PORT ST. LUCIE – The 5,148 fans who came to see Mark McGwire yesterday got exactly what they wanted, a towering three-run home run that landed about 470 feet beyond home plate, or 409 feet, six inches from where Hideo Nomo had delivered the pitch.
The ball rolled harmlessly to the chain link fence that surrounds Field 7, where the minor leaguers were working out. That gave him three home runs in five spring training at-bats.
Of course, it’s only spring, and the homer doesn’t count for anything, but still there was that unmistakable aura of McGwiremania at this little stadium in the sun yesterday. From the moment the Cardinals’ bus arrived a little after 10 in the morning until he walked past a shrieking crowd waiting near the bus at the end of the day, it was as if these games and this home run were part of “70” all over again.
For a town and a stadium that really don’t get much major league excitement, this was something extra, as if Michael Jordan had come to town to take layups.
First, before the stadium gates opened, McGwire and his teammates stretched, ran and went through the morning pre-game rituals. While others hit, the big redhead chatted casually to old teammates Rickey Henderson and Andy Tomberlin and also to Robin Ventura, whom he knows from his American league days.
The gates opened at noon and most of the early birds flocked to the Cardinals’ side of the field. All Cardinal spring training games are sold out already, but fans know they can see Big Mac if they make the 40-minute drive north to St. Lucie. And for the first time this year, the Mets opened up the bleachers along the right field line to accommodate them.
Then there was batting practice, where McGwire did his ritual launching of baseballs. With first base coach Dave McKay delivering up the tomatoes, McGwire obliged the yearnings of the early comers at Thomas J. White Stadium by hammering 11 of the 23 balls he swung at over the fence in left or center fields, and getting a nice applause for doing it.
As word spread he was taking BP, Met players like Edgardo Alfonzo, John Franco, Bobby Bonilla, Jason Isringhausen and Allen Watson peeked out from their own clubhouse to see the spectacle.
Once the game – which the Mets lost 9-2 – started, it revolved around McGwire’s at-bats. In the first, Nomo struck him out swinging on a 1-2 forkball. But the next time up, McGwire, who went 1-for-2, gave the fans their treat, a reminder of last season and a foreshadowing of the one approaching. In the third, Octavio Dotel hit him with a curve ball on the right shoulder.
Bobby Valentine said Nomo’s job yesterday was to throw fastballs over the plate, and if McGwire were going to hit bombs, so be it.
“I said, ‘Throw it into his power and let’s see how far he can hit it,'” Valentine said half-joking. “I said to Nomo, ‘The wind’s blowing in, don’t worry about it.’ All that meant was that the kids on Field 7 were safe.”
When the game was over, a group of reporters waited patiently for McGwire, having been told he would talk after the game. But the slugger, perhaps a little annoyed at being hit, walked right past them on to the bus.
The media complained to Cards’ media relations director Brian Bartow, but he said there was nothing he could do if Big Mac didn’t want to talk. And then he tried to put it in perspective.
“It’s just spring training,” he said.