THE football Rainbows having the week off gave me a chance to think about baseball even though both the colleges and the National Football League began their season. ‘The Chase’ has pumped
new life into grand old gameYou couldn't help but think about baseball yesterday, when Mark McGwire hit his 61st home run to tie Roger Maris' record and Randy Johnson pitched his fourth straight shutout in the Astrodome as the Houston Astros beat Cincinnati, 1-0.
Imagine if Big Mac and the Big Unit were teammates.
Wait. They once were -- with the University of Southern California Trojans.
What's even more remarkable is that they both played for USC in a four-game series against Les Murakami's University of Hawaii Rainbows, opening the $7.6-million Rainbow Stadium Feb. 17-19, 1984.
If you think it's hard hitting one out of Rainbow Stadium, just ask McGwire. He failed to hit a home run in going 4-for-16 while batting third for the Trojans. He was 3-for-5 with two doubles and three RBIs in the Rainbow Stadium inaugural won by the Trojans, 5-3, on USC coach Rod Dedeaux's 69th birthday before a sellout crowd of 4,321 fans.
Johnson, who was then a half-inch shorter at 6-foot-91/2, won the series finale, 7-4, despite walking six batters and striking out only one in going 51/3 innings. Dedeaux's Trojans won three out of four.
Anyway, McGwire has captured our imagination with his long-ball exploits. And "The Chase" has given baseball a lift even if the suspense of the majority of the division races is long gone.
Any day now McGwire will hit No. 62 to break Roger Maris' record. With 19 games remaining, counting today, it's a foregone conclusion that the record will be McGwire's. But will anyone care or will the St. Louis Cardinals continue to sell out their remaining home games after he connects for No. 62. Will the thrill still be the same with No. 63 and more?
McGwire says he wants to keeping going. "Seventy would be a nice number," he said.
The only question left in this season's home run chase is if Sammy Sosa of the Chicago Cubs will also break Maris' record.
McGwire said he wouldn't mind sharing the honor with Sosa. Nice gesture. But I think it would take some luster off McGwire's accomplishment.
ONE thing I'll be glad that's over is all the talk about the pressure that McGwire has faced in his pursuit of Maris. What pressure?
What Maris went through during the 1961 season while chasing Babe Ruth was pressure. After all, Maris was chasing an icon -- baseball's greatest player. Maris faced at times blatant resentment that haunted him until the day he died. That was real pressure. Hank Aaron felt it, too, when he connected for No. 715 to break the Babe's career home run record.
McGwire wasn't chasing Ruth but Maris, a decent individual but hardly an icon. If anything, most fans were pulling for Big Mac, which was hardly the case with Maris.
Besides, McGwire had company while chasing Maris' record.
WHICH brings us to an interesting story-line when (it's safe to say that) McGwire breaks the record Maris set in 1961.
If McGwire hits, say 66 homers, it might take another 37 years before someone else breaks the record. If McGwire stops at 62 or 63, he's a good bet to break his own record next season.
Whatever the final home run total for McGwire this season, it'll be another number for baseball buffs to remember. We first had 714, then 715 and now 733 (Aaron's final total). First 60, then 61. And who knows what next when McGwire is done this season.
By the way, whatever happened to Ken Griffey?