This Day In Baseball
History: August 20, 1998
It was on this date in 1998 that
St. Louis Cardinals’ first baseman, Mark McGwire, became the first player in
MLB history to hit 50 or more home runs in three consecutive seasons. The
dinger was a solo shot that came on the tail end of back-to-back home runs with
Brian Jordan against the New York Mets’ Willie Blair in the seventh inning of a
2-0 St. Louis victory at Shea Stadium in New York. It was the first game of a
double-header.
McGwire hit 52 home runs while a
member of the Oakland Athletics in 1996, smacked a combined total of 58 in 1997
while splitting time with Oakland (34) and St. Louis (24) and then hit his
record-breaking 70 in 1998. He would add a fourth consecutive year in 1999 when
he drilled 65 over the wall. Other than those four seasons, McGwire never had
another 50-home run season during his career, with the 49 he had as a rookie in
1987 being the closest he would get.
Chicago Cubs’ slugger Sammy Sosa
would tie that record of four 50-homer seasons in a row with 66 in 1998, 63 in
1999, 50 in 2000 and 64 in 2001. He would fall one short (49) in 2002 of making
it five seasons in a row.
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