1998 Home Run race: Mark McGwire v. Sammy Sosa, Cardinal v. Cub.

Third of three posts:

1927 Home Run race: Babe Ruth v. Lou Gehrig, Yankee teammates.  Thursday, December 1, 2016

1961 Home Run race: Roger Maris v. Mickey Mantle, Yankee teammates.  Friday, December 2, 2016

1998 Home Run race: Mark McGwire v. Sammy Sosa, Cardinal v. Cub.

Mark McGwire: born Oct. 1, 1963; previous high: 58 in 1997 with Oakland and St. Louis

Sammy Sosa: born Nov. 12, 1968; previous high: 40 in 1996 with Cubs.

Performance enhancing drugs (PED), including steroids, were in full rage. Barry Bonds took note and probably in 1999 joined the club. Bonds would break the 1998 season home record in 2001 by hitting 73 HR but Bonds was not seriously challenged even though Sosa finished with 64 in 2001. Sosa was ten back in late September 2001.

In 1994 the players union went on strike and ended the season after about 114 games. There were no post season games in 1994 for the first time in 90 years. The 1995 season started late for the same reason and teams played 144 games. The 1998 home run race was a welcome distraction and infusion of good will. Nobody wanted to be concerned about PED, least of all feeble minded acting commissioner Allan Huber "Bud" Selig, owner of the Milwaukee Brewers. When the American and National Leagues merged a year later, Selig didn't even notice. He just became commissioner ... officially. Now knuckleheads are ready to elect Selig to the Hall of Fame, which shows how terrible that institution is.

OK, back to baseball.

There's an oddity. Both the Cardinals and Cubs played an extra game in 1998. In the Home Run (HR) races documented in the two previous posts, both the 1927 and 1961 Yankees played one tie game and so one extra game. In 1998 the Cardinals played one tie, Cardinal game 131: Aug. 24, 1998 in Pittsburgh; McGwire did not play in the tie game. The Cubs, however, played an extra regular season game Sept. 28, 1998 in Wrigley Field at the end to break a tie with the San Francisco Giants for the one and only wild card spot in the tournament. The Cubs beat the Giants but lost to the Atlanta Braves 3-0 in the first round. Cub slugger Sammy Sosa did, however, get that one more game to hit home runs. He did not: two singles in 4 at bats (AB).

McGwire hit one homer in each of his first four games. Sosa hit none, so McGwire jumped off to an early lead that became dominant. Unlike the previous two posts where both batters played on the same team, this Home Run race is between batters on two teams in the same league. So, some of the game comparisons may be a bit off on dates but later in the season that game data will be supplemented with dates, which is how fans viewed the race at the time.



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G

McGwire

Sosa

M-S

43	20	8	12
44	20	8	12
45	20	8	12
46	21	8	13
47	23	9	14
48	24	9	15
49	25	9	16
50	25	11	14
51	25	13	12
52	26	13	13
53	27	13	14
54	27	13	14
55	27	13	14
56	27	15	12
57	27	15	12
58	27	16	11
59	28	17	11
60	28	18	10

G

McGwire

Sosa

M-S

The dominance of McGwire is apparent and reached an astonishing 16 in team games 49: 25-9. Sosa finally got within one:

G

McGwire

Sosa

M-S

119	47	46	1
120	47	46	1
121	47	46	1
122	47	46	1
123	47	46	1

G

McGwire

Sosa

M-S

134	54	52	2
135	54	53	1
136	54	53	1
137	55	54	1
138	55	55	0
139	57	55	2

Sosa was struggling to catch McGwire all season. McGwire reached 55 August 30, 1998. Sosa the next day and they were tied entering September.

September 1: McGwire hit 2
September 2: McGwire hit 2, Sosa 1

So McGwire surged again, reaching a four HR lead in games 145-147. But Sosa came back.

G

McGwire

Sosa

M-S

McGwire

Sosa

142	60	58	2	09-05-1998	09-05-1998
143	60	58	2
144	61	58	3	09-07-1998
145	62	58	4	09-08-1998
146	62	58	4
147	62	58	4
148	62	59	3
149	62	60	2
150	62	62	0		09-13-1998
151	62	62	0
152	63	62	1	09-15-1998
153	63	63	0		09-16-1998
154	63	63	0
155	64	63	1	09-18-1998
156	64	63	1
157	65	63	2	09-20-1998
158	65	63	2
159	65	65	0		09-23-1998
160	65	66	-1		09-25-1998
161	66	66	0	09-25-1998
162	68	66	2	09-26-1998
163	70	66	4	09-27-1998

G

McGwire

Sosa

M-S

McGwire

Sosa

Yes, Sammy Sosa held the season HR record for a short time. Friday, September 25, 1998 Sosa hit number 66 in the 4th inning in Houston and McGwire hit number 66 in the 5th inning against Montreal in St. Louis. McGwire then hit two homers in each of the last two Cardinal games.

Players with at least 60 Home Runs in a season, sorted by year:

Rk	Player	Year	HR	Age	Tm	Lg	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	RBI	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	SH	SF	GDP	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	Pos
1	Babe Ruth	1927	60	32	NYY	AL	151	691	540	158	192	29	8	165	137		89	0	14			7	6	.356	.486	.772	1.258	*97
2	Roger Maris	1961	61	26	NYY	AL	161	698	590	132	159	16	4	141	94	0	67	7	0	7	16	0	0	.269	.372	.620	.993	*98/H
3	Mark McGwire	1998	70	34	STL	NL	155	681	509	130	152	21	0	147	162	28	155	6	0	4	8	1	0	.299	.470	.752	1.222	*3/H
4	Sammy Sosa	1998	66	29	CHC	NL	159	722	643	134	198	20	0	158	73	14	171	1	0	5	20	18	9	.308	.377	.647	1.024	*9/8
5	Sammy Sosa	1999	63	30	CHC	NL	162	712	625	114	180	24	2	141	78	8	171	3	0	6	17	7	8	.288	.367	.635	1.002	*98
6	Mark McGwire	1999	65	35	STL	NL	153	661	521	118	145	21	1	147	133	21	141	2	0	5	12	0	0	.278	.424	.697	1.120	*3/H
7	Sammy Sosa	2001	64	32	CHC	NL	160	711	577	146	189	34	5	160	116	37	153	6	0	12	6	0	2	.328	.437	.737	1.174	*9
8	Barry Bonds	2001	73	36	SFG	NL	153	664	476	129	156	32	2	137	177	35	93	9	0	2	5	13	3	.328	.515	.863	1.379	*7/DH

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