|
|
Jewish World Review / August 28, 1998 / 6 Elul, 5758
Ben Wattenberg
In his chase to break the
major-league single-season home-run record -- still viewed exclusively
as the so-called "Maris Record" -- McGwire is giving nice people
something nice to get excited about. He has rescued baseball from
boredom. He is giving Americans a chance to demonstrate afresh why
scholars write about "American Exceptionalism."
He stayed up until 3 a.m. signing baseballs for each one of them. He
inscribed each ball with a personal message, under the legend
"50-50-50," commemorating his record-breaking third straight season with
50 or more home runs.
Yet, as Preston Sturges wrote, "Of all things in nature, great men alone
reverse the law of perspective and grow smaller as one approaches them."
And the recent discovery of some "androstenedione" in McGwire's open
locker threatened for a moment to diminish his feats. The drug, or
"nutritional supplement," as it has been referred to in a phrase that
our president could appreciate, temporarily raises testosterone levels
in order to speed recovery from injury and promote the formation of lean
muscle mass. While banned by the NFL, the NCAA and the International
Olympic Committee, "andro" is perfectly legal and in wide use in
baseball, a game that mostly rewards timing and reflexes, not brute
strength.
McGwire's use of the over-the-counter product doesn't seem to bother his
opponents, and to echo a favorite defense of Clinton, if it doesn't
bother them, why should it bother us? Indeed, how could it bother us? We
are giving our nympholeptic president 70 percent approval ratings and
making Viagra the fastest-selling drug in the nation.
Still, skeptics will harbor suspicions, however slight, that McGwire has
been unfairly aided by a slugger's little helper in his pursuit of Roger
Maris, who could have used some Propecia by the time he finally caught
Ruth, who, incidentally, could have used some Phen-Fen. (Clinton might
try saltpeter.) To pre-empt the doubters, we offer a modest proposal:
Reinstate Babe Ruth's 60 homers in 154 games as the mark to beat.
To hit 61 homers in a 162-game season, a player must average one homer
per 2.65 games, which is what Maris did in 1961.
To hit 60 homers in a
154-game season, a player must do something more difficult: Average one
homer per 2.56 games, which is what the Bambino did in 1927. In 1961,
understanding this arithmetic, Baseball Commissioner Ford Frick ruled
that Ruth remained the all-time single-season home-run champ and
assigned Maris his infamous asterisk, denoting a record for a 162-game
season. But in 1991 Commissioner Fay Vincent recognized Maris' 61 as the
official record, leaving Ruth not even an asterisk.
While Maris' 61 homers was a most impressive achievement, Ruth's record
is self-evidently a greater feat. Yet, somehow, Americans have
passively, uncritically accepted the 61/162 rather than 60/154 as the
record to beat.
Such docility in the face of arbitrary bureaucratic fiat is highly
uncharacteristic. Much scholarly research shows it: Americans often
think of themselves as "rugged individualists" who tamed the frontier
without much help from authority. Sociologist Seymour Martin Lipset has
observed that a couple of decades ago Americans and Canadians were both
advised by their governments to switch to the metric system. Today, all
over Canada, road signs tell how far you have to go, in kilometers. In
don't-give-me-orders America, distance is still measured in miles.
Americans are not pipsqueaks; they listen to reason, not bureaucrats. As
this is written, McGwire needs nine more home runs in his last 33 games
to break the Maris record, one per 3.7 games. To break Ruth's record, he
needs eight more in his next 25 games, one per 3.1 games.
Reinstating the Ruthian record will add drama to McGwire's historic
chase, and moreover, it is a mark worthy of this extraordinary athlete:
With 53 home runs in 129 games, he is hitting a home run every 2.43
games, better than either Maris or Ruth. As of this writing, McGwire is
on a pace to hit 66 over a 162-game season, and 63 in the first 154
games. Thus, he may end up breaking both records, one of them, or none
of them.
And it may not be McGwire. Sammy Sosa of the Chicago Cubs trails Big Mac
by only a couple of homers. It's getting so exciting maybe Geraldo will
mention
McGwire. Maris.
Ruth. Clinton.
AS "NEWS" BECOMES INDISTINGUISHABLE from pornography, and Geraldo and
swarms of shrieking lawyers assail us on All-Monica-All-The-Time
television, we owe Mark McGwire our thanks.
America is a heroic nation; America needs heroes; McGwire's quest is
heroic. After all, the toughest record he may break is Babe Ruth's, and
the Bambino, the Sultan of Swat, is routinely described as "immortal."
Moreover, McGwire gives every indication of being a very nice man. While
the president is apologizing to his teammates for lying to them, McGwire
has been thanking his:
McGwire
8/28/98:McGwire. Maris. Ruth. Clinton.
8/20/98: Is consuming a Big Mac eating?
Ben Wattenberg is a senior fellow at the
American Enterprise Institute
and is the moderator of PBS's "Think Tank." Daniel Wattenberg, who co-wrote
this week's column, writes regularly for The Weekly Standard and is a
contributing editor for George.
