by GREG NIKKEL, of the Weyburn Review
It is with open arms I receive back the prodigal sport of baseball, which has been invigorated anew in its excitement and vitality.
As the regular season was winding down, sport commentators were heard saying that the activity of the boys of summer is once again just as popular as it was back in the years before labour trouble hit Major League Baseball and did the unthinkable: cancelled the World Series of 1994.
Of course, it takes a near-miraculous season to renew people's interest, but who cares? It brings to mind, though, that these "renewed" fans are more like fair-weather friends. Not to boast of myself too much, but I have always loved baseball and would watch whenever I could; these days, as we can't afford cable, that isn't very much. The ol' rabbit ears only bring in CK-TV, and they aren't showing any ball games.
Aside from that, however, the season was pretty amazing in many respects, and almost makes one wonder how the playoffs can possibly follow it up. The most obvious aspect of this season was Mark McGwire and his plateau of 70 home runs on the year, chased by Sammy Sosa close behind, ending at 66. At the end of the year, not just one but two players passed Roger Maris' magical mark of 61 homers, a record set the same fall I was born. On a slightly lesser note, McGwire also drew his 162nd walk of the year, which set a National League record and tied the legendary Ted Williams for the second-highest total in major league history.
The debate about McGwire will rage on, of course, due to his use of such things as Androstenedione, the muscle-enhancing supplement stuff that's banned by many leagues and sports, including the IOC (they ban everything anyway). The important point that should be made is the supplement is not banned by Major League Baseball, and therefore he wasn't breaking any rules to use it. If it were banned, I believe he wouldn't have been using it. I also believe, by the way, that he would have set this record exactly the same way, in the same number of days, had he not been using Andro.
But McGwire and Sosa weren't the only bright lights of the season; how about the Iron Man himself, Cal Ripken Jr.? He also set a record that will probably stand a lot longer than McGwire's record will, by playing every game in every season for 16 consecutive years. Now that's incredible! He logged in a total of 2,632 games in that time; in fact, the mystery is why on earth he just didn't hang in until the end of the regular season at least. Apparently, he wasn't injured at all, he just decided the streak had gone on long enough and asked his manager if he could sit out the game.
The Blue Jays, while not making the playoffs, finished out remarkably considering the season they were having. They were 12 games back of the wild card playoff spot held by Boston, but with only a few games left in the season they made a very real run for it, coming within a few games of making it. It's unfortunate they aren't in the playoffs, because with the kind of momentum they ended the year with, they could've gone far in the playoffs, I think.
I don't think it was only these records which made the season worth watching. In my mind, Major League Baseball is a great sport and always worth watching, and now that should be heightened even more so with playoffs here and the World Series around the corner. Now if the rabbit ears could only pick up TSN .
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