In 1998: Mark McGwire broke Roger Maris single season homerun record with his 62nd of the year in St. Louis. McGwire’s low line drive off a Steve Trachsel pitch barely cleared the left field fence. Sammy Sosa of the Cubs, who was locked in a then-riveting battle with McGwire to catch Maris, came in from right field to embrace McGwire. “Big Mac” finished with 70 on the season and Sosa ended up with 66. Although many laugh about it now while others are angry at the fraud that was perpetrated that summer (re: Congressional hearings of 2005), the Home Run Chase of ‘98 was believed to help lift baseball out of its post-strike doldrums. On a side note, does anyone remember the kid who tore up his winning lottery ticket by just handing the homerun ball back to McGwire? We can’t help but wonder how much those signed bats he received in return are worth right now.
In 2002: In an exciting and historic opening weekend of NFL action, Dwayne Rudd of the Cleveland Browns would end up costing his team a home playoff game by forgetting the Emmitt Smith Rule. After stopping the Chiefs on the last play of the game, Rudd removed his helmet on the playing field and tossed it 15 feet into the air in celebration. An unsportsmanlike conduct penalty was called and Kansas City was able to use their final free play to kick a game-winning field goal for a 40-39 victory. The Browns finished a game behind the Steelers and ended up losing to them at Heinz Field in a Wild Card game…… The Houston Texans made their debut with a 19-10 victory over the Dallas Cowboys at brand new Reliant Stadium. Although, they finished 4-12 in 2002, the future looked bright for the Texans upon returning to Houston that evening. They selected what they believed to be a franchise quarterback in David Carr at no. 1 overall; and Reggie Bush and Mario Williams were only seniors in high school.
