Mark His Words, 60 Home Runs Still Possible

In the long history of major league baseball, only 10 men have hit 50 or more homers in a season. Only two have hit 60 or more.

It’s been 28 years since anyone hit 50 in the American League. That would be Roger Maris, who hit 61 in 1961.

When he did that, the then-commissioner of baseball, quaking in his concern for the memory of Babe Ruth, put an asterisk next to the achievement in the record book, noting that it was done in a season eight games longer than the ones Ruth played in. The commissioner was afraid, apparently, that the 60-homer season would become commonplace with expansion.

Ford Frick needn’t have worried. Not only has no one hit 60 in that league since, no one has even hit 50.

Will anyone ever hit 60 again? Will anyone even hit 50?

I took the problem to one of the young men I consider to be a prime threat to, one day, get an asterisk after his name--Mark McGwire.

McGwire is a hitter for the Oakland Athletics, who looks as if he had just walked off a Saturday Evening Post cover--sandy hair, blue eyes, just a hint of freckles. He’s as strong as truck-stop coffee and as uncomplicated as a summer day, the All-American type who seemingly can deal with the everyday pressures of big league baseball as nonchalantly as the Babe himself.

McGwire hit more home runs, 49, in his first year than any other rookie who ever played and might have hit 50 if he hadn’t shortened the season to go home for the birth of his first child.

Very few people have hit 100 home runs as quickly in their big league careers as McGwire. His teammate, Jose Canseco, is one. Tony Conigliaro of the Boston Red Sox was another.

So I thought Mark might be a good man to ask what it might take to hit 60 home runs now. Kevin Mitchell of the San Francisco Giants is 18 homers ahead of him this year--but Mark is 14 ahead of Mitchell lifetime. And four years younger.

Are 60 homers in a season even possible?

McGwire thinks so.

“I know guys who can do it,” he said. “Freddy McGriff of Toronto, Jose (Canseco), Kevin Mitchell, Darryl Strawberry.”

What about Mark McGwire?

McGwire sighed. “Well, it would depend on a number of factors.”

Such as?

“Well, let’s see. It’d go about like this:

“1. The media. You have to take into account what the media would do today as you got closer. I don’t think those old-time ballplayers like Ruth and Maris had that to contend with. (Oh, yes, Maris did!)

“Today, you would have Channels 4, 5, 7, 9, 11 and ’60 Minutes’ and every magazine and newspaper in the country on your doorstep, in your locker, in the shower. To hit 60 home runs, you’d need to concentrate solely on your game and these distractions wouldn’t help.

“2. Jose Canseco. You need the other dangerous hitter in the lineup behind you or ahead of you. Ruth had (Lou) Gehrig. Henry Aaron had Eddie Mathews. Maris had Mickey Mantle. (Willie) Mays had (Willie) McCovey. Frank Robinson had Brooks Robinson.

“I would need Jose Canseco. Or vice versa. You need that other hitter so the pitchers can’t pitch around you, so that you get pitches to hit. You can’t get 60 home runs swinging at ball four all season.”

“3. Adjustment. You’re not going to get the same pitches all year long. What you hit home runs off the first half of the season, you’re not going to get the last half. Pitchers will make you hit something else. They’re not going to throw you what you’ve shown you can hit.

“You have to adjust to a new location or a new speed. That’s why a lot of guys have a flock of home runs by the All-Star break but tail off after that. You don’t get 60 homers in a half a season.”

“4. Health. You have to stay healthy and injury-free. You have to be able to fight off fatigue. September might be the most important month. (Ruth hit 17 home runs in September of the season he hit 60.) And if you’re mentally fatigued, your timing is all off.

“5. Pull. I don’t mean influence, I mean pulling the ball. I get most of my home runs to left-center or center. To hit 60, you have to pull the ball a lot, get your share of foul-line home runs. I don’t think it’s possible to hit 60 420-foot home runs. Too many things have to go just right.

“6. Patience. I never, or almost never, hit a home run while I’m trying to. I didn’t even know I was a home run hitter when I was coming up. I just tried to hit the ball fair some place. That’s when you get home runs. I led the nation (with 32 home runs) when I was in college (at USC). Then I hit 24 home runs at Modesto. But a home run happens. You don’t forceit.”

It’s been a generation now since anyone even hit 50 in the American League. Lou Gehrig never hit 50. Neither did the all-time homer champion, Henry Aaron. Neither did Roger Maris, except for his record year.

The only batters who hit 60 were left-handed, but all but three of the nine who hit 50 were strictly right-handed--Ralph Kiner, Mays, Hack Wilson, Hank Greenberg, Jimmie Foxx, George Foster. Mantle was a switch-hitter, Johnny Mize and Ruth were lefties.

Are even 50 possible?

McGwire laughed. “Well, I would need some great September!” He has 21 to date.

Does he aim for 600 lifetime?

McGwire shook his head. “What my goal is has nothing to do with that. I want to win a WorldSeries.”

Well, there’s one way to look at that: Every guy who has ever hit 60 home runs has led his team to a World Series victory. Look it up.