McGwire’s Ruthless

In a performance that any slugger could relate to, Mark McGwire, who is not just any slugger, struck out three times Saturday but also hit a home run that put him on the same pedestal with the most renowned slugger in history.

A Busch Stadium crowd of 47,994, on its feet for each at-bat by the St. Louis Cardinals’ first baseman, thundered approval when McGwire hit a first-inning homer against Cincinnati Red left-hander Dennis Reyes for his 60th of the year, equaling the long-mystical total of Babe Ruth in 1927.

Ruth hit 60 in a 154-game season. McGwire reached 60 in his 141st game and has 21 left in which to eclipse the record 61 hit by Roger Maris in 1961, the first season of 162 games.

“Quite remarkable,” McGwire said in reference to being at 60 in the first week of September.

As for joining Ruth and Maris as the only players to have hit 60, with only Maris ahead and Hack Wilson, Jimmie Foxx, Hank Greenberg and other luminaries behind him, McGwire termed it unbelievable--but not something he is dwelling on right now.

“Sure, I’ve thought about it, but it’s one of those things I’ve tried to put out of my mind,” he said. “I’ve surpassed anything I ever expected to do in this game, and I’m sure it will sink in later, but right now I’m trying to keep my focus and keep it simple. Look for a pitch and drive it.”

With his 381-foot drive off a 2-and-0 fastball from former Dodger Reyes, McGwire put the Cardinals on the way to a 7-0 victory, ignited a curtain call ovation and moved three up on Sammy Sosa, who later would hit his 58th homer and arrives here with his Chicago Cubs for a two-game set Monday.

In a long news conference after the game, McGwire was frequently asked again about the perception that the home run duel between him and Sosa has accelerated baseball’s recovery from the 1994 players’ strike in the same way Ruth energized the recovery after the 1919 Black Sox scandal.

“If you want to say we’ve brought baseball back and brought the country together, I truly believe it,” McGwire said, with nods to Sosa and Ken Griffey Jr. in particular.

“The reception around the country has been unbelievable. I mean, it’s not just at the park. I’ve met people on the street who tell me they hated baseball [because of the strike] but because of what ‘you, Sammy and the other great players are doing, we’re coming back, we’re excited again.’ All I can say is ‘thank you.’ ”

The Cardinals, 20 1/2 games out in the National League Central, have drawn more than 2.6 million.

The first two games of the series with the Reds, who are 23 out, have been sellouts. A large portion of Saturday’s crowd was still saluting McGwire long after the game, listening to and watching the news conference on the stadium screen and responding resoundingly each time McGwire expressed his appreciation for the support of St. Louis fans and said how wonderful it would be--if it happens at all--to break the Maris record at Busch.

On Saturday, the Busch crowd had a double treat: the latest addition to McGwire’s monumental season and the unveiling of a second statue honoring Stan Musial, who threw out the first ball and whipped out his harmonica to lead the crowd in “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.”

McGwire, who has 13 homers in his last 18 games and five in the last four, quickly enhanced the festive mood with No. 60. He and Reyes agreed that it was a fastball, disagreed on location. McGwire said it was in, Reyes out. It went out, definitely, landing in the lower deck in left.

Aside from a stutter step as he neared first (he insisted that he wasn’t copying Sosa’s hop) and aggressively slapping the hand of coach Dave McKay as he rounded that bag, McGwire completed an unemotional tour of the bases before being summoned from the dugout by the crowd.

At this point, with the Cardinals in the process of scoring four in the first to bring McGwire to the plate again in the second, there was the rampant feeling that it could be a two- or three-homer day. However, McGwire struck out on four pitches against Reyes in the second, on five against Mike Remlinger in the fifth and on seven against John Hudek in the seventh.

The Cardinals had a 5-0 lead with one out and runners at second and third in the seventh when Cincinnati Manager Jack McKeon, who had caused consternation among St. Louis fans in previous series by frequently pitching around McGwire, opted not to walk him and brought in Hudek, a breaking ball specialist, to challenge him.

No intentional walk? McKeon slipped tongue in cheek and said he has been besieged by voice mail messages from St. Louis fans “calling on me to heal the country, so I thought I’d pitch to him to see if it would help with the healing process.”

McGwire and Sosa might have captivated the country with their homers--”We’re fortunate to have two class guys creating tremendous excitement for the game,” McKeon said--but all the strikeout did was help Hudek heal the jam.

Asked later if he would take three strikeouts per day knowing they would be accompanied by a home run, McGwire laughed and said, “Of course. That’s 162 home runs. I’d take 500 strikeouts and 162 homers any time.”

Sosa and McGwire are 1-2 in the majors in strikeouts, but then Ruth led the majors a record four times.

The slugger’s curse, but a footnote to 60.

“I’m almost speechless,” McGwire said of sharing the pedestal with Ruth. “He was obviously the most important sports figure of his time, and I wish I could step back in time to meet him. I guess I’ll have the opportunity when I pass away to find out what he was really like.”

Heaven can wait. Among McGwire’s unfinished business is Roger Maris.