YEAR OF THE HOMER

L.A. Times Archives

Sept. 28, 1998 12 AM PT

PLATE APPEARANCES

Sammy Sosa

Sacrifice flys: 0.7%

Hit by pitch: 0.1%

Intentional walks: 1.9%

Grounded into double plays: 2.6%

Doubles: 2.8%

Home Runs: 9.2%

Walks: 10.2%

Singles: 15.3%

Fly Outs: 18.9%

Ground Outs: 19.1%

Strikeouts: 23.7%

Mark McGwire

Sacrifice flys: 0.6%

Hit by pitch: 0.9%

Grounded into double plays: 1.2%

Doubles: 3.1%

Intentional walks: 4.1%

Singles: 9.0%

Ground Outs: 10.1%

Home Runs: 10.3%

Fly Outs: 19.5%

Strikeouts: 22.8%

Walks: 23.%

COMPARISON

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Category SOSA MCGWIRE Batting Average .307 .299 On-base % .377 .469 Slugging % .650 ..736 Runs 132 130 Hits 196 152 Doubles 20 21 Triples 0 0 Home Runs 66 70 Runs batted in 158 147 Walks 73 162 Strikeouts 170 155 Steals 18 1

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HOMERS THROUGH THE YEARS

Years with most players hitting 30 or more homers:

1969: 16

1970:19

1977: 20

1982: 16

1987: 28

1993: 21

1995: 22

1996: 41

1997: 30

1998: 33

Note: In 1961, 15 players hit 30 or more homers

Years with most players hitting 40 or more homers:

1953: 6

1954: 6

1955: 7

1961: 10

1969: 7

1970: 6

1993: 5

1996: 15

1997: 10

1998: 13

Years with most players hitting 50 or more homers:

1938: 2

1947: 2

1961: 2

1996: 2

1997: 2

1998: 3

Years with most home runs per game:

1956: 1.86

1959: 1.83

1961: 1.91

1962: 1.85

1987: 16

1994: 2.12

1995: 2.07

1996: 2.02

1997: 2.19

1998: 2.08

Researched by Houston Mitchell

1998 Home Runs Over 40

Mark McGwire: 70

Sammy Sosa: 66

Ken Griffey Jr.: 56

Greg Vaughn: 49

Albert Belle: 49

Vinny Castilla: 46

Manny Ramirez: 45

70: MARK McGWIRE STATISTICS

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No. Date Against pitcher, team Result 1 March 31 R. Martinez, Dodgers W, 6-0 2 April 2 Lankford, Dodgers W, 8-5 3 April 3 Langston, San Diego L, 13-5 4 April 4 Wengert, San Diego W, 8-6 5/6/7 April 14 Suppan (2), Manuel, Arizona W, 15-5 8 April 17 Whiteside, Philadelphia W, 8-5 9 April 21 T. Moore, Montreal W, 5-3 10 April 25 Spradlin, Philadelphia W, 8-5 11 April 30 Pisciotta, Chicago Cubs L, 8-3 12 May 1 Beck, Chicago Cubs L, 6-5 13 May 8 R. Reed, New York Mets L, 9-2 14 May 12 Wagner, Milwaukee W, 6-5 15 May 14 Millwood, Atlanta L, 7-3 16 May 16 L. Hernandez, Florida W, 5-4 17 May 18 J. Sanchez, Florida L, 7-3 18/19/20 May 19 Green (2), Gomes, Philadelphia W, 10-8 21 May 22 Gardner, San Francisco W, 4-3 22/23 May 23 R. Rodriguez, Johnstone, San Fran. W, 11-10 24 May 24 Nen, San Francisco L, 9-6 25 May 25 J. Thomson, Colorado L, 6-1 26 May 29 Miceli, San Diego W, 8-3 27 May 30 Ashby, San Diego L, 3-2 28 June 5 Hershiser, San Francisco L, 3-2 29 June 8 Bere, Chicago White Sox L, 8-6 30 June 10 Parque, Chicago White Sox L, 10-8 31 June 12 Benes, Arizona W, 9-4 32 June 17 Lima, Houston L, 6-5 33 June 18 Reynolds, Houston W, 7-6 34 June 24 Wright, Cleveland L, 14-3 35 June 25 Burba, Cleveland L, 8-2 36 June 27 Trombley, Minnesota W, 7-2 37 June 30 Rusch, Kansas City L, 6-1 38 July 11 Wagner, Houston W, 4-3 39/40 July 12 Bergman, Elarton, Houston W, 6-4 41/42 July 17 Bohanon, Osuna, Dodgers W, 4-1 43 July 20 Boehringer, San Diego W, 13-1 44 July 26 Thomson, Colorado W, 3-1 45 July 28 Myers, Milwaukee L, 13-10 46 Aug. 8 Clark, Chicago Cubs W, 9-8 47 Aug. 11 B. Jones, New York Mets L, 8-3 48/49 Aug. 19 Karchner, Mulholland, Chicago Cubs W, 8-6 50 Aug. 20 Blair, New York Mets (Game 1) W, 2-0 51 Aug. 20 Reed, New York Mets (Game 2) L, 5-4 52 Aug. 22 Cordova, Pittsburgh L, 14-4 53 Aug. 23 Rincon, Pittsburgh L, 4-3 54 Aug. 26 Speier, Florida L, 7-6 55 Aug. 30 Martinez, Atlanta W, 7-6 56/57 Sept. 1 L. Hernandez, Pall, Atlanta W, 7-1 58/59 Sept. 2 Edmondson, Stanifer, Florida W, 14-4 60 Sept. 5 Reyes, Cincinnati W, 7-0 61 Sept. 7 Morgan, Chicago Cubs W, 3-2 62 Sept. 8 Trachsel, Chicago Cubs W, 6-3 63 Sept. 15 Christiansen, Pittsburgh L, 8-6 64 Sept. 18 Roque, Milwaukee W, 5-2 65 Sept. 20 Karl, Milwaukee W, 3-1 66 Sept. 25 Bennett, Montreal W, 6-5 67/68 Sept. 26 Hermanson, Bullinger, Montreal L, 7-6 69/70 Sept. 27 Pavano, Thurman, Montreal W, 6-3

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WHERE THEY HIT

LEFT FIELD: 52

CENTER FIELD: 14

RIGHT FIELD: 4

HR VS. TEAM

Cubs: 7

Florida: 7

Dodgers: 5

San Diego: 5

Phil.: 5

San Fran.: 5

Houston: 5

Montreal: 5

Arizona: 4

Mets: 4

Milw.: 4

Phil.: 3

Atlanta: 2

Colorado: 2

White Sox: 2

Cleveland: 2

Minnesota: 1

K.C.: 1

Cincinnati: 1

HR BY DISTANCE

300-349: 6

350-399: 18

400-449: 21

450-499: 21

500+: 4

HR BY MONTH

March: 1

April: 10

May: 16

June: 10

July: 8

August: 10

Sept.15

66: SAMMY SOSA STATISTICS

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No. Date Against pitcher, team Result 1 April 4 M. Valdes, Montreal W, 3-1 2 April 11 Telford, Montreal L, 5-4 3 April 15 Cook, New York Mets L, 2-1 4 April 23 Miceli, San Diego L, 4-1 5 April 24 I.Valdes, Dodgers L, 12-4 6 April 27 J. Hamilton, San Diego W, 3-1 7 May 3 Politte, St. Louis L, 8-5 8 May 16 Sullivan, Cincinnati W, 5-4 9 May 22 G. Maddux, Atlanta L, 8-2 10/11 May 25 Millwood, Cather, Atlanta L, 9-5 12/13 May 27 Winston, Gomes, Philadelphia L, 10-5 14/15 June 1 Dempster, O. Henriquez, Florida W, 10-2 16 June 3 L. Hernandez, Florida W, 5-1 17 June 5 Parque, Chicago White Sox W, 6-5 18 June 6 C. Castillo, Chicago White Sox W, 7-6 19 June 7 Baldwin, Chicago White Sox W, 13-7 20 June 8 Hawkins, Minnesota W, 8-1 21 June 13 Portugal, Philadelphia W, 10-8 22/23/24 June 15 Eldred (3), Milwaukee W, 6-5 25 June 17 Patrick, Milwaukee L, 6-5 26/27 June 19 Loewer (2), Philadelphia L, 9-8 28/29 June 20 Beech, Borland, Philadelphia W, 9-4 30 June 21 Ty Green, Philadelphia L, 7-2 31 June 24 Greisinger, Detroit L, 7-6 32 June 25 Moehler, Detroit L, 6-4 33 June 30 Embree, Arizona L, 5-4 34 July 9 Juden, Milwaukee L, 12-9 35 July 10 Karl, Milwaukee L, 6-5 36 July 17 Ojala, Florida W, 6-1 37 July 22 M. Batista, Montreal W, 9-5 38 July 26 R. Reed, New York Mets W,3-1 39/40 July 27 Blair, Embree, Arizona W, 6-2 41 July 28 Wolcott, Arizona L, 7-5 42 July 31 Wright, Colorado W, 9-1 43 Aug. 5 Benes, Arizona L, 10-7 44 Aug. 8 Croushore, St. Louis L, 9-8 45/46 Aug. 10 Ortiz, Brock, San Francisco W, 8-5 47 Aug. 16 Bergman, Houston W, 2-1 48 Aug. 19 Bottenfield, St. Louis L, 8-6 49 Aug. 21 Hershiser, San Francisco W, 6-5 50/51 Aug. 23 Lima (2), Houston L, 13-3 52 Aug. 26 Tomko, Cincinnati W, 9-2 53 Aug. 28 Thomson, Colorado W, 10-5 54 Aug. 30 Kile, Colorado W, 4-3 55 Aug. 31 Tomko, Cincinnati W, 5-4 56 Sept. 2 Bere, Cincinnati L, 4-2 57 Sept. 4 Schmidt, Pittsburgh W, 5-2 58 Sept. 5 Lawrence, Pittsburgh W, 8-4 59 Sept. 11 Pulsipher, Milwaukee L, 13-11 60 Sept. 12 De losSantos, Milwaukee W, 15-12 61/62 Sept. 12 Patrick, Plunk, Milwaukee W, 11-10 63 Sept. 16 Boehringer, San Diego W, 6-3 64/65 Sept. 23 Henderson, Roque, Milwaukee L, 8-3 66 Sept. 25 Lima, Houston L, 6-2

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WHERE THEY HIT

LEFT FIELD: 36

CENTER FIELD: 12

RIGHT FIELD: 18

HR VS. TEAM

Phil.: 8

Milw.: 12

Arizona: 5

Houston: 5

Florida: 4

Cincinnati: 2