attendance was down. In 1998, Sosa and Mark
McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals engaged in a
home run race that captured the imagination of the
United States. Sosa had an incredible June in which
he hit a record twenty home runs. The unbelievable
month by Sosa triggered one of the greatest dramas
in baseball history and put the grand old game back
in the public’s mind.
Throughout that summer, each player slugged
his way toward the single-season home run record
set in 1961. What made the chase so special was the
friendly competition between the two players. Sosa
became a darling to the fans of the “lovable loser”
Cubs, and baseball benefited as a result. The Cubs,
backed by Sosa’s 158 runs batted in (RBI), made the
playoffs to the delight of fans. By the end of the 1998
season, McGwire had broken Maris’s record with an
amazing seventy home runs, while Sosa had slugged
sixty-six and been voted Most Valuable Player (MVP)
of the National League. The next year, Sosa had an-
other terrific season, hitting sixty-three home runs.
While the home run competition helped to bring
fans back to the ballparks, the chase also had a dark
side. Rumors of steroid use by both McGwire and
Sosa cast a long shadow on the time period. Never-
theless, it was never proven that Sosa had taken ste-
roids.
Impact Sosa became a symbol of achievement
for the Latino population in the United States, and
his cheerfulness and sportsmanship captured the
hearts of the country. He went on to hit over six hun-
dred home runs in his career—a feat matched only
by a handful of baseball greats.
Further Reading
Bayless, Skip.Sammy’s Season. Chicago: Contempo-
rary Books, 1998.
Duncan, Patricia J.Sosa! Baseball’s Home Run Hero.
New York: Simon & Schuster, 1998.
Sosa, Sammy, with Marcos Bretón.Sosa: An Autobiog-
raphy. New York: Warner Books, 2000.
Denis MuellerSee also Baseball; Baseball realignment; Baseball
strike of 1994; Griffey, Ken, Jr.; Home run race; Lati-
nos; McGwire, Mark; Ripken, Cal, Jr.; Sports. South Park
Identification Animated television comedy series
Creators Trey Parker (1969- ) and Matt
Stone (1971- )
Date First aired on August 13, 1997
One of several animated television series aimed at an adult
audience in the late 1990’s,South Parkquickly became
one of the most-watched programs on cable television. How-
ever, with its controversial subject matter and off-color hu-
mor, the series was often cited as an example of a general
trend toward vulgarity in American popular entertain-
ment.
A cartoon series aired on the cable network Comedy
Central,South Parkwas created by film students Trey
Parker and Matt Stone using simple construction pa-
per cutouts. The series featured four third-graders
living in South Park, a small Colorado town. TheThe Nineties in America South Park 791
Sammy Sosa was the National League MVP in 1998, having
slugged sixty-six home runs that season.(AP/Wide World
Photos)