Mac vs. Sammy II: Why This Sequel Isn’t a Smash . . . Yet

Now that Mark McGwire has again hammered his name into baseball history with his 500th and 501st home runs, perhaps the nation, once again, will turn its attention to another captivating race between the St. Louis Cardinals’ slugger and the Chicago Cubs’ Sammy Sosa.

Or will it?

Based on the relative lack of excitement the duel has generated so far this season, experts in fan behavior say the American people and the media appear to have been suffering from a classic case of Been There, Done That.

“It’s almost become ho-hum,” said Len Zaichkowsky, who directs a graduate program in sports psychology at Boston University. “We like newness and novelty, and we got that last year. It’s worn off now.”

Last season, the novelty was Roger Maris’ record of 61 homers in a season. Both McGwire and Sosa broke the 37-year-old record, McGwire finishing with 70, Sosa 66.

Matching that level of excitement, of course, would be almost impossible, even though both players again are on a pace to break the old record. McGwire has 44 homers, Sosa 42. At their current pace, McGwire would finish with 65 homers, Sosa with 64.

Last week, Sosa acknowledged what most baseball fans already knew: The home run hysteria of 1998 is history.

“This year feels good, but there isn’t the excitement of last year,” he said.

No surprise, said Kevin Burton, director of the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center at the University of Oregon, which studies the business of sports.

“I don’t know that we’re bored, but we’re not in unfamiliar territory,” Burton said. “Our thresholds for excitement are higher. You have to do more to capture our attention.”

The media latched onto the Chasing Maris story in spring training when McGwire predicted the record was within reach. Sosa unexpectedly entered the picture and gave the story an added angle with a record 20 homers in June. Interest was fueled further by the revelation and ensuing controversy over McGwire’s use of the supplement Androstenedione. In addition, the Maris family’s inclusion on the night McGwire broke the record, the financial windfall enjoyed or rejected by those who ended up with the historic home run balls McGwire hit and the Cubs’ surprising run at a playoff spot behind Sosa added to the fairy-tale nature of the story.

The friendly duel between Big Mac and Slammin’ Sammy cut across age, gender and interest barriers. Hard-core sports fans and people with little or no previous affinity for baseball shared thoughts on the subject at the water cooler.

Mark and Sammy were suddenly as familiar to the average American as the President and Monica. The president’s troubles, in fact, played a role in making the home run race so compelling for those who otherwise had little or no interest in the national pastime.

“It was an antidote to the bad things that were happening,” said Kevin Grace, who teaches the social history of baseball at the University of Cincinnati. “You had Clinton and his troubles, the troubles in the Balkans. We kind of fed off that.

“Last year, it transcended sports because it gave the American public something positive to focus on. This year it’s not doing that because we don’t need it to.”

Not with other sports stories that have captured the attention of the country.

The U.S. women’s soccer team’s spirited run to the World Cup title last month generated interest in a way not seen, well, since last summer when McGwire and Sosa were center stage.

This year’s home run race has also shared the spotlight with a glut of other baseball stories. Nolan Ryan, George Brett and Robin Yount were inducted into the Hall of Fame last month. The controversy surrounding the umpires’ labor situation continues. McGwire’s run at 500 homers has been grouped with Tony Gwynn’s and Wade Boggs’ race for 3,000 hits. Once those three milestones have been reached, perhaps the attention will refocus on the Sosa-McGwire chase.

But when Baseball America magazine ranked the top 10 stories of the first half in a recent issue, the home run race did not rate a mention.

The home run race could be in vogue again if McGwire, Sosa or another player began “hammering away at a pace to get to 75,” Zaichkowsky said. But right now, even with McGwire’s recent sizzling spurt, that appears unlikely.

“Last year, we were jazzed in July,” Burton said. “This year we might be jazzed by September. But it’s like, hey, there is nothing really special or newsworthy yet.”