mark McGwire 1997 Batting Gamelogs|url=http://www.baseball-reference.com/pi/gl.cgi?n1=mcgwima01&year=1997&t=b] [cite web| title = Ken Griffey 1997 Batting Gamelogs|url=http://www.baseball-reference.com/pi/gl.cgi?n1=griffke02&year=1997&t=b] . McGwire finished with 58 home runs despite a slump following his mid-season trade to the St. Louis Cardinals, besting Griffey's total of 56.

Breaking the record

With the spotlight still on and in his first full season as a Cardinal, McGwire opened the 1998 season by hitting home runs in each of his first four games. McGwire would ultimately find himself ahead of record pace for all but two games of the season; his pace hit a low of 58.9 on May 7 following a five-game drought. After hitting 16 home runs in May (only two short of Rudy York's ill-fated record of 18 home runs in August 1937 [cite web| title = The Month of Rudy York by Lee Panas|url=http://www.baseball-almanac.com/articles/the_month_of_rudy_york.shtml] ), McGwire led the league with 27 home runs, ahead of Griffey's 19 and on pace for more than 80 [cite web| title = Mark McGwire 1998 Batting Gamelogs|url=http://www.baseball-reference.com/pi/gl.cgi?n1=mcgwima01&year=1998&t=b] [cite web| title = Ken Griffey 1998 Batting Gamelogs|url=http://www.baseball-reference.com/pi/gl.cgi?n1=griffke02&year=1998&t=b] .

June, however, would be Sosa's month to catch up. His 13 home runs entering the month represented less than half of rival McGwire's total. Sosa had his first of four multi-home run games that month on June 1, and went on to break Rudy York's record with 20 home runs in the month of June [cite web| title = Home Run in a Month Records by Baseball Almanac|url=http://www.baseball-almanac.com/recbooks/rb_hr3.shtml] , a record that still stands. By the end of his historic month, the outfielder's 33 home runs tied him with Griffey and left him only four behind McGwire's 37 [cite web| title = Sammy Sosa 1998 Batting Gamelogs|url=http://www.baseball-reference.com/pi/gl.cgi?n1=sosasa01&t=b&year=1998] .

The three remained competitive entering August, a period which saw McGwire go on a season-high eight-game home run drought. After hitting a home run on August 8, McGwire's lead had dwindled to two, his 46 home runs just above Sosa's 44 and Griffey's 41. His relative lull in production continued, hitting only three home runs over the next ten days. His pace at the end of August 18 of 61.9 would be his lowest for the rest of the season. On August 19, he returned to form, hitting two home runs and beginning the stretch that would see him hit 23 home runs in his final 39 games. Sosa, meanwhile, had followed up his 20 home runs in June with a combined total of only 22 for July and August. At the end of the month, however, the two sluggers were locked at 55 home runs, putting them on pace for about 65 in total and, for the first time in 37 years, leaving the single-season home run record in imminent jeopardy. They were also each one short of Hack Wilson's National league record. By this point, Griffey's total of 47 home runs left him well behind the pace of his two rivals, indicating that even in the event he could pass Maris's total, it would be unlikely that he would also be able to beat McGwire and Sosa.

McGwire began September with four home runs in his first two games against the Florida Marlins and took back the lead, 59-56. His September 5 home run set the stage for one of baseball's classic moments, as he sat on 60 home runs entering a three-game set against Sosa's Chicago Cubs. On September 7, McGwire hit a Mike Morgan pitch 430 feet to become the first player since 1961 to hit 61 home runs in a season. The next day, September 8, 1998, with Sosa and members of the Maris family in attendance, he hit Steve Trachsel's pitch 341 feet - his shortest home run of the season - just over the left field wall, breaking the record for the most home runs ever hit in a single season. The ball did not even make it to the stands, and the crew member who found it later gave the ball to McGwire.

Afterwards, however, McGwire went six consecutive games without a home run, allowing Sosa to tie him again at 62 after hitting four home runs in three games against the Milwaukee Brewers. The two battled back and forth for the lead, and entering the final series of the season on September 25, were tied at 65 home runs. Sosa hit a 462 foot home run off Houston Astros pitcher Jose Lima for his 66th home run of the season. McGwire, however, while the Cardinals hosted the Montreal Expos, hit five home runs against five different pitchers, setting the record at 70 with a 370 foot home run off Carl Pavano.

Aftermath

The Cardinals, despite McGwire's efforts, finished the season 83-79, 3rd place in the Central and behind division rival Chicago, who finished 90-73, earning them 2nd in the Central and a wild card berth. Sosa finished with a .308 batting average, 66 home runs, and 158 RBI, besting McGwire, who finished with a .299 batting average, 70 home runs, and 147 RBI for the NL MVP award. The Cubs, however, were swept in the first round of the 1998 playoffs by the Atlanta Braves.

In 2001, only three years after McGwire and Sosa finally toppled Maris's record, the mark fell again - this time to San Francisco Giants left fielder Barry Bonds. Bonds broke the record on October 5 against Chan Ho Park of the Los Angeles Dodgers and, two days later, hit his 73rd home run of the season off the Dodgers pitcher Dennis Springer [cite web| title = Barry Bonds 73 Home Run Season & Home Run Logs by Baseball Almanac|url=http://www.baseball-reference.com/pi/gl.cgi?n1=mcgwima01&year=1997&t=b] . His record still stands, though the controversy over possible use of performance-enhancing drugs by McGwire and Sosa gained momentum when Bonds hit his 73 home runs despite having never hit as many as 50 in any other seasonFact|date=August 2007.

Home run log

The following table summarizes the home run chase. [cite web| title = Mark McGwire's Seventy Home Run Season by Baseball Almanac|url=http://www.baseball-almanac.com/feats/feats1.shtml] [cite web| title = Sammy Sosa's 66 Home Run Season by Baseball Almanac|url=http://www.baseball-almanac.com/feats/feats12.shtml] [cite web| title = Mark McGwire 1998 Game by Game Batting Logs|url=http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/hittinglogs.php?p=mcgwima01&y=1998]

References