McGwire Ties Ruth With 60th Homer

By Richard Justice
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, September 6, 1998; Page A1

ST. LOUIS, Sept. 5 – Mark McGwire's journey is nearly complete. From almost the first day of spring training, he has lived with the expectation that he would shatter baseball's single-season home run record, and for nine months he has been the most watched, most interviewed and most scrutinized player in the game.

And now, incredibly, he finds himself right where he was supposed to be all along, at the place his manager calls "the doorstep of history."

McGwire got a bit closer to that doorstep this afternoon by hitting his 60th home run as his St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Cincinnati Reds, 7-0.

In doing so, he became only the third player in 129 years to reach that magical plateau. The incomparable Babe Ruth hit 60 home runs in 1927. Roger Maris hit 61 in 1961. Now, McGwire has joined them.

"He's so incredible," Cardinals Manager Tony La Russa said, "but if you say you're really amazed, it's almost as if you don't have any confidence in him."

McGwire needs one home run to tie the 37-year-old record established by Maris and two to break it. Maris died in 1985, but his wife and children are expected to be in attendance when the Cardinals and Reds finish a three-game series Sunday afternoon.

Despite his record-setting pace, McGwire is just two home runs ahead of Chicago Cubs outfielder Sammy Sosa, who hit No. 58 tonight in Pittsburgh and is also on a record-setting pace.

McGwire tied Ruth with his first swing of the bat this afternoon. Reds right-hander Dennis Reyes started the game by throwing him two high fastballs. Then when he got one in the strike zone, McGwire attacked it.

Unlike some of his previous booming home runs, this one was a high fly ball, but it easily cleared the left-field wall and landed in the seats. McGwire had three chances to hit his 61st, but struck out three straight times.

Give the Reds credit for playing it straight. They had walked McGwire 11 times in 25 plate appearances in their previous meetings, but with the world watching and no pennant at stake, they have challenged him.

And the strategy hasn't exactly been a failure. Other than the home run, McGwire is zero for six with five strikeouts.

"If he was going to get me, he was going to get my best pitch," Reyes said. "That's why I threw him fastballs."

Reyes struck out McGwire on a slider in the second inning. Reliever Mike Remlinger got him on a fastball in the fifth, and John Hudek blew a 92-mph fastball by him in the seventh.

"My last three at-bats, I was pitched very well," McGwire said. "The second time up, I didn't ever really see his slider. He froze me. Hudek just flat out threw some nasty pitches."

Reds Manager Jack McKeon wouldn't reveal why he'd changed his strategy on pitching to McGwire. But he jokingly said: "I thought about all the people who've filled up my voice mail wanting me to heal the country. I decided to do what I could. I wanted to do something good for the country."

McGwire had been criticized by some for declining to attend news conferences before and after Friday's game. He said today that with 700 reporters and a packed house watching his every move, he did what he had to do to maintain his concentration.

"I would rather just go about my business – like I am supposed to go about my business," he said. "Why I allow other things to derail me when I come to the ballpark? I do my normal things. There is really not much else to talk about prior to the game. I don't think I have to. If I don't get a hit, I don't think I have to come here and analyze every swing, every pitch. It's a nice mental release [not to do interviews]. I can just go home and relax. I'm not going to change anything."

McGwire will go for his 61st on Sunday against Reds right-hander Brett Tomko, who recently boasted that it might be "cool" to give up No. 61.

Many pitchers have said they do not want to be the guy remembered for giving up a historic home run. When Hudek entered today's game, it was one of the first thoughts that crossed his mind.

"I prepared myself. That's all I can do," he said. "Everyone asks you if you want to be that pitcher. No, I don't want to be that pitcher. If I go in the record books, I want to go in there for something positive on my part, not for somebody else."