Every great season has its signature moment. Bobby Thomson hit the "Shot Heard Round the World" in 1951. Roger Maris eclipsed Babe Ruth in the final regular-season game of 1961. Cal Ripken took an emotional victory lap in 1995.
Mark McGwire provided the magic moment of 1998 when he hit %% his 62nd home run on Sept. 8 to break Maris' 37-year-old single-season record, but the true magnitude of the regular season that ends today is reflected in the number of subplots that played out in the shadow of the unprecedented home run duel between McGwire and fellow record-chaser Sammy Sosa:
The New York Yankees recovered from a faltering start to become the winningest team in American League history.
Ripken brought an end to the longest consecutive-games streak in baseball history, finally sitting down last Sunday after playing in 2,632 games in a row.
Rookie Kerry Wood turned in perhaps the greatest single pitching performance in baseball history, throwing a one-hit shutout and striking out a record-tying 20 Houston Astros in his fifth major-league start.
Left-hander David Wells pitched the first regular-season perfect
game in Yankees history.
Rickey Henderson proved that life in the fast lane doesn't end at 39, becoming the oldest player in history to lead the league in stolen bases.
Barry Bonds created the 400-400 club: the first player to reach 400 home runs and 400 steals in a career.
It was, to say the least, an unusually eventful year, and the postseason still holds the prospect for tremendous drama and excitement.
"I'm something of a baseball history buff," said baseball commissioner Bud Selig. "As a kid growing up, I remember the magnificence of the summer of '49 when the Yankees and Red Sox went down to the last day and the 1951 season with Bobby Thomson. I think 1998 will be a year that people will remember for generations to come."
And why not? McGwire shattered the single-season homer mark with nearly three weeks remaining in the season and then continued the tit-for-tat home run derby with Sosa that may not be decided until the final out of the regular-season finale of each club today.
To find the last time two players put together performances of similar historic magnitude in the same season, you have to go all the way back to 1941, when Joe DiMaggio hit safely in 56 consecutive games and Ted Williams became the last major-leaguer to finish the season batting above .400.
There will be room for some rationalization, of course. The home run mark fell in the wake of Major League Baseball's second two-team expansion in six years -- at a time when the pool of big-league pitching talent is particularly shallow. But the season has also featured a couple of the most outstanding pitching performances in history.
Wood's early start in the major leagues may bear some loose connection to expansion, but he certainly did not look like a symbol of the game's pitching decline when he delivered his remarkable performance against the Astros. Roger Clemens had struck out 20 batters in a game twice previously, but in neither case limited the opposing club to one hit.
It was astonishing, and it was no fluke. Wood, who neither started nor finished the season in the major-league rotation, went on to win 13 games and rank third in the National League with 233 strikeouts.
Wells became the toast of New York when he pitched a perfect game on May 17, the first perfect game by a Yankee since Don Larsen pitched one in the 1956 World Series. Wells and Larsen, as luck would have it, both went to the same San Diego high school (Point Loma). What are the odds?
Clemens didn't get lost in the superstar shuffle. He got off to a slow start, but has a 15-game winning streak and an excellent chance to join Greg Maddux as the only pitchers ever to win five Cy Young Awards.
Maybe expansion did accentuate the talents of baseball's biggest stars, because so many of them had career years.
Texas Rangers outfielder Juan Gonzalez hit triple figures in RBIs before the All-Star break and stayed on pace to challenge Hack Wilson's single-season record (190) well into the second half.
Seattle Mariners shortstop Alex Rodriguez became only the third player to hit 40 home runs and steal 40 bases in the same season.
San Diego Padres pitcher Trevor Hoffman emerged as baseball's best closer, entering the final weekend with a major-league-leading 52 saves and a chance to show up on some MVP ballots.
Still, the focus remained largely on the dramatic, multi-player run at the home run record. McGwire led the way and was the first to eclipse Maris' record, but Sosa caught up with him at 65 on Wednesday and both hit their 66th on Friday. Mariners outfielder Ken Griffey -- who had dueled with McGwire in 1997 -- dropped back, but still joined the dynamic duo to give baseball three 50-homer guys in the same season for the first time.
Even though five of the division races were decided well before any September suspense could build, the McGwire/Sosa duel helped baseball complete its recovery from the disastrous labor fight of the early 1990s.
McGwire got the rose petals. Sosa probably will end up with the National League MVP trophy. The American League MVP is tougher to call, but probably will come down to either Gonzalez or Boston shortstop Nomar Garciaparra.
Wood is a lock to be the NL Rookie of the Year. Oakland's Ben Grieve, White Sox shortstop Mike Caruso and pitchers Rolando Arrojo of Tampa Bay and Orlando Hernandez of the Yankees figure to fragment the vote in the American League. The National League Cy Young race is wide open, further testament to the number of great individual performances in 1998.
"So many things have happened," Selig said. "The renaissance is complete. We'll go well over 70 million in attendance. We're the only major sport whose TV ratings are up all over. The Yankees, the wild-card races, Ripken. Everything has been so positive. So exciting. I don't know if this won't rank as one of the most powerful years in baseball history."
For once, there is something that the owners and players can agree on. The magical quality of the 1998 season has brought the fans back and turned baseball back into the national pastime.
"You've got national news magazines setting aside four pages for McGwire and Sosa and national television cutting in and out," said Don Fehr, executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association. "You've got the Yankees doing something that hasn't been done in this or the prior generation -- challenging Cleveland's record for victories in a season. The wild card has proven once again to have value. This is the kind of atmosphere we would like to have all the time."
The 1998 season will be a tough act to follow, but don't fret. There will be more great accomplishments to celebrate in 1999, when three players will be in close range of the same milestone. Ripken, Wade Boggs and Tony Gwynn each should collect his 3,000th hit by late summer.
And, for all we know, McGwire may be on pace again to hit 70 homers and challenge the 1-year-old home run record.
Don't laugh. It could happen.
Just wait until next year.
Great in '98
Why this has been a season for the ages:
Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa break Roger Maris' 37-year-old, single-season major-league record of 61 home runs.
Sosa breaks Rudy York's 61-year-old, one-month major-league record of 18 home runs by hitting 20 in June.
David Wells pitches the first regular-season perfect game in Yankees history.
Kerry Wood ties Roger Clemens' major-league record of 20 strikeouts in a game and averages 12.6 strikeouts per nine innings; the major-league record is Randy Johnson's (12.35).
Eric Davis is the second major-leaguer this decade to hit in 30 straight games.
Cal Ripken ends his major-league record consecutive-games streak at 2,632.
The Braves become the seventh franchise among the four major sports to win seven straight division titles. The NBA's Celtics (1957-1965) and Lakers (1982-1990) lead with nine in a row.
The Yankees break the American League record for wins in a season (111, by the 1954 Indians).
Vying for the National League wild card, the Mets and Cubs stay within a game of each other since mid-August.
The Indians become the seventh team in major-league history to lead wire-to-wire.
Three teams -- the Yankees, Braves and Astros -- win 100 games.
The defending champion Marlins lose 100.
McGwire breaks Barry Bonds' 2-year-old NL record of 151 walks and challenges Rogers Hornsby's 73-year-old NL record for slugging average (.756).
Juan Gonzalez and Sammy Sosa could become the first players in 60 years to come within 30 of Hack Wilson's 68-year-old major-league record of 190 RBIs. Both leagues have a 150-RBI man for the first time since 1937.
Craig Biggio becomes the first major-leaguer since Tris Speaker in 1912 to have 50 steals and 50 doubles.
Roger Clemens becomes the fourth pitcher since 1951 to go 20 " straight starts without a loss. Since his last loss, McGwire and Sosa have 95 homers.
Rickey Henderson, 39, will break Eddie Collins' 74-year-old record by becoming the oldest major-leaguer to win a stolen-base title.
Ivan Rodriguez, Jason Kendall and Mike Piazza make failed bids to become the first major-league catcher since Ernie Lombardi in 1938 to win a batting title.
Mike Piazza is traded twice and Randy Johnson once.
Pub Date: 9/27/98 %%