[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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