Celebrating 70:
  Mark McGwire's historic season
   Ron Smith, Editorial Director
  1998 The Sporting News Pub./Times Mirror Magazines
   ISBN: 089204621x

For the strongman from Pomona, California playing for the St. Louis Cardinals, the Summer of '98 was a long victory parade. A reminder of seasons past & a celebration of baseball future. He became a national hero, cult figure & role model with class. He gave baseball back its luster.

In this large, glossy, colorful homage to one fabulous boy of summer - the team of writers, photographers, designers & editors has given us a memorable, collectible, hit-by-hit, play-by-play story of a grand adventure.

Sometimes there are only pictures, close-ups of gloves, victory hugs, views of baseball fields only players ever see. I came late to American baseball, so I have none of the childhood mystique that I've seen in the eyes of baseball fans.

Nonetheless, this book captured my attention so much so that I could hear the roar of the crowds, hear that distinctive crack when bat meets ball & that breathless murmur as thousands of pairs of eyes follow the soaring path of McGwire's magnificent might.

I even caught on television those last few games - the whole family glued to the tube & cheering, waiting, hoping. It didn't matter who McGwire played for - we were merely rooting for a hero to make it, for he was playing for us all.

The first autumn I was in America, one of my ship-board friends invited me to her college HomeComing weekend. A truly awesome insight into Americana for any alien. I had been athletic, appreciated sports: cricket, lacrosse, tennis, soccer, rugby - so watching American football came easily although I was frustrated with the constant changing of teams & what should have taken mere seconds to accomplish was dragged out into eons. Still, I loved the pageantry, the roar & the color.

I was an eager participant in the grandstand, yelling my approval of a good play until I found myself, all alone, whooping at a particularly graceful effort. Calling out in my thick accent: "Oh, well played, bravo!" & hearing only my voice trilling in the wilderness of that silent side of the arena. That's when I heard the admonishments of my coaches from years ago: "It's not who wins, it's how you played the game!" It was the skill of the athletes you cheered, their prowess you acknowledged.

This Celebrating 70 is just that: cheering on a fine athlete who brings grace & power, humor & passion to a sport sullied by greed & alienation. As an aside (you know - as a well-played/bravo) I know most folks would be jeering at all the pitchers who "gave" McGwire his record. In my lights, he'd never have reached that magnificent record without the assists of all those unnamed pitchers. Unnamed no more!

I really enjoyed Celebrating 70 - it engaged me from the cover on in - pictures, words, stats & diagrams - a wonderful way to remember one of the greatest baseball seasons.
(12/26/99)

Rebecca