Hang in there, Roger
Posted: Wednesday September 02, 1998 07:22 PM
The home run chase, of course, is the big story in this final month of the
1998 baseball season. Mark or Sammy? Sammy or Mark? Who is going to break
the record? Who do you like?
There is support for both candidates: Mark with his tape-measure, majestic
shots; Sammy with his important contributions to the Chicago Cubs' run for a
wild-card spot in the playoffs.
Here is my own little confession. As the home run numbers get larger and
the number of games remaining gets smaller, I find I'm rooting for the
third member of the chase. I'm rooting for the defending champion.
I'm rooting for Roger.
I've always been an underdog kind of guy and Roger, by far, seems to have
become the underdog in this battle. He doesn't have the chance to load up
on some of that andro-whatever-it-is that Mark is using to build muscle
mass and power. He doesn't have a chance, like Sammy, to hit against a
bunch of stiff pitchers at Wrigley Field with a strong wind blowing out
onto Waveland Avenue. He doesn't, truth be told, have a chance to hit
against anyone any more.
He is the leader in God's clubhouse with his 37-year-old record. Come and
get me, boys. If you can.
He still has that '50s buzz cut and those cut-down sleeves on his uniform
jersey. There still is a black-and-white, shaky-camera mystery to him. He
isn't going to get great commercial benefits from winning this race. He
isn't going to be sitting with Leno or Letterman, or visiting the White
House. Nothing is going to change.
I guess that's what I like, the absence of change. Mark or Sammy? Sammy or
Mark? Come on, Roger. Hang in there.
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