BUSCH STADIUM, St. Louis: Mark McGwire hit his 62nd home run at 9:18 EST, in his second at bat of his teams 145th game of the 1998 season. He did it far more quickly than Roger Maris, in far fewer at bats, and indeed this race against history has been a foregone conclusion for weeks. Yet as McGwire watched that 62nd baseball rocket out toward left field and barely - just barely, this time - clear the fence and become part of legend, all the weeks of anticipation melted into joy. And what the highlight films will show us, tonight and tomorrow night and down an endless trail of nights on into history, was this: Mark McGwire hugging everyone he could lay his big meaty hands on. Players. Coaches. His son. The Maris family, nearly all at once. Mark McGwire seemed to want to share it with everyone, this piece of American history that is now his alone, and with the game televised in one hundred countries, he very nearly did.
The moment was a chance to gaze backward, to 1961, to 1927, to the baseball heroes of happier times. And the game paused, with a leisurely euphoria, as fans of baseball and America took a good long look. But as McGwire hugged Sammy Sosa, lifting the Chicago Cub toward the heavens as fireworks went off above their heads, we were reminded: The future waits. Neither the home run race nor the 1998 season is over yet, and history is not yet done being made.
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