The Home Run Race That Resurrected Baseball
The 1998 MLB home run race between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa to break the single season home run record was a spectacle that resurrected baseball.
Mark McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals and Sammy Sosa of the Chicago Cubs had a neck and neck race in the 1998 season to break Roger Maris’ long-standing single season home run record of 61 home runs. That season, both McGwire and Sosa broke the record, though McGwire reached it first.
At the beginning of the 1998 season, the speculation that McGwire or Sosa could break Maris’ record that year became a headline. The MLB even promoted the story in hopes of drawing fans back after the 1994 strike and cancellation of the World Series.
McGwire and Sosa remained in a close race for the home run record throughout the entire season. In august, both players were locked at 55 home runs and the record was in jeopardy.
On September 7, while playing against Sosa and the Cubs, McGwire hit his 61st home run of the season, tying Maris’ record. The next day in another game against the Cubs, McGwire hit another home run, breaking the record for the most home runs ever hit in a single season. Sosa ran in from the outfield and met McGwire at home plate with a celebratory hug.
It would soon become clear that the race was not over. After breaking the record, McGwire went 6 consecutive games without hitting a home run. Sosa caught up and the players were once again tied at 62 home runs.
The two players continued to battle and went into the final series of the season tied at 65 home runs. Sosa would hit one more home run, ending his season with 66. McGwire went on to hit 5 more home runs against the Montreal Expos, ending the season with 70 home runs, a record that would be broken just a few years later in 2001.
