{"id":5870,"date":"2026-09-07T12:38:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T12:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=5870"},"modified":"2026-09-07T12:38:00","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T12:38:00","slug":"labor-day-1998-plus-sammy-mark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=5870","title":{"rendered":"Labor Day 1998 plus Sammy & Mark"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Sammy\u00a0Sosa’s big smile\u00a0and\u00a0Mark McGwire’s powerful swing\u00a0were a wonderful distraction from the real world in the summer of ’98.\u00a0 \u00a0It was so much fun keeping track of home runs and the countdown to pass Roger Maris’s 61 from 1961 and Babe Ruth’s legendary 60 from 1927.<\/p>

Read more El-Sayed: Islamists are just like us<\/a><\/p>\n

We grew up in a baseball world where 50 was a super season.<\/p>\n

The great Harmon Killebrew hit 49 in one season.\u00a0 The amazing Hank Aaron hit 47.\u00a0 Triple crown winner Mickey Mantle did hit 56 and 54 in the 1950’s. The Phillies’ Mike Schmitdt topped at 48.\u00a0The great Willie Mays hit 52 twice in his career.\u00a0The A’s Reggie Jackson hit 47 in ’69 and led the AL with 32 in ’73 and 36 in ’75.\u00a0Frank Robinson of\u00a0the Orioles won the Triple Crown in 1966 and hit 49 home runs.\u00a0In the 1970s, there were only a few guys who hit 40!\u00a0In other words, 50 home runs was a huge number.<\/p>\n

It was so rare that only Willie Mays (52 in ’65), George Foster (52 in ’77), and Cecil Fielder (50 in ’90) did it over a 25-year span!\u00a0In other words,\u00a0only 3 players hit 50 home runs from 1965 to 1990!<\/p>\n

So having two guys hit 60 home runs in the same season was beyond my imagination.\u00a0Unthinkable! What were the Gods of Baseball doing with our imaginations?<\/p>\n

This is what made the summer of 1998 so exciting.\u00a0In 1998, McGuire hit # 62 and hugged the Maris family in a national telecast following Labor Day.\u00a0Sosa followed him daily. It went on for the whole month of September. It was wonderful.<\/p>\n

On the last day of the season, McGuire hit the unthinkable # 69 and # 70.<\/p>\n

It was incredible to watch McGuire and Sosa connect with the fans and bring baseball back from the unpleasant strike of ’94.<\/p>\n

We needed all of those home runs because 1998 was a horrible year except for baseball.<\/p>\n

On the local scene, we had one of the warmest summers ever. We had daily 100-plus temperatures for 29 days. At one point, we reached 108.\u00a0Even the old-timers could not remember such a hot summer.<\/p>

Read more Is Shapiro exploiting measles \u2018outbreak\u2019 for political gain?<\/a><\/p>\n

On the national scene, it was\u00a0the summer of Monica Lewinski and Bill Clinton.\u00a0By Labor Day, most of us were hearing about “oral sex” and White House interns.\u00a0I did not appreciate that.\u00a0President Clinton’s incredibly reckless behavior led to his impeachment in December!<\/p>\n

On the global scene, two US embassies were blown up in Africa.\u00a0Osama Bin Laden said that it was another battle in the war against the US.\u00a0So much for the theory that the terrorists got violent because the US invaded Iraq!<\/p>\n

Over at the UN, Saddam Hussein kicked out the inspectors.\u00a0Pres. Clinton went to the UN Security Council and demanded a reaction.\u00a0VP Gore called Iraq a “virulent threat”.<\/p>\n

Nothing happened, and Saddam got away with giving the world the finger again.<\/p>\n

By the end of ’98, Saddam was hitting 12 for 12 (perfect 1.000 batting average) in his defiance and rejection of UN resolutions!\u00a0So much for the theory that the UN was ever serious about the matter.<\/p>\n

Over in Iraq, Saddam was shooting at US planes enforcing UN resolutions.\u00a0So much for the theory that Saddam never attacked the US.<\/p>\n

Most of us were very happy that Sosa and McGwire were hitting titanic home runs. It was a pleasant distraction from the rest of the news.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Graphic: X Post\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sadly, we learned later that Sosa and McGwire were allegedly involved in the steroids controversy and ended up answering questions from a congressional committee.\u00a0Both later admitted steroid use. What a shame.\u00a0It was a great baseball summer.<\/p>

Read more How Lindsay channeled Magda<\/a><\/p>\n

P.S.\u00a0 Check out\u00a0my blog for posts, podcasts and videos.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sammy\u00a0Sosa’s big smile\u00a0and\u00a0Mark McGwire’s powerful swing\u00a0were a wonderful distraction from the real world in the summer of ’98.\u00a0 \u00a0It was so much fun keeping track of home runs and the countdown to pass Roger Maris’s 61 from 1961 and Babe Ruth’s legendary 60 from 1927. Read more El-Sayed: Islamists are just like us We grew […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5868,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,464],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\nLabor Day 1998 plus Sammy & Mark - Interstate Logistics Hub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=5870\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Labor Day 1998 plus Sammy & Mark - Interstate Logistics Hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sammy\u00a0Sosa’s big smile\u00a0and\u00a0Mark McGwire’s powerful swing\u00a0were a wonderful distraction from the real world in the summer of ’98.\u00a0 \u00a0It was so much fun keeping track of home runs and the countdown to pass Roger Maris’s 61 from 1961 and Babe Ruth’s legendary 60 from 1927. 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