Long Gone Summer 30 for 30

[JonLP24]

I think this documentary is worth watching. I'm not a baseball fan anymore but the home run chase between McGwire & Sosa was when baseball was at its most exciting. I remember they would interrupt coverage to show an at-bat and even remember when McGwire put a hole in the DBacks scoreboard during batting practice. They used to broadcast batting practice even. It was a very memorable season.

The documentary also covers the aftermath including the dark cloud PEDs has over the era.

[Docreed2003]

1. I want to see this..

Not to celebrate that era, but because I was in college that summer and I saw more baseball in person that summer than I have since.

My roommate and I drove up to St Louis the first week of the season for a game and we began going up practically every week thereafter through the season. We saw so many great games and got to experience that summer's HR race first hand. (And, full disclosure I'm a Red Sox fan but developed a true love and appreciation for St Louis baseball)

It's funny to me that the label of "steroid era" has been placed on not only McGwire and Sosa but so many other players. There was no secret that both of those players were taking "supplements". I vividly remember an interview with McGwire when he went into great detail about the types of supplements he was taking with ESPN before a game.

[Auggie]

2. McGwire hit the longest home run I've ever see in a ballpark

It was back when they were building Mount Davis at the Oakland Coliseum. It was a day game, and construction was actually going on during play. McGwire launched one that landed halfway up Mount Davis. Construction workers dropped what they were doing and chased down the ball. I don't know if he was juiced then or not, but it was monster hit.

I recall his before and after steroid transition with the Athletics. It was a freaky, disturbing look. I was so naive -- I thought he was sick! He hit 49 homers as a non-steroid rookie. You think that would have been enough ...