McGwire Is Rooting For Bonds To Break His Record - AP!

[CalifYanksFan]

McGwire rooting for Bonds to break his record
By R.B. FALLSTROM
AP Sports Writer
September 28, 2001


ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Mark McGwire hopes Barry Bonds breaks the home-run record he set three years ago.

``All I'm going to say is he's got an excellent chance,'' McGwire said Friday night before the St. Louis Cardinals played Pittsburgh. ``I'm rooting for him. If he gets it, it'll be a phenomenal feat.''

McGwire was hesitant to talk about the record chase, for fearing anything he said would be construed as sour grapes.

He and manager Tony La Russa said McGwire, who has 28 homers and a .187 average in an injury-plagued year, got some unfavorable publicity during the team's just-completed seven-game trip.

``I read some negative stuff and I read the stuff Mark says,'' La Russa said. ``It's really a shame. I think he's said the right thing all along.''

McGwire broke Roger Maris' 37-year-old record of 61 homers with his 70-homer season in 1998. Bonds hit his 68th home run Friday night and has eight games remaining.

``He's doing it routinely,'' McGwire said. ``His pace is unbelievable. I've told guys in here, I'm calling 72, 73.''

The most impressive aspect of Bonds' record chase, to McGwire's thinking, was that he had only 455 at-bats.

``It's unbelievable,'' McGwire said. ``He's totally blown away what I did, even if the year ended today.''

After the 1998 season, McGwire thought his record would last. He changed his thinking after he hit 65 more homers in 1999 and after Sammy Sosa topped 60 homers in both '98 and '99.

``When I came back the next year and hit 65, that was pretty much a reevaluation, saying 70's going to be broken,'' McGwire said. ``I'm very realistic about things. I've said since day one that records are made to be broken.''

AP

[#1PaFan]

Hell, I hope he breaks it too. It's not like it means anything now. The Babe's record lasted 34 years.Roger's record lasted 37 years. Now the Sixty "barrier" has been cracked, what, five times in the past three years? Might as well crack the Seventy "barrier."
I'm not rooting for Barry. I'm not rooting against him either. I just don't give a ................ about a record that will probably be beaten in another two or three years anyway.
How sad that one of the most recognizable records has become so blurry.

[YanksRockMan]

I don't care about this Home run race.

[DiMaggio5CF]

McGwire doesn't want Bonds to break his record. He just says that because it's the "right" thing to say.

And I agree with #1PaFan. The record means nothing now.

We have a record set at 60 (which breaks the previous mark by only one, which was held by the same player -- Ruth broke his own mark). That record stands for 34 years, when it is broken by only one, and that 61 mark needs eight extra games. 37 years later, that record is finally broken. But not by 1, by 9. In the year that the new record was set at 70, two guys actually passed 61. The next year, 61 is passed again, but the new record is safe. Then the next year, 61 is finally not matched. However, the next year, one guy is actually 1 away from reaching the 70 mark, and another guy has a chance to break 61.

The days of Ruth and Maris are gone. 60 means nothing anymore, and it's a shame.

[deranged2005]

I want to see the triples record get broken, but it most likely will never happen.