Sosa Ties (the) Mark

Mark McGwire was saluted with fireworks at Busch Stadium. Sammy Sosa’s tribute was paper cups and other debris thrown onto Wrigley Field.

The commissioner of baseball and the family of Roger Maris offered their congratulations by phone this time instead of in person.

CNN didn’t go live to Sosa’s postgame news conference. Even the Chicago Cubs’ flagship station, which is owned by the same company that owns the team, left for a syndicated sitcom rerun before Sosa spoke.

It’s quite a difference playing Buzz Aldrin to McGwire’s Neil Armstrong.

The sporting world was caught a little off guard Sunday, and it showed. There shouldn’t be any more excuses now. The Great Home Run Race is on again.

Sosa put into words what his two blasts out of Wrigley Field, his 61st and 62nd home runs of the year, made perfectly clear: “This is not over yet. We have more to go.”

Stick around for this one. Don’t leave the theater until the very last credit scrolls to the top of the screen and the lights come on. This story keeps coming up with new twists and turns and the best show going just got better. When McGwire hit a ball over the left-field fence last Tuesday it not only gave him his record-breaking 62nd home run, it put him four ahead of Sosa. You could just hear the baseball announcers saying “We now return you to your pennant and wild-card races, already in progress.”

Even Mark Grace, Sosa’s teammate, conceded: “I thought, pretty much, the home run race was gonna be McGwire’s.”

Think again.

“My buddy, when he gets hot he can hit ‘em in a hurry,” Grace said.

How about four in three days--all of which were too long to stay within the Friendly Confines. His shots on Sunday went over the bleachers, across Waveland Avenue and down Kenmore Avenue.

No matter what happens from here, these two men who have hit home runs at an unprecedented rate will accomplish something else previously unthinkable in this country: they’ve made second place matter.

At this point, no one loses. Whoever finishes second can’t be called a choker. Not when he’s hit more home runs than anyone had in every baseball season that came before this one.

Sports always relied upon somebody to play the bad guy, be it a team’s rival, or a loudmouth coach, or a college that skirted the NCAA rules or a Cold War enemy during the Olympics. In the Great Home Run Race people might have reasons to root for their choice, but it’s hard to root against the other guy.

They both are taking the art of home-run hitting to a new level. They treat each other with respect. They both exceed their obligations of community service; Sosa provides for poor people and schoolchildren in the Dominican Republic, McGwire helps abused kids.

Too much has been invested in McGwire to just toss him aside. He has already been proclaimed the country’s next great sporting icon, the heir apparent to Air Jordan.

The companies who ran at him with endorsement deals aren’t going to pull their offers from the table. It’s not as if the Hall of Fame is going to turn around and say to McGwire, “Here’s your bat and your ball and your jersey and your kid’s jersey, too. We need to make room for the Sosa exhibit.”

Likewise, it would be impossible to forget or diminish what Sosa has done. He trailed McGwire in home runs, 27-13, on May 30. All he has done since then is catch up with a man who hits home runs more frequently than anyone in the history of the game, while keeping his team’s playoff hopes alive.

“I hope Sammy gets the attention he deserves,” Grace said, “because not only has he hit 62 home runs, but he’s hit home runs for a team that is playing awfully well and he’s helped carry us to where we’re at.

“I hope baseball gives him his just due, because he’s been so incredible.”

Part of the smaller response is because records appreciate in value over time. Maris’ mark stood for 37 years. McGwire’s lasted less than a week. Sixty-two homers--like most stocks today--isn’t worth what it was last Tuesday.

But it bears repeating just because it happens so rarely: Sosa stands above Maris and Babe Ruth.

McGwire’s historic moment seemed preordained. Everyone was ready and waiting. To his credit, he delivered on cue.

Sosa’s came as a bit more of a surprise. Even he didn’t seem quite prepared for it, a little more overwhelmed than McGwire.

“It was something unbelievable,” Sosa said. “I can’t even believe what I was doing.”

It also came in the context of a topsy-turvy game against the Milwaukee Brewers that the Cubs won in extra-innings for a huge boost to their wild-card hopes. Sosa wasn’t the only hero; Grace was lifted onto his teammates’ shoulders for his game-winning home run. Then Tyler Houston and Scott Servais lifted up Sosa.

It seems like Sosa will always have to be content to share the spotlight. To share in the Great Home Run Race, however, is to come out a victor.

“One time Mark said in St. Louis, ‘Wouldn’t it be beautiful if we end up tied?’ ” Sosa said. “It could happen.”