MARK MCGWIRE 70 HOME RUNS

The Historic Mark McGwire Seventy Home Run Season | Baseball Almanac

Mark McGwire had been known throughout his career as a great home run hitter. In 1998, he changed the record books as the whole world watched. He, and Chicago Cub Sammy Sosa, brought back memories of the 1961 Mickey Mantle / Roger Maris home run race. McGwire eventually "won" by hitting the record breaking sixty-second homer seven days before Sosa. McGwire went around the bases eight more times before season's end, leaving the new record at seventy.

McGwire began going over the fence as early as March. He hit consistently through the summer, jockeying for the National League lead with Sosa. The two faced a mass of media, as every eye in the country turned to see who would win the place in the record books. On September 8, McGwire did just that as he hit an 88 mile per hour fastball off of Steve Trachsel of the Chicago Cubs. Sosa was there to celebrate the milestone; he celebrated his own five days later. McGwire and Sosa capped their seasons as the co-holders of Sports Illustrated's Sportsmen of the Year.

McGwire later admitted to using the steroid Androstenedione during his record setting year, among others. Since his retirement in 2001, McGwire has kept a low profile, marrying the following April. McGwire may have been known as Big Mac by his teammates, but during the 1998 season he was known as the Babe Ruth of the nineteen-nineties. Research by Baseball Almanac.

Baseball Almanac Top Quote

"I threw a ninety-seven mile per hour pitch to (Mark) McGwire, and it went out at a hundred and ten!" - Johnson, Randy. All the Babe's Men: Baseball's Greatest Home Run Seasons and How They Changed America. Ham, Eldon L. Author. Potomac Books. 1 March 2013.

70 Single Season Home Runs by Mark McGwire

Mark McGwire

Mark McGwire | 70th Home Run Photo | PhotoFile | 27 September 1998
Baseball Almanac Research Library

In Numerical Order | Mark McGwire

1. 03-31-1998 Ramon Martinez 5 0 123 1-0 364'
2. 04-02-1998 Frank Lankford 12 2 12- 0-1 368'
3. 04-03-1998 Mark Langston 5 0 --3 3-2 364'
4. 04-04-1998 Don Wengert 6 0 1-3 2-1 419'
5. 04-14-1998 Jeff Suppan 3 1 1-- 1-2 424'
6. 04-14-1998 Jeff Suppan 5 2 --- 1-1 347'
7. 04-14-1998 Barry Manuel 8 0 1-- 2-0 462'
8. 04-17-1998 Matt Whiteside 4 2 -2- 2-2 419'
9. 04-21-1998 Trey Moore 3 2 1-- 0-0 437'
10. 04-25-1998 Jerry Spradlin 7 2 1-- 1-2 419'
11. 04-30-1998 Marc Pisciotta 8 1 1-- 2-1 371'
12. 05-01-1998 Rod Beck 9 2 --3 1-2 362'
13. 05-08-1998 Rick Reed 3 1 1-- 0-2 358'
14. 05-12-1998 Paul Wagner 5 0 12- 1-2 527'
15. 05-14-1998 Kevin Millwood 4 0 --- 1-1 381'
16. 05-16-1998 Livan Hernandez 4 0 --- 1-0 545'
17. 05-18-1998 Jesus Sanchez 4 0 --- 2-0 478'
18. 05-19-1998 Tyler Green 3 1 --3 2-0 440'
19. 05-19-1998 Tyler Green 5 0 -2- 0-2 471'
20. 05-19-1998 Wayne Gomes 8 0 1-- 0-0 451'
21. 05-22-1998 Mark Gardner 6 1 1-- 1-1 425'
22. 05-23-1998 Rich Rodriguez 4 1 --- 1-0 366'
23. 05-23-1998 John Johnstone 5 1 12- 2-2 477'
24. 05-24-1998 Robb Nen 12 2 1-- 2-2 397'
25. 05-25-1998 John Thomson 1 2 --- 2-2 433'
26. 05-29-1998 Dan Miceli 9 1 -2- 0-0 388'
27. 05-30-1998 Andy Ashby 1 2 --- 0-1 423'
28. 06-05-1998 Orel Hershiser 1 1 -2- 1-2 409'
29. 06-08-1998 Jason Bere 4 0 1-- 0-0 356'
30. 06-10-1998 Jim Parque 3 1 -23 1-0 409'
31. 06-12-1998 Andy Benes 3 1 123 1-0 438'
32. 06-17-1998 Jose Lima 3 2 --- 1-2 437'
33. 06-18-1998 Shane Reynolds 5 0 --- 1-1 449'
34. 06-24-1998 Jaret Wright 4 1 --- 1-1 433'
35. 06-25-1998 Dave Burba 1 2 --- 2-2 461'
36. 06-27-1998 Mike Trombley 7 2 1-- 2-2 431'
37. 06-30-1998 Glendon Rusch 7 0 --- 0-1 472'
38. 07-11-1998 Billy Wagner 11 1 1-- 0-2 485'
39. 07-12-1998 Sean Bergman 1 2 --- 0-0 405'
40. 07-12-1998 Scott Elarton 7 0 --- 2-1 415'
41. 07-17-1998 Brian Bohanon 1 2 --- 0-0 511'
42. 07-17-1998 Antonio Osuna 8 1 --- 1-0 425'
43. 07-20-1998 Brian Boehringer 5 0 1-- 2-1 452'
44. 07-26-1998 John Thomson 4 2 --- 0-0 452'
45. 07-28-1998 Mike Myers 8 1 --- 2-2 408'
46. 08-08-1998 Mark Clark 4 0 --- 2-1 374'
47. 08-11-1998 Bobby Jones 4 0 --- 1-0 464'
48. 08-19-1998 Matt Karchner 8 1 --- 3-1 398'
49. 08-19-1998 Terry Mulholland 10 1 --- 2-0 409'
50. 08-20-1998 Willie Blair 7 0 --- 2-1 369'
51. 08-20-1998 Rick Reed 1 2 --- 3-2 393'
52. 08-22-1998 Francisco Cordova 1 2 --- 0-2 477'
53. 08-23-1998 Ricardo Rincon 8 2 --- 2-2 393'
54. 08-26-1998 Justin Speier 8 0 --3 0-1 509'
55. 08-30-1998 Dennis Martinez 7 0 12- 1-0 501'
56. 09-01-1998 Livan Hernandez 7 0 --- 1-1 450'
57. 09-01-1998 Donn Pall 9 1 --- 0-0 472'
58. 09-02-1998 Brian Edmondson 7 2 --3 2-1 497'
59. 09-02-1998 Rob Stanifer 8 2 -2- 0-0 458'
60. 09-05-1998 Dennys Reyes 1 1 1-- 2-0 381'
61. 09-07-1998 Mike Morgan 1 2 --- 1-1 430'
62. 09-08-1998 Steve Trachsel 4 2 --- 1-1 341'
63. 09-15-1998 Jason Christiansen 9 1 --- 0-0 385'
64. 09-18-1998 Rafael Roque 4 0 -2- 3-1 423'
65. 09-20-1998 Scott Karl 1 1 1-- 2-1 423'
66. 09-25-1998 Shayne Bennett 5 2 1-- 1-2 375'
67. 09-26-1998 Dustin Hermanson 4 1 --- 0-0 403'
68. 09-26-1998 Kirk Bullinger 7 2 1-- 1-1 435'
69. 09-27-1998 Mike Thurman 3 2 --- 1-1 377'
70. 09-27-1998 Carl Pavano 7 2 1-3 0-0 370'
Mark McGwire 70 Home Run Season | Research by Baseball Almanac
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baseball almanac fast facts

On May 8, 1998, Mark McGwire hit career home run number four-hundred in his four-thousand seven-hundred twenty-sixth at bat, which was faster than any other player at that point in baseball history.

Did you know that on May 16, 1998, Livan Hernandez got rocked for the longest home run of the 1998 season — an estimated shot of five-hundred forty-five feet?

When Mark McGwire hit single season home run number fifty on August 20, 1998, he became the first Major League ballplayer in history with three consecutive fifty plus home run seasons!