(Boston, October 3, 1999) It's McGwire with the homerun title again, after hitting 2 this weekend in the Cardinal-Cub showdown. Showdown??? Well, it was a contest the Cards won 9-5, and Mac ends the year with 65 homers, 147 rbi, and a .278 average. Sammy Sosa wraps up with 63, 141, and .288. Junior Griffey (48, 134, .285) fell a bit short.

(Boston, September 28, 1999) Mac ties Sammy for the lead with numero 61... the Cards lose... Guess this shows what a team sport baseball is. Each of these two wunderkinds would seem to equal a #3 and a #4 hitter combined... You would think their production would shoot their respective teams into the first division. Guess not. As individuals though, McGwire and Sosa are so great, so far ahead of 5 or 600 others trying to do the same thing that, when they go a few games without blasting one it seems like an eternity. A question asked last year comes to mind: Is it easier to get motivated to hit when you're in a race (as Sammy Sosa was last year) or when there's no pressure to win? Many questions...

(Boston, September 26, 1999) Perennial (non-MVP) MVP Mark McGwire joins Sammy Sosa for a 60+ celebration for the second year in a row. However, his Cards lost to the Reds, who are now a game up on the Mets for the NL Wildcard. Yeah, it's true, Big Mac has not yet taken home the MVP award, and unless the Cards get their pitching healthy, it's not likely to happen. Even if he hits 80.

(Boston, September 19, 1999) Sammy (.296, 61, 134) belted #61 today in a rare Cub victory, and Big Mac (.277, 56, 132) had a pair (#57 & 58) in another Cardinal loss. Sosa needs 9 to tie Mac's mark, and he has but 13 games to do it. Must be difficult to get motivatin' when your team is playing so poorly, but these guys (and you have to include Junior Griffey, who logs in with a modest 45) are really in a league of their own when it comes to hitting homers. And they're accumulating lifetime numbers real fast. Mac, with 513 dingahs, is now 12th all-time, and could be a threat to join the 700 club.

(Boston, September 6, 1999) Sammy Sosa blasted #58 onto Waveland Avenue today, and Big Mac now has 54. This really is phenomenal - as McGwire himself said last year, this is not easy to do. Can the record be broken? The way this pair punishes baseballs, and with 27 games still remaining, it's certainly possible. Sammy blasted 66 last year, and is 6 games ahead of that pace.

Kind of a shame their respective teams are going nowhere. The Cubbies are an abyssmal 55-80, 26 games back in the NL Central, and Mac's Cardinals have hovered around .500 all year, and now stand at 67-71.

(Boston, August 25, 1999) Same as it ever was... Sosa and McGwire are battling for the homerun crown, and balls are leaving the park at an astounding rate again this year. Griffey and Bagwell are in the hunt, and we should have another batch of 50+ by October...