Hindsight is 20/20

Ten years and ten days ago, the nation turned its watchful eye on St. Louis, Missouri where baseball history was made.

For many it was the first time since the 1994 player strike that they had given baseball the time of day. Many had sworn off the game forever. As an eleven year old boy I read the newspaper every morning as I slurped up the remaining milk from my daily bowl of Rice Krispies.

I wasn't concerned with the goings-on of the world around me. The truth was I couldn't care less about the escalating tension in the Middle East. I discarded every page dealing with legitimate journalism. Instead, I turned directly to the one page that could have been compiled by a monkey with a typewriter.

The box scores were all I cared about.

I hadn't developed the gambling addiction I carry today and the heart pounding fear I have when I check box scores now with my rent money on the line. The winners of the previous night's games worried me very little. Sure I checked to see if my beloved Cleveland Indians had managed to outscore their opponents but my focus was off the American League. The Senior Circuit reigned supreme in the nineteen hundred and ninety-eighth year of the last millennium. And two players in particular stood above the cut.

Big Mac and Slammin' Sammy.

When Mark McGwire finally hit the 62nd home run of the season, I sat wide eyed with amazement as the opposition, Mickey Morandini and Mark Grace extended their right hands for the congratulatory handshake. It was truly a life altering moment for me.

Fast forward to the present where we now know that the hallowed 61 home runs in a season record was broken using performance enhancing substances. I was always a fan of baseball but that moment thrust me into a full on obsession with baseball that has yet to subside.

I feel cheated.

It's like learning on your 21st birthday that you are really 22 and the monumental birthday that separates man from boy is no more.

What McGwire and Sosa did in the summer of '98 was magical and brought the game of baseball to where it is today, but the consequences of that statistical anomaly also known as the record breaking season have forever altered baseball history.