[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 118 (Wednesday, September 9, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10082-S10084]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 RECOGNIZING MARK McGWIRE OF THE ST. LOUIS CARDINALS FOR BREAKING THE 
                        HISTORIC HOME RUN RECORD

  Mr. BOND. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Res. 273.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The clerk will report.
  The bill clerk read as follows:

       A resolution (S. Res. 273) recognizing the historic home 
     run record set by Mark McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals on 
     September 8, 1998.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection to the immediate 
consideration of the resolution?
  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
resolution.
  Mr. BOND. Madam President, it is a great honor and with pleasure that 
I introduce this resolution for myself, Mr. Ashcroft, the Senator from 
California, and others who may wish to join us.
  Yesterday, I was on this floor describing a very difficult 
predicament that Major League baseball was encountering. It seemed, as 
of early yesterday morning, that the Internal Revenue Service might say 
that a fan who caught a historic home run ball hit by Mark McGwire and 
turned it back to him might be liable for $150,000 or more in gift 
taxes on that ball. We pointed out that that made no sense. I am proud 
to say that we had bipartisan support for that proposition, Madam 
President. There are very few things that have brought this Chamber 
together more than that one simple proposition.
  I was very pleased yesterday afternoon to have a call from 
Commissioner Rossotti of the IRS, who understood the magnitude of the 
problem this could cause. He advised me that he has issued a release 
from the IRS saying that, while resolving gift tax issues is as 
difficult as figuring out the infield fly rule, it made sense that we 
congratulate a fan who returns the baseball rather than hit him with 
taxes. That is particularly good news to Deni Allen, a 22-year-old 
marketing representative from Ozark, MO, Mike Davidson, a 28-year-old 
St. Louis native, and Tim Forneris, a 22-year-old from Collinsville, 
IL, a member of the St. Louis grounds crew. They all just wanted to 
give Mark McGwire the baseball and didn't want to be taxed on it. 
Thanks to the support of this body and the action of the Commissioner, 
they will not be taxed. I am very pleased with that.
  I was also pleased to join many friends and colleagues last night in 
rooting for the historic home run hit by Mark McGwire. Mark McGwire's 
achievements are there for all to see on television, or to read about 
in the sports page, because this is one tremendous athlete. He hit home 
run ball No. 62 in his 144th game of the season.
  The purpose of our resolution is to recognize that historic 
contribution to baseball. But I also want to just spend a minute on 
Mark McGwire, the person. I have in my hand a copy of Sports 
Illustrated, which features a picture of Mark McGwire and his son, Matt 
McGwire. The article is entitled ``One Cool Dad.'' I think a lot of 
people who watched Mark McGwire in the year he has been in St. Louis, 
and probably before that in California, know that he is a dedicated 
father and he is a community leader. He has shown his willingness to 
serve his community by his generosity.
  This man is a great role model for young people in our country today, 
and the way he approached this record-setting mark, with due 
recognition for Roger Maris--also a tremendous athlete, one I greatly 
respected, who held the record prior to him--reflects extremely well on 
Mr. McGwire. I hope that I will have many cosponsors who will join in 
this resolution. I see several colleagues on the floor who want to 
discuss it, but suffice it to say that Mark McGwire has made a historic 
contribution to baseball. He has brought the country together. The only 
thing we are talking about in Missouri is Mark McGwire, not a lot of 
the other problems. His dedication to leadership and family values, his 
spirit of community contribution and leadership mark him as an 
outstanding gentleman who I trust all of us in this body are willing to 
recognize.
  Mrs. BOXER addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from California is recognized.
  Mrs. BOXER. Madam President, I thank the Senator from Missouri for 
his eloquent remarks, and I thank both Senators for introducing this 
resolution.
  I rise to salute a native son of California, a man who grew up in the 
playing fields of southern California, a graduate of California public 
schools and honed his skills at the University of Southern California 
and developed into a mature professional in Oakland, CA, where I saw 
him play many a game; a man who has since settled in Missouri, but will 
always remain a favorite son of California; a man who brought immense 
talent, hard work, energy, enthusiasm and, above all, dignity and grace 
to one of America's most revered institutions.
  I grew up, when I was a kid, six blocks from a Major League ballpark. 
I heard the sound of those home runs all through the years I was 
growing up. I went to many a game and sat in the bleachers. I am a 
baseball fan. Yet, I haven't seen such excitement in so many years that 
we have seen in the last month or so.
  This man has really helped reinvigorate the game of baseball, further 
enshrining it as our national pastime. He has thrilled countless 
lifelong fans of baseball, and he has made millions of new fans who 
knew very little about the game. This is a man who has put us in touch 
with baseball heroes of the past, and he has inspired baseball heroes 
of the future--a giant of a man, playing a game that we learned to love 
as children, and who has made us all feel like little kids again at a 
time when we need that every once in a while. Of course, I speak of 
Mark McGwire.
  I think it is also important to recognize the Cubs' Sammy Sosa. Both 
of these men have pursued Babe Ruth's and Roger Maris' home run 
records, and they did it under intense pressure, but with grace and 
joy, rooting for each other, appreciating their fan support, and 
infecting us all with good humor, poise and good sportsmanship.
  Today is a day of heroes--one particular hero, Mark McGwire. I wanted 
to say on behalf of all of California--and I know Senator Feinstein 
joins me in this--that we are very proud of Mark McGwire.
  In closing, I want to say that it is hard to join a nexus between one 
thing and another here. But I have two heroes here today on the floor 
of the Senate--Russ Feingold and John McCain--because I am really proud 
of the way they have pursued their goal, a goal that I think will make 
this democracy stronger, a goal of good, solid campaign finance reform.
  On the one hand, we laud the baseball heroes. I wanted to laud a 
couple of Senate heroes of mine on campaign finance reform.

[[Page S10083]]

  Let me again thank the Senators from Missouri for giving us a chance 
to get to see this praise in writing in the Record for all time.
  Thank you. I yield the floor.
  Mr. ASHCROFT addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Missouri is recognized.
  Mr. ASHCROFT. Madam President, let me extend my appreciation to the 
senior Senator from the State of Missouri, Senator Bond, for having 
presenting this important resolution; and my thanks as well to the 
Senator from California, Senator Boxer.
  I was elated when I saw what we had all anticipated for so long--that 
Mark McGwire would learn uniquely how to pay the price for greatness, 
would achieve something that some had said could never happen. We 
watched and I watched in anticipation as I believe it was in the fourth 
inning last evening when the first pitch was, incidentally, not what I 
would call a home run pitch. It looked to me like it was a borderline 
strike zone, low and away, and Mark reached out and, on the low and 
away pitch, pulled the ball like a rifleshot over the wall in Busch 
Stadium in St. Louis.
  I stand today to commend him for his outstanding baseball. To see him 
and Sammy Sosa embrace and salute each other in a friendly kind of 
competition that brings out the very best is a story about what America 
really needs and ought to be--how we don't have to be, because we are 
opponents, enemies. Those two are opponents in most every way and in 
every sense of the word. But, my goodness, they are not enemies. They 
elevate each other's performance, and they bring out the best in each 
other. What a tremendous thing.
  Of course, I was so happy to see this happen in St. Louis, MO, a city 
whose baseball heritage is--well, frankly, it is just unparalleled; a 
city with baseball fans who understand the game, who know what it means 
to take a pitch, to hit behind the runner, to make the sacrifice. They 
know baseball. They know character. They saluted Mark McGwire last 
night, and properly so.
  I was very thrilled to see the Missouri fans be consistent in wanting 
to share the achievement with Mark McGwire, but not necessarily to take 
it from him, and the willingness of Missouri fans over and over again 
to give the baseballs back--to make them part of Mark's heritage and 
history, to make them part of the national treasure. It is kind of an 
inspiration at a time when some would lead us to believe that America 
is nothing but a place of greed.
  Too often, sports heroes themselves have participated in the idea 
that the memorabilia is so valuable that it is only to be sold. I think 
of these fans who would sort of teach some of our sports heroes lessons 
that the memorabilia is so valuable that it is not to be sold but it is 
to be shared. I salute those in St. Louis who decided that this part of 
American history was too valuable to be sold but it was so valuable 
that it ought to be shared.
  Let me make a few remarks about Mark.
  In the pictures--and I just hope the rest of America sees these 
pictures, if they haven't seen them--in the pictures we see a picture 
of what we need to be, how we need to think, and how we need to act. 
Perspective and balance are perhaps the most important characteristics 
of life. Knowing where you stand at the magic of the moment is 
certainly a valuable thing. Understanding where you stand in the 
perspective of history is a valuable thing. Having a respect for the 
future is a valuable thing. In just one tight little moment there on 
national television, as Mark McGwire finished rounding the bases, he 
showed us that he was a person who not only understood the magic of the 
moment--driving the ball over the left field wall and celebrating the 
incredible exhilaration and joy of that personal achievement, the 
crowning achievement of years of training, practice, and insistent 
persistence toward a goal--he understood the magic of the moment, but 
he also told us that he understood his place in history, because he 
went to the stands and he embraced the family of Roger Maris. Roger, of 
course, died tragically young as a result of cancer. But his family was 
there to understand not only his place in history but to understand 
that history marches on. Mark McGwire not only understood the moment 
but he understood his place in history. He embraced history.
  America needs again to have a lesson in embracing history, in 
respecting our past and understanding that it is only from the 
greatness of our past that we draw inspiration for surpassing events in 
the future.
  What a tremendous thing that picture was of Mark McGwire with those 
huge arms around the Roger Maris family.
  Then, perhaps as inspiring as anything else, there was the fact that 
when he rounded the bases and was trading high fives, really before he 
got into the serious commendations of the rest of his teammates, Mark 
picked up Matt, the future. He understood that, yes, the past is 
important, and the magic of the moment is to be cherished, but there is 
also always the future that is ahead of us. He picks up young Matt, and 
he elevates young Matt to a position above his father. What a 
tremendous picture that is. If we as Americans would have an 
understanding of our youngsters that we need to place them ahead of 
ourselves, place their interests above our interests, invest in the 
future, if we would, indeed, hold up our youngsters and elevate them to 
a place of understanding and the opportunities for greatness, what a 
tremendous lesson that would be.
  So I really have a degree of excitement that is difficult to contain 
about the tremendous lesson that we can all take out of the joy and 
exuberance of celebrating the achievements of one whose acts really 
just stun us and marvel us.
  There is just one last point.
  There were lots of people--I have been among them--who have said, 
``Well, Babe Ruth's record and Roger Maris' record''--Babe Ruth, if you 
wanted to count one game at one game level, and Roger Maris at 
another--``would never be broken.'' I am kind of glad that Mark McGwire 
straightened me out on the breakability of those records, because I 
believe that maybe as much as anything else, Mark McGwire tells us that 
the best is yet to come, that every record in the book is one we should 
look to break, that America is not a place whose primary and monumental 
achievements are all behind us, but America is a place where the best 
is yet to come.
  Last night, Mark McGwire set a new record of 62 home runs. He might 
set another record the next time he bats. I am confident that he will 
set another record before the end of this season over and over and over 
again.
  I think part of the American spirit is such that we should all think 
about America as a place where the best is yet to come. When we learn 
to pay the price, maybe when we have the balance and perspective that 
Mark demonstrated, understanding the magic of the moment, respecting 
history, and having a full dedication to the fabulous future, maybe 
that is when we will begin to understand that the best is yet to come 
and we can be part of it.
  To Mark McGwire, to the fans of St. Louis, to Sammy Sosa, who 
happened to be there when it happened and who, with such class, saluted 
Mark, I say thanks for an inspiring game, which turns out to be a 
lesson teacher far bigger than just a game. I am delighted to commend 
them and thank them for the greatness that they remind us should be a 
part of all that America is and stands for.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. BOND addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Missouri.
  Mr. BOND. Madam President, the Senator from North Dakota, Mr. Conrad, 
wants to be added as a cosponsor to this resolution and to note that 
Roger Maris, who was a great hero in St. Louis, was a North Dakotan. We 
are very proud of the Maris family. We extend our very best wishes to 
Sammy Sosa, and we hope he gets into the sixties.
  If there are other Senators asking to add their names to the 
resolution, I would be happy to do that.
  May I add the Presiding Officer, the Senator from Maine, Ms. Collins, 
the Senator from Utah, Senator Bennett, and I believe the Senator from 
Connecticut, as cosponsors.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. LIEBERMAN. Madam President, I came to the floor to speak about 
campaign finance reform, and I will do that

[[Page S10084]]

in a moment, but I thank my colleague from Missouri for adding me as a 
cosponsor of the resolution. As is obvious to my colleagues, I am 
neither from Missouri nor California, so my claim to being added is my 
status as a baseball fan. And even though my colleagues may think I am 
reaching, the fact is that when Roger Maris set the record I was in 
college together with the junior Senator from Missouri. So it gives me 
some standing.
  I do want to identify myself with his comments just to stress the 
obvious personal achievement here that has inspired the country, and 
also the way in which Mark McGwire did it. It was an act of fate, but 
somehow so correct, that he tied the record at the 61st homer on the 
day of his father's 61st birthday, because baseball, in my experience 
in this country, is very much a matter of one generation passing on the 
experience to another.
  My own memories of baseball, first memories, come from my dad taking 
me to games, and they are cherished memories. I can tell my 
colleagues--I hope I am not violating her privacy--when my youngest 
child was 4 days old, in March, I held her up to a TV set and said, 
``Sweetheart, this is baseball, and you're going to love it.'' 
Fortunately, for me, she has, and we have shared that experience. As 
Senator Ashcroft indicated, Mark McGwire beautifully continued that 
with his son there as a batboy.
  The second is the obvious rapport between Mark McGwire and Sammy 
Sosa, as they compete for this but do it with extraordinary mutual 
respect. To make the point that is obvious but maybe still worth 
making, here we have one person whose family has been in this country a 
long time, from a family of relative success and comfort, another a new 
American born in poverty in another country, coming here, joined 
together in this remarkable American game to I think this year break 
records that were previously thought to be impossible.
  And a final word about Roger Maris, who did set the record in the 
younger days of both my life and Senator Ashcroft's life. I felt that 
Mark McGwire probably brought the whole country to give more tribute to 
Roger Maris than he ever had before, and we owed it to him. So I am 
proud to be added as a cosponsor.
  Did the Senator from Missouri wish to add anything before I proceed 
to the topic of campaign finance reform?
  Mr. BOND addressed the Chair.
  Mr. LIEBERMAN. If so, I yield the floor.
  Mr. BOND. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motion to 
reconsider be laid upon the table, and that any statements relating to 
the resolution be printed in the Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The resolution was agreed to.
  The preamble was agreed to.
  The resolution (S. Res. 273) with its preamble reads as follows:

                              S. Res. 273

       Whereas, since becoming a St. Louis Cardinal in 1997, Mark 
     McGwire has helped to bring the national pastime of baseball 
     back to its original glory;
       Whereas, Mark McGwire has shown leadership, family values, 
     dedication and a love of baseball as a team sport;
       Whereas, in April, Mark McGwire began the season with a 
     home run in each of his first four games which tied Willie 
     Mays' 1971 National League record;
       Whereas, in May, Mark McGwire hit a 545-foot home run, the 
     longest in Busch Stadium history;
       Whereas, in June, Mark McGwire tied Reggie Jackson's record 
     of thirty-seven home runs before the All Star break;
       Whereas, in August, Mark McGwire became the only player in 
     the history of baseball to hit fifty home runs in three 
     consecutive seasons;
       Whereas, on September 5, Mark McGwire became the third 
     player ever to hit sixty home runs in a season; and
       Whereas, on September 8, 1998, Mark McGwire broke Roger 
     Maris' thirty-seven year old home run record of sixty-one by 
     hitting number sixty-two off Steve Trachsel while playing the 
     Chicago Cubs: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate recognizes and congratulates St. 
     Louis Cardinal, Mark McGwire, for setting baseballs' revered 
     home run record, with sixty-two, in his 144th game of the 
     season.

  Mr. BOND. I thank the Chair, and I thank all of my colleagues for 
their courtesy in allowing me to proceed.
  Mr. LIEBERMAN addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Connecticut is recognized.
  Mr. LIEBERMAN. Madam President, if I may continue the stretch to link 
the two subject matters, baseball and campaign finance reform, may I 
say that unlike the Brooklyn Dodgers of old, those of us who support 
McCain-Feingold are not willing to wait until next year, and since 
McGwire and Sosa are setting the standard for doing what we thought was 
impossible, we hope they are an eye-opener for those who think adopting 
campaign finance reform is impossible for this Chamber this year.
  I make the comparison without wanting to set it too closely, but 
wouldn't it be great when this is over if we could refer to McCain-
Feingold as the legislative equivalent of McGwire and Sosa?
  I will cease and desist and proceed with my remarks.

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