It's the 20th anniversary of the Summer of Sammy, when Sosa and Mark McGwire went toe-to-toe in one of the most exciting seasons in American sports history chasing after Roger Maris' home run record. All year, we're going to go homer-by-homer on Sosa's 66 longballs, with highlights and info about each. Enjoy.
Sosa's 42nd dinger of 1998 kicked off the Cubs' scoring on July 31, as he took Rockies starter Jamey Wright 375 feet deep with 2 outs in the first inning.
The solo shot was Sosa's only hit of the game, but with two months still left in the season, his slash line of .311/.373/.647 (1.020 OPS) was absolutely ridiculous.
The Cubs wound up winning that game 9-1 to improve to 62-48 on the season. The 2018 club is 61-44.
Fun fact: Kerry Wood was the winning pitcher in the game, improving to 11-5 on the season. He tossed 7.1 innings of 1-run baseball against a Colorado lineup that featured a heart of the order consisting of Larry Walker, Dante Bichette, Vinny Castilly and Todd Helton — all of whom finished the year hitting .300 or higher with at least 22 homers.