TV Viewers Not Likely to Miss Record Breaker

Plans for televising games involving Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa as they try to break Roger Maris’ home run record are taking shape, with Fox and its cable networks emerging as the major player.

Baseball and Fox announced Tuesday that if McGwire has 60 or 61 home runs, the Fox network will televise the three-game St. Louis Cardinal-Houston Astro series from Houston Sept. 11-13. On Friday, Sept. 11, and Sunday, Sept. 13, the games will be shown at 5 p.m. PDT. The Saturday game is now scheduled to be shown at 10 a.m., with regional telecasts to follow.

Fox’s FX cable network was scheduled to show the Saturday Cardinal-Astro game before giving it to its parent network. FX will instead show the Chicago Cubs and Cardinals next Tuesday at 5 p.m. FX is planning to offer that telecast as part of a “free preview” to non-cable affiliates.

ESPN has the Cubs and Cardinals on Monday night, and will probably show the Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday.

The Cub-Pittsburgh Pirate and Cardinal-Red games on Thursday will be shown on a split-national basis by Fox Sports Net, which includes Fox Sports West.

The Cubs play host to Milwaukee Sept. 11-13, and Fox is trying to work things out with WGN so it can show the games on Friday and Saturday, Sept. 11-12, if Sosa has 60 or 61 home runs.