The St. Louis Cardinals 1998 season was the team's 117th season in St. Louis, Missouri and the 107th season in the National League . The Cardinals went 83-79 during the season and finished 3rd in the National League Central division, 18 games behind the Houston Astros . First baseman Mark McGwire broke Roger Maris ' single-season home run record this season by hitting 70 home runs, battling with the Chicago Cubs ' Sammy Sosa , who finished runner-up in the National League with 66.
Offseason [ edit ]
Regular season [ edit ]
On May 8, McGwire hit career home run number 400 in his 4,726th at bat, faster than any other player in history who reached 400 home runs.
Facing Liván Hernández on May 16, McGwire hit his longest home run of the season, estimated at 545 feet.
McGwire hit home run number 50 of the season on August 20, becoming the first Major League ballplayer in history with three consecutive 50-plus home run seasons.
McGwire broke Roger Maris ’ 37-year-old record of 61 home runs on September 8 with a low line drive over Busch Stadium's left field fence. Known for hitting many long home runs, it was ironically the shortest home run McGwire hit that season.
Opening Day Lineup [ edit ]
Season standings [ edit ]
Record vs. opponents [ edit ]
1998 National League Records
Sources:
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16]
Team
ARI
ATL
CHC
CIN
COL
FLA
HOU
LAD
MIL
MON
NYM
PHI
PIT
SD
SF
STL
AL
Arizona
—
1–8
5–7
4–5
6–6
6–2
4–5
4–8
6–3
2–7
4–5
2–7
6–3
3–9
5–7
2–7
5–8
Atlanta
8–1
—
3–6
7–2
5–3
7–5
4–5
8–1
7–2
6–6
9–3
8–4
7–2
5–4
7–2
6–3
9–7
Chicago
7–5
6–3
—
6–5
7–2
7–2
4–7
4–5
6–6
7–2
4–5
3–6
8–3
5–4
7–3
4–7
5–8
Cincinnati
5–4
2–7
5–6
—
4–5
9–0
3–8
5–4
6–5
8–1
3–6
4–5
5–7
1–11
2–7
8–3
7-6
Colorado
6–6
3–5
2–7
5–4
—
6–3
6–5
6–6
4–7
7–2
3–6
5–4
5–4
5–7
7–5
3–6
4–8
Florida
2–6
5–7
2–7
0–9
3–6
—
3–6
4–5
0–9
5–7
5–7
6–6
3–6
4–5
0–9
4–5
8–8
Houston
5–4
5–4
7–4
8–3
5–6
6-3
—
3–6
9–2
7–2
5–4
7–2
9–2
5–4
6–3
5–7
10–4
Los Angeles
8–4
1–8
5–4
4–5
6–6
5–4
6–3
—
5–4
5–4
3–5
5–4
7–5
5–7
6–6
4–5
8–5
Milwaukee
3–6
2–7
6–6
5–6
7–4
9–0
2–9
4–5
—
6–3
1–8
4–5
6–5
3–6
5–4
3–8
8–6
Montreal
7–2
6–6
2–7
1–8
2–7
7–5
2–7
4–5
3–6
—
8–4
5–7
2–7
4–4
3–6
3–6
6–10
New York
5–4
3–9
5–4
6–3
6–3
7–5
4–5
5–3
8–1
4–8
—
8–4
4–5
4–5
4–5
6–3
9–7
Philadelphia
7-2
4–8
6–3
5–4
4–5
6–6
2–7
4–5
5–4
7–5
4–8
—
8–1
1–8
2–6
3–6
7–9
Pittsburgh
3–6
2–7
3–8
7–5
4–5
6–3
2–9
5–7
5–6
7–2
5–4
1–8
—
5–4
2–7
6–5
6–7
San Diego
9–3
4–5
4–5
11–1
7–5
5–4
4–5
7–5
6–3
4–4
5–4
8–1
4–5
—
8–4
6–3
6–7
San Francisco
7–5
2–7
3–7
7–2
5–7
9–0
3–6
6–6
4–5
6–3
5–4
6–2
7–2
4–8
—
7–5
8–5
St. Louis
7–2
3–6
7–4
3–8
6–3
5-4
7–5
5–4
8–3
6–3
3–6
6–3
5–6
3–6
5–7
—
4–9
Notable Transactions [ edit ]
Scorecard for McGwire's 70th [ edit ]
Entering the game on September 27 against the Montreal Expos , McGwire had 68 Home Runs. In the third inning, McGwire hit a home run off of Mike Thurman , and in the seventh, he got number 70 off of Carl Pavano . The ball was caught by Philip Ozersky.[ 7] In January 1999, Todd McFarlane purchased Mark McGwire's 70th home run ball from the 1998 season for a record $3 million.[ 8]
September 27, Busch Stadium, St. Louis, Missouri
Team
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Montreal
0
0
2
1
0
0
0
0
0
3
9
1
St. Louis
1
1
1
0
0
0
3
0
x
6
9
2
W : Frascatore (3-4) L : Pavano (6-9) SV : Acevedo (15) HRs : Cabrera (3), Tatis (8), McGwire 2 (69, 70)
Attendance : 46,110 Time :2:33 U-HP–Rich Rieker, 1B–Joe West, 2B–Kerwin Danley, 3B–Brian Gorman
Aftermath of the 1998 home run chase [ edit ]
A section of Interstate 70 running through downtown St. Louis was renamed "The Mark McGwire Highway." His record stood until Barry Bonds hit 73 in 2001. In years following, revelations of the anabolic steroids scandals have possibly tainted these records, but at the time it was great theater and was largely responsible for drawing many fans back to the game after the 1994 players' strike , which had angered and alienated many of them.
1998 St. Louis Cardinals
Roster
Pitchers
Catchers
Infielders
Outfielders
Manager
Coaches
Player stats [ edit ]
Batting [ edit ]
Starters by position [ edit ]
Note: Pos = position; G = Games played; AB = At Bats; R = Runs; H = Hits; HR = Home Runs; RBI = Runs Batted In; Avg. = Batting Average; SB = Stolen Bases
[ 9]
Other batters [ edit ]
Player
G
AB
R
H
HR
RBI
Avg.
SB
David Bell
4
9
0
2
0
0
.222
0
J. D. Drew
14
36
9
15
5
13
.417
0
Brian Hunter
62
112
11
23
4
13
.205
1
Pat Kelly
53
153
18
33
4
14
.216
5
Tom Lampkin
93
216
25
50
6
28
.231
3
John Mabry
142
377
41
94
9
46
.249
0
Joe McEwing
10
20
5
4
0
1
.200
0
Willie McGee
120
269
27
68
3
34
.253
7
Tom Pagnozzi
51
160
7
35
1
10
.219
0
Plácido Polanco
45
114
10
29
1
11
.254
2
Fernando Tatís
55
202
28
58
8
26
.287
7
Pitching [ edit ]
Starting pitchers [ edit ]
Note: G = Games played; IP = Innings Pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned Run Average ; SO. = Strikeouts; BB = Bases on Balls
Player
G
IP
W
L
ERA
SO
BB
Matt Morris
17
113.7
7
5
2.53
79
42
Kent Mercker
30
161.7
11
11
5.07
72
53
Todd Stottlemyre
23
161.3
9
9
3.51
147
51
Other pitchers [ edit ]
Player
G
IP
W
L
ERA
SO
BB
Mark Petkovsek
48
105.7
7
4
4.77
55
36
Bobby Witt
17
47.3
2
5
4.94
28
20
Relief pitchers [ edit ]
Player
G
IP
W
L
SV
ERA
SO
BB
Juan Acevedo
50
98.3
8
3
15
2.56
56
29
Kent Bottenfield
44
133.7
4
6
4
4.44
98
57
Jeff Brantley
48
50.7
0
5
14
4.44
48
18
John Frascatore
69
95.7
3
4
0
4.14
49
36
McGwire's 70 [ edit ]
Number
Date
Pitcher
Length
1
03-31-1998
Ramón Martínez
364'
2
04-02-1998
Frank Lankford
368'
3
04-03-1998
Mark Langston
364'
4
04-04-1998
Don Wengert
419'
5
04-14-1998
Jeff Suppan
424'
6
04-14-1998
Jeff Suppan
347'
7
04-14-1998
Barry Manuel
462'
8
04-17-1998
Matt Whiteside
419'
9
04-21-1998
Trey Moore
437'
10
04-25-1998
Jerry Spradlin
419'
11
04-30-1998
Marc Pisciotta
371'
12
05-01-1998
Rod Beck
362'
13
05-08-1998
Rick Reed
358'
14
05-12-1998
Paul Wagner
527'
15
05-14-1998
Kevin Millwood
381'
16
05-16-1998
Liván Hernández
545'
17
05-18-1998
Jesus Sanchez
478'
18
05-19-1998
Tyler Green
440'
19
05-19-1998
Tyler Green
471'
20
05-19-1998
Wayne Gomes
451'
21
05-22-1998
Mark Gardner
425'
22
05-23-1998
Rich Rodriguez
366'
23
05-23-1998
John Johnstone
477'
24
05-24-1998
Robb Nen
397'
25
05-25-1998
John Thomson
433'
26
05-29-1998
Dan Miceli
388'
27
05-30-1998
Andy Ashby
423'
28
06-05-1998
Orel Hershiser
409'
29
06-08-1998
Jason Bere
356'
30
06-10-1998
Jim Parque
409'
31
06-12-1998
Andy Benes
438'
32
06-17-1998
José Lima
437'
33
06-18-1998
Shane Reynolds
449'
34
06-24-1998
Jaret Wright
433'
35
06-25-1998
Dave Burba
461'
36
06-27-1998
Mike Trombley
431'
37
06-30-1998
Glendon Rusch
472'
38
07-11-1998
Billy Wagner
485'
39
07-12-1998
Sean Bergman
405'
40
07-12-1998
Scott Elarton
415'
41
07-17-1998
Brian Bohanon
511'
42
07-17-1998
Antonio Osuna
425'
43
07-20-1998
Brian Boehringer
452'
44
07-26-1998
John Thomson
452'
45
07-28-1998
Mike Myers
408'
46
08-08-1998
Mark Clark
374'
47
08-11-1998
Bobby Jones
464'
48
08-19-1998
Matt Karchner
398'
49
08-19-1998
Terry Mulholland
409'
50
08-20-1998
Willie Blair
369'
51
08-20-1998
Rick Reed
393'
52
08-22-1998
Francisco Córdova
477'
53
08-23-1998
Ricardo Rincón
393'
54
08-26-1998
Justin Speier
509'
55
08-30-1998
Dennis Martínez
501'
56
09-01-1998
Liván Hernández
450'
57
09-01-1998
Donn Pall
472'
58
09-02-1998
Brian Edmondson
497'
59
09-02-1998
Rob Stanifer
458'
60
09-05-1998
Dennys Reyes
381'
61
09-07-1998
Mike Morgan
430'
62
09-08-1998
Steve Trachsel
341'
63
09-15-1998
Jason Christiansen
385'
64
09-18-1998
Rafael Roque
423'
65
09-20-1998
Scott Karl
423'
66
09-25-1998
Shayne Bennett
375'
67
09-26-1998
Dustin Hermanson
403'
68
09-26-1998
Kirk Bullinger
435'
69
09-27-1998
Mike Thurman
377'
70
09-27-1998
Carl Pavano
370'
[ 10]
Awards and honors [ edit ]
Mark McGwire, Franchise Record, Most Home Runs in One Season (70)
Mark McGwire, Major League Baseball Home Run Champion
Mark McGwire, Major League record, Most home runs through July 31 (45)[ 11]
Mark McGwire, First player to hit 50 home runs in three straight seasons: 1996–1998 [ 12]
Mark McGwire , Associated Press Athlete of the Year [ 13]
Mark McGwire , First Base, Silver Slugger Award
Mark McGwire , Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year
All-Star Game
Farm system [ edit ]
[ 14]
References [ edit ]
^ Willie McGee Statistics - Baseball-Reference.com
^ http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/botteke01.shtml
^ Chip Hale Statistics - Baseball-Reference.com
^ J.D. Drew Statistics - Baseball-Reference.com
^ http://www.baseball-reference.com/b/bellda01.shtml
^ http://www.baseball-reference.com/p/pagnoto01.shtml
^ Sports Illustrated, Volume 109, No. 2, July 14–21, 2008, p.122, Published by Time Inc.
^ Spawn.Com >> Info >> Todd Mcfarlane
^ http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/STL/1990.shtml
^ Mark McGwire's Seventy Home Run Season by Baseball Almanac
^ Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures , 2008 Edition, p.260, David Nemec and Scott latow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0
^ http://www.allsports.com/players/mark-mcgwire/
^ Associated Press Athlete of the Year (male)
^ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball , 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007
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