[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 121 (Monday, September 14, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Page S10315]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            BASEBALL HISTORY

  Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, I am fortunate to be a Senator 
representing the great State of Illinois, the great city of Chicago, at 
great ballpark named Wrigley Field.
  Yesterday afternoon it was my good fortune to see at least part of 
the very historic game, a game between the Chicago Cubs and the 
Milwaukee Brewers, which will now be part of baseball history. It was a 
game attended by 40,846 fans at Wrigley Field, and several hundred of 
us on the rooftops and around the field watched and marveled. Not only 
was it a great baseball game with the Cubs' victory, but it was a 
historic game for a very important person. Any newspaper you picked up 
in Chicago, or Illinois, or perhaps across the country, this morning 
let everyone in on the fact that baseball history was made yesterday in 
Wrigley Field.
  Paul Sullivan, a Tribune staff writer for the Chicago Tribune put it 
in lyric words that I would like to read:

       With the shadows creeping over the right field vines, and 
     the crowd on its tiptoes, Sosa took hold of an Eric Plunk 
     fastball in the ninth inning and sent it screaming onto 
     Waveland Avenue for number 62, in the greatest home run chase 
     the game has ever seen.

  I was happy to be there and to see home run 62. I am happy to 
represent the State which has in it such a fine man playing as Sammy 
Sosa. We are really blessed--those of us who follow baseball--to have 
this wonderful home run derby, and have two extraordinary individuals 
involved in it.
  Mark McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals also sent 62 home runs this 
year, eclipsing the record of Babe Ruth, as well as Roger Maris. It is 
good to know that Mark McGwire is a good person. He announced early in 
the season that he would be donating $1 million of his salary this year 
for those children who have been physically and sexually abused. He has 
a heart, and he has shown it many times.
  Then there is Sammy Sosa, from the Dominican Republic.
  If you will recall the scene last week when Mark McGwire was breaking 
the record to be the first to do so, there was Sammy Sosa in right 
field. He could not have been more supportive and more congratulatory. 
There is a true friendship between the men.
  As Mark McGwire received all of this attention and adulation, Sammy 
was there to cheer him on. Yesterday, Sammy Sosa matched Mark McGwire 
with 62 home runs. He continued to praise him as a friend and hoped 
that they both had good luck in this home run derby in the remaining 
games.
  It tells us a lot about baseball. It tells us a lot about these two 
men.
  Sammy Sosa comes from particularly humble beginnings, starting off in 
the Dominican Republic. One of my favorite quotes during the course of 
the season is someone went to Sammy Sosa and said, ``Aren't you under a 
lot of stress because of this race for the home run title?'' And he 
said, ``You think this is stressful, earning a living as a shoeshine 
boy in the Dominican Republic is stressful.'' He put it all in 
perspective.
  He has been gracious and friendly. He has been a true sportsman 
throughout this race. He deserves our praise and our cheers as well.
  All of us watch anxiously for the closing games to see who ends up 
with the ultimate home run record.
  For those of us who are fortunate to love the game and to be watching 
it closely in 1998, I want to say my hat is off to Mark McGwire and 
especially to Sammy Sosa, who yesterday with two towering home runs 
over left field and into Waveland Avenue, really brought Chicago to its 
feet, cheering this man and all that he stands for.
  I am hoping now that they will continue this race to set the record 
and to put the great American pastime back on its feet. I think they 
have done a lot for it.
  I wish them both the very best. I yield the floor.

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