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In 1990, Cecil Fielder opened the door to the decade of homeruns. He did not it know at the time, but his 51 homeruns were only the beginning to what would be the most historic decade in baseball history. Fielder was the first man to break the 50 homerun barrier since George Foster in 1977.
It took a few years, but in 1995 the real explosion went off. From 1995 to 1999, 11 players were able to get at least 50 homeruns. This accomplishment is especially incredible considering nobody had hit 50 homeruns from 1978 to 1989.
In 1997, serious talks of surpassing the single season homerun record uproared. In that year, Ken Griffey, Jr. finished the season with 56 homeruns and Mark McGwire with 58. After the season, many were confident that either Griffey or McGwire would eclipse the record that had stood for so many years.
In 1998, two men passed the previous benchmark of 61 home runs, forever putting their names into the books of baseball history.
LISTEN TO SPEECH AT THE PRESS CONFERENCE
On Tuesday, September 8, 1998, the St. Louis Cardinals' Mark McGwire eclipsed the record set by Roger Maris back in 1961.
(1:38.1 - Real Audio - 383KB)
Just five days later, the Chicago Cubs' Sammy Sosa joined McGwire at 62.
Throughout the final month of the 1998 season, both men vied for the home run title in an exciting duel that will long be remembered and retold. Sammy Sosa finished with an unheard of 66 homeruns. Mark McGwire had an unearthly 70 homers in what would go down as one of the most intense and historic seasons ever.
In the 1999 season, Mark McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals and Sammy Sosa of the Chicago Cubs are almost able to recreate the same excitement from the 1998 season. They are once again engaged in a homerun race. This time it does not seem to capture the attention of the world because they were almost expected to do it again. For the second season, both men crushed the previous record from 1961. Neither man is able to reach McGwire's record of 70 created in 1998. Sosa ends the season with 63 and McGwire with 65. McGwire becomes the first man to hit 50 homeruns in 4 consecutive seasons while Sosa becomes the first man to have 60 in 2 consecutive seasons.
