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An amazing
thing happened over the last couple of weeks. Americans from coast to coast were transfixed by
Mark McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals as he blew by Babe Ruth and Roger
Maris to become the single-season home-run hitting champion.
The build-up began in spring training before the official first pitch of the season, and in recent weeks had Fox and ESPN scrambling to add Cardinal games to their sports schedules. Even the championship game of the women's professional basketball league, the WNBA, had announcers talking about Mark McGwire's then potential feat. And in each city the Cardinals traveled to, McGwire received cheers; by contrast, home-team pitchers received boos and jeers for throwing balls that McGwire couldn't swing at. The game of baseball, America's past-time, has enjoyed an invigorating surge of spirit. And the man himself, Mark McGwire, is finally at ease with the newly acquired role of hero. The reasons for the oversized interest in a baseball player who can hit large numbers of home runs on the surface seem silly. But there are many unseen factors which all contribute to this national interest in an athlete one newspaper called, "Paul Bunyon with a bat." First, Americans need this distraction. National affairs over the past months have included: drought, hurricanes, stock market dizziness, embassy bombings and a scandal at the peak of elected government offices. Enter Mark McGwire, a bull of a man who not only hits home runs in great quantity (several times he has hit 2 homers in one game), but who absolutely crushes the ball. His longest home run distance is 545 feet. Let me repeat that: 545 feet. Lower upper deck at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. Whatever frustrations I have disappear when such dramatic power is displayed (and I am a casual baseball fan). For the fans in St. Louis, and increasingly around America, watching McGwire has become cathartic. Avoid the television news, and the newspapers, and the radio talk shows, and watch Mr. Home Run do his thing. Second, baseball has been careful in its handling of McGwire's situation. At the beginning of the season, they let McGwire just be himself. The media swarmed around him, asking if he would break the record this year. Having hit 50 or more home runs each of the previous two years (this being his 3rd straight year sets another record), the press grilled him about the potential for surpassing Babe Ruth and even Roger Maris, whose records date back to the 1920s and 1960s, respectively. McGwire did things his way until the last month or so. The attention given to him this season has been excessive; and, for weeks he was testy and irritable by the repetitiveness of the questions. He finally stated that if he did hit 50 home runs by September, then the media could come back and talk to him. Homers came in streaks; the home-run hitting contest at the All-Star break was a disappointment to fans and media alike. McGwire continued to insist that there was more to baseball than home runs and more to the Cardinals than himself. By September he had 50 home runs under his belt. Again. But along the way Sammy Sosa became a running mate of sorts in the polls of popularity, due to his own home run numbers. The Cardinal's manager, Tony LaRussa, commented that pitchers should challenge McGwire unless the game was on the line. Some of the tension was relieved by friends and competitors. McGwire began having fun with baseball again; well he should, as he simply cannot not hit home runs. The change in attitude, coupled with the last leg of a season-long "chase" of the home- run record, was the final catalyst for baseball fans. Media and fans alike now saw an athlete closing in on a record set in 1961 and enjoying himself in the process. McGwire continued to thank old coaches, his team-mates, Sammy Sosa, the luck provided by his son's presence as bat-boy at home games, and anyone else who had ever contributed to his career. Third, the press changed its attitude. Reports of McGwire's gift of one million dollars to charity surfaced, as did his love of the city of St. Louis, and for his son. The networks began cutting away from current games to show McGwire and Sosa taking their cuts. Fox and ESPN even re-negotiated contracts for ball games not already on their schedules. Fans were shown popping flashbulbs at games in cities other than St. Louis. Finally, history stepped in. Stan Musial, Lou Brock, the children of Roger Maris, the commissioner of Major League Baseball all were shown attending Cardinal games. Fans in St. Louis went on record as saying they would return the historic home run balls to Mark McGwire in return for what he was doing for baseball. (Home run baseballs #57 thru #62 all were returned to McGwire, and fans received everything from batting practice at Busch Stadium to season tickets and autographed jerseys in return; they were possibly worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.) Selflessness and history added the final ingredients to the days in which the home run record was tied, and then broken. For baseball fans and for people across the nation, watching Mark McGwire conduct himself in the last weeks of this record-setting event was a boost for our collective self-esteem. A baseball player showed us how we could be, and how many of us are. We seem to have forgotten that all of the scandal presented by the media, and sometimes which comes from within the media, is not typical of who we are as Americans. McGwire was generous to his friends and team-mates; he defended himself under pressure; he showed love for his son; he paid tribute to history and contributed some of his earnings to charity. The 62nd home run that set a new baseball single season record was the culmination of a process of healing for many Americans. It's unfortunate that the record was taken so soon; with the Kenneth Starr report now in Congress' hands and the hurricane season in full spin, our attentions lean to serious matters once again. But I for one am glad that I had the chance to look in a different sort of mirror, and even more pleased with what I saw there. Americans treated Mark McGwire like a hero; he's more like us than many of us realize, and that makes us feel good. That is something which will not be written into the history books. When I state that Mark McGwire is not part of an exclusive club, I mean that he excludes no one from his generosity. He has even accepted that he has given the sport of baseball new spirit and dimished the black mark it received during the greedy strike just a few years back. He realizes his place in history, both in the present and in the future, and has tried mightily to keep his feet on the ground. He has succeeded. To Mark McGwire, I say thanks for the ride. |