Homer History: The joy, anger of Mark McGwire passing Roger Maris

In our Homer History series, writers re-tell the stories of memorable home runs from their perspective. In this installment, we continue to talk about the famous summer of 1998 and its epic home-run chase. Here's Yahoo Sports senior editor Jay Hart reliving the joy and eventual uneasiness of Mark McGwire passing Roger Maris. 

Full disclosure: In the summer of 1998, I got a dog and named him Sammy. Little Sammy Sosa to be exact.

I was caught up in it. A lot of us were. Roger Maris' home run record had stood forever, a connection back to the Babe, and, well, wouldn't it be great if the legends we were used to reading about became a legend we actually saw?

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So yeah, when Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire were mounting an assault on Maris' single-season home run record, I got caught up in it. So much so that when McGwire finally caught and passed Maris with home run No. 62 – a laser-beam shot off the Cubs' Steve Trachsel that never rose more than 25 or so feet off the ground – I got tears in my eyes.

Me, a Cubs fan with a dog named Sammy, cried. That's how monumental a moment it was.

It happened on Sept. 8, 1998, at Busch Stadium. With Joe Buck on the call, McGwire came up in the fourth inning, took one look at Trachsel, then proceeded to rip the first pitch down the leftfield line.

"Is it enough?" Buck wondered aloud to his Fox audience. "Gone! There it is! 62! Touch first Mark, you are the new single-season home run king!"

Cubs first baseman Mark Grace gave McGwire a pat on the butt as he rounded first. Then Mickey Morandini congratulated him, as did Jose Hernandez at short. Rounding third McGwire got a high-five and a hug from Gary Gaetti, his former teammate in St. Louis. The first one to welcome him home? That would be Cubs catcher Scott Servais.

McGwire was mobbed by his teammates and grabbed his son Matt (a Cardinals batboy) in a bear hug. Eventually Sosa made an appearance, running in from right field to receive a hug, a high-five, a signature "Big Mac" high-five, a signature Sosa chest tap and another hug.

It was one big Kumbaya moment where there were no enemies, only admiration. Hell, Roger Maris' sons were in the stands that night and they got hugs from Mac, too. The game stopped for 11 minutes to allow McGwire to celebrate and to be celebrated.

"Folks, it couldn't happen to a better man," Buck said, "and you will always know where you were at 8:18 Central Time, September 8th, 1998."

Buck was half right: I was at a bar, on Coronado Island in San Diego, crying. But, as it turned out, it could have happened to a better man.

[Previously in Homer History: Reconciling McGwire, Sosa and the summer of '98]

The idea that McGwire or Sosa or Barry Bonds will someday get into the Hall of Fame doesn't bother me. They did what they did and in their era, they did it better than anyone else. Maybe it wasn't all apples to apples, but it happened in the same orchard.

The same can't be said of their assault on Maris. If today were your first day on earth and you looked at the single-season record for home runs, your immediate reaction would be, "What the hell was going on between 1998 and 2001?"

1. Barry Bonds, 73 home runs, 2001
2. Mark McGwire, 70, 1998
3. Sammy Sosa, 66, 1998
4. Mark McGwire, 65, 1999
5. Sammy Sosa, 64, 2001
6. Sammy Sosa, 63, 1999
7. Roger Maris, 61, 1961
8. Babe Ruth, 60, 1927
9. Babe Ruth, 59, 1921

Yeah, Roger Maris' 61 home-run season, that's now seventh on the all-time list – a record that stood for nearly four decades broken six times in a four-year span.

That's how McGwire's 62nd homer in '98 became baseball's version of "Blame it on the Rain."

Maybe we were naïve for believing it all to be legit when there were so many signs that it wasn't. Whatever, we were sports fans rooting for a moment, just like when Lance Armstrong was mashing it up Alpe d'Huez, leaving Jan Ulrich in his dust … only, Ulrich doped too.

 [Elsewhere: Check out the Dunk History series on Yahoo Sports]

Maris, he got hosed. He doesn't deserve to be No. 7 on that list, just as Ruth doesn't deserve to be No. 8. For whatever reason, these records matter to us. A lot. That's why steroids are a bigger deal in baseball than in any other sport.

And yet, re-watching McGwire hit No. 62, I got chills, and I don't really know what to make of that.

Coming Thursday: Actor James Denton on The Bat Flip Heard 'Round the World, and one of the wildest games in MLB postseason history.

PREVIOUSLY IN HOMER HISTORY
- The night a hobbled Kirk Gibson broke my heart (by Mike Oz)
- Cal Ripken Jr. wowed us yet again on Iron Man night (by Lauren Shehadi)
- When Albert Pujols silenced Minute Maid Park (by Jeff Passan)
- Bill Mazeroski's great walk-off World Series winner (by Kevin Iole)
- The Big Papi grand slam that still haunts Detroit (by Al Toby)
- That time Joe Blanton hit a home run in the World Series (by Sam Cooper)
- When Jim Leyritz halted hopes of a Braves dynasty (by Jay Busbee)
- Bryce Harper and the home run almost no one saw (by Chris Cwik)
- Shane Robinson and the home run on one predicted (by Tim Brown)
- The shot heard 'round the world (by Larry King)
- The night Reggie Jackson became Mr. October (by Scott Pianowski)
- Tony Fernandez's extra-innings postseason blast (by Joey Gulino)
- Dave Kingman takes one out of Wrigley Field (by Andy Behrens)
- Joe Carter's blast wins the 1993 World Series (by Greg Wyshynski)
- Todd Helton ignites a historic Rockies run (by Mark Townsend)
- David Eckstein once again does the improbable (by Max Thompson)
- Bob Brenly makes up for four errors with a blast (by Rob Schneider)
- Alex Gordon ties Game 1 of the 2015 World Series (by Nick Bromberg)
- Ryne Sandberg takes Bruce Sutter deep twice (by Kyle Ringo)
- Hank Aaron passes Babe Ruth with No. 715 (by Steve McAllister)
- When Frank Thomas showed his Home Run Derby muscle (by Andreas Hale)
- Steve Finley's grand slam that did not suck (by Marcus Vanderberg)
- Brian Johnson's unlikely blast in a pennant race (by Jeff Eisenberg)
- Wily Mo Pena's blast makes an O's fan hit rock bottom (by Thomas Sadoski)
- Chris Chambliss sends the Yankees to the Series (by Gary Mondello)
- Josh Hamilton's classic Home Run Derby performance (by Anthony Sulla-Heffinger)
- Paul Konerko slams door on Houston in World Series (by Ryan McKinnell)
-  How the home run I never saw changed my perspective (by Maj. Stephen M. Champlin)
- Reconciling McGwire, Sosa and the summer of '98 (by Kevin Kaduk)

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Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at mikeozstew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @MikeOz