In the midst of a World Series that would become a seven-game classic, baseball’s steward, Commissioner Bud Selig, raised the white flag of surrender incuring the sport’s economic disparity: “As the problems have exacerbated, it has become clearer to me that everything should be on the table, including contraction. Can it be worked out for 2002? Time will tell. But I wouldn’t rule it out.”
Here’s a pair of hypothetical line-ups:
Line-Up A Line-Up B Roy Campanella, C Ron Hassey, C Orlando Cepeda, 1B Willie Aikens, 1B Joe Morgan, 2B Steve Lombardozzi, 2B Mike Schmidt, 3B Luis Salazar, 3B Rogers Hornsby, SS Spike Owen, SS Ted Williams, OF Dan Iorg, OF Willie Mays, OF Jeff Leonard, OF Ty Cobb, OF Larry Herndon, OF
Houston fans know this sinking feeling. The one where the team that should win doesn’t. The 2001 Astros have six games to avoid this fate.
A little over a week ago, all eyes in the baseball world were on pennant races and the pursuit of records. Heroes were men who hit home runs and threw strikeouts. It seems like an eternity ago. It seems woefully insignificant. And the perception of who is a hero has changed.
In 1998, Mark McGwire led the league with a record 70 home runs, 162 walks, a .470 OBP, and a .752 slugging average. He received only two first-place votes for MVP, however, finishing far behind near-unanimous winner Sammy Sosa, who himself hit 66 home runs and led the league in runs and RBI.
Thirteen games. That’s how many the Central Division-leading Astros are scheduled to play in September against the Cubs, who trail by four games, and the Cardinals, who trail by six games. Indeed, other than three games at San Francisco, the Astros will spend the last two weeks of the season battling Chicago and St. Louis.
