Mark McGwire's 70th home run ball once sold for over $3M - may be worth just $250K now

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• Longtime College Football Assistant Coach To Retire Following Bowl Game
• BASEBALL MARK MCGWIRE 70 HOME RUNS SINGLE SEASON 1998 LIMITED EDITION COVER
• USAT DORCHESTER SINKING Greenland Map GreenCachet Four Chaplains #956 First Day
• News
• Mark McGwire makes Homerun History Hand Painted Bevil cachet 750 made combo

McGwire also led the league in runs batted in once, on-base percentage twice, and slugging percentage four times. Injuries cut short even greater potential, as he reached 140 games played in just eight of 16 total seasons. Injuries particularly cut into his playing time in 2000 and 2001 and factored into his decision to retire. A right-handed batter and thrower, McGwire stood 6 feet 5 inches (1.96 m) tall and weighed 245 pounds during his playing career. Retaining his rookie status in 1987, McGwire took center stage in baseball with his home-run hitting.

Olympic team, McGwire was drafted tenth overall in the 1984 Major League Baseball draft by the Oakland Athletics. Cleared payment cleared payment - opens in a new window or tab. When someone brings up the stats from that era, it always seems to be followed by "Yeah, but…" We’re left to wonder what could have been had McGwire not taken PEDs. I'm sure people will wonder if I could have hit all those home runs had I never taken steroids. I had good years when I didn't take any and I had bad years when I didn't take any.

Longtime College Football Assistant Coach To Retire Following Bowl Game

Morris in his first at-bat, but then finished the postseason 2 for his last 19 with one RBI. Sosa tied McGwire with his 65th homer on Sept. 25, but McGwire homered on the same day for No. 66. McGwire finished the 1998 season with 70 home runs , four ahead of Sosa's 66, a record that was broken three seasons later in 2001 by Barry Bonds with 73. McGwire circling the field at Busch Memorial Stadium in a Chevrolet Corvette after hitting his 62nd home run of the season.

The two faced a mass of media, as every eye in the country turned to see who would win the place in the record books. On September 8, McGwire did just that as he hit an 88 mile per hour fastball off of Steve Trachsel of the Chicago Cubs. Sosa was there to celebrate the milestone; he celebrated his own five days later.

BASEBALL MARK MCGWIRE 70 HOME RUNS SINGLE SEASON 1998 LIMITED EDITION COVER

I had good years when I took steroids and I had bad years when I took steroids. But no matter what, I shouldn't have done it and for that I'm truly sorry. According to TMZ Sports, several sports memorabilia auction houses are estimating that McGwire's home run ball may currently be worth as little as $250,000. Justin Speier immediately knew he made a mistake as McGwire sent this beauty of a shot to straightaway center field. This triple-deck blast at Pro Player Stadium in Miami was hit off of Billy Wagner. Today (Oct. 1), on Mark McGwire's 53rd birthday, we look back at the 10 longest home runs of his career.

McGwire stated in an interview with Sports Illustrated that 1991 was the "worst year" of his life, with his on-field performance and marriage difficulties, and that he "didn't lift a weight" that entire season. With all that behind him, McGwire rededicated himself to working out harder than ever and received visual therapy from a sports vision specialist. With the Cardinals in 1998, McGwire joined Cubs slugger Sammy Sosa in a chase for the single-season home-run record set by Roger Maris in 1961. McGwire surpassed Maris and finished with 70 home runs, a record that Barry Bonds would break three years later with 73. Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa race to set a new home run record with McGwire setting a new single-season mark of 70. But with accolades that include an AL Rookie of the Year Award, nine All-Star selections and a World Series championship over his 12 seasons with Oakland, McGwire certainly made a big impact while wearing green and gold.

USAT DORCHESTER SINKING Greenland Map GreenCachet Four Chaplains #956 First Day

Shortly after McGwire launched that historic home run, comic book artist Todd McFarlane purchased the baseball for just over $3 million. Hit .333 in the ALCS vs. Boston with a homer and three RBI... Recorded one of his greatest career moments when he homered off Jay Howell in the ninth inning of Game 3 in the World Series... It was Oakland's only win in the Series and Mark's only hit in 17 at-bats. He hit consistently through the summer, jockeying for the National League lead with Sosa.

Sosa would hit 61 three days later and followed with his 62nd homer on Sept. 12. That generated an unmatched excitement for the second half of the season. McGwire provided his voice for a 1999 episode of The Simpsons titled "Brother's Little Helper", where he played himself.

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McGwire was one of several A’s players who shined in a dominant four-game sweep of the cross-bay rival Giants in the 1989 World Series. He actually stood out that entire postseason, going 12-for-35 (.343) with a homer and four RBIs. Though Kirk Gibson had the signature walk-off homer in the 1988 Fall Classic, McGwire hit a pretty important one of his own. With the A’s down 0-2 in the Series against the Dodgers, McGwire helped Oakland get back into it in Game 3 with a walk-off solo blast off Jay Howell that was sent well up the Coliseum’s bleachers in left-center.

He won two World Series championships, one with Oakland as a player in 1989 and one with St. Louis as a coach in 2011. One of the most prolific home run hitters in baseball history, McGwire hit 583 home runs during his career, which ranked 5th-most in MLB history at the time of his retirement and currently ranks 11th. He holds the major-league career record for at bats per home run ratio (10.6), and is the former record holder for both home runs in a single season and home runs hit by a rookie . On July 31, having already amassed 34 home runs in the 1997 season, McGwire was traded from the Oakland Athletics to the St. Louis Cardinals for T. Despite playing just two-thirds of the season in the American League, he finished ninth in home runs. In 51 games with the Cardinals to finish the 1997 season, McGwire compiled a .253 batting average, 24 home runs, and 42 RBI.

July 17, 1998, 511 feet

From 1988 to 1990, McGwire followed with 32, 33, and 39 home runs, respectively, becoming the first Major Leaguer to hit 30+ home runs in each of his first four full seasons. On July 3 and 4, 1988, he hit game-winning home runs in the 16th inning of both games. Through May 2009, McGwire was tied for third all-time with Joe DiMaggio in home runs over his first two calendar years in the major leagues , behind Chuck Klein and Ryan Braun . For the word puzzle clue of mark mcgwire and sammy sosa chase the maris home run record, the Sporcle Puzzle Library found the following results. Explore more crossword clues and answers by clicking on the results or quizzes.

He also worked as a hitting coach for Major League players Matt Holliday, Bobby Crosby, Chris Duncan and Skip Schumaker. The "new look" McGwire hit 42 homers and batted .268 in 1992, with an outstanding OPS+ of 175 , and put on a victorious home-run-hitting show at the Home Run Derby during the 1992 All-Star break. His performance propelled the A's to the American League West Division title in 1992, their fourth in five seasons.