McGwire’s Homer Puts Reggie Behind

Mark McGwire was a lot happier passing Reggie Jackson than he was catching him.

McGwire passed Jackson for sixth place on the all-time home run list and Matt Morris tied a career high with 11 strikeouts Saturday in the St. Louis Cardinals’ 3-2 victory over the Detroit Tigers.

When McGwire tied Jackson on Thursday, the Cardinals lost.

McGwire was a rookie and Jackson was in his final season in 1987 when the two were teammates on the Oakland Athletics.

“He signed me an autograph at the halfway mark of the season saying ‘Congratulations on allowing me to watch you hit the first of many 40-plus [homer] seasons,” McGwire said. “When you’re a kid and somebody like that is writing something to you, it’s pretty special.

“It was really neat to break in with somebody like that.”

Manager Tony La Russa, who managed both Jackson and McGwire that season, met with Jackson last Monday.

“He knew exactly where Mark was [on the all-time list],” La Russa said.

McGwire, who entered in a three-for-45 slump, connected for his 564th homer to lead off the second. McGwire hit a 1-and-1 fastball from Jose Lima (1-1) over the left-field wall for his 10th homer this season, leaving him nine behind fifth-place Harmon Killebrew.