Summer of Sammy: Sosa's 59th homer in 1998

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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 started mounting his comeback on McGwire on Sept. 11, hammering a Bill Pulsipher pitch 464 feet out onto SHEFFIELD (yes, right field) for his 59th dinger of the season.

McGwire hit his 59th homer on Sept. 2 that season, but stood on 62 homers for more than a week - from Sept. 8 to Sept. 15.

That gave Sosa time to catch up, beginning with this 59th homer.

It did not matter for the Cubs, however, who lost the game 13-11 behind some suspect pitching. They gave up all 13 runs between the third and sixth inning. Don Wengert and Rodney Myers were the main culprits, allowing 9 earned runs in just 3.1 innings combined.

Fun fact: Gary Gaetti continued to mash in a Cubs uniform, hitting a homer and a single and also drawing a walk. Through Sept. 11, 1998, Gaetti was hitting .355/.432/.645 (1.077 OPS) in 22 games with the Cubs, driving in 17 runs in only 76 at-bats.

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