No 50-50 Split for McGwire

NEW YORK —  By his own admission, Mark McGwire can now catch Roger Maris. And he might do it faster than even he thought possible.

McGwire became the first player in history to hit 50 home runs in three consecutive seasons Thursday night with a towering shot in the seventh inning of the St. Louis Cardinals’ 2-0 victory over the New York Mets in the first game of a doubleheader at Shea Stadium. McGwire wasted no time hitting No. 51, connecting in the first inning of the second game--a 5-4 Cardinal loss--to move within 10 of tying Maris’ record of 61 homers in a season with 36 games left.

Since spring training, McGwire has been hounded by questions as to whether he or anyone else could break baseball’s most hallowed record.

“That’s what I truly believe,” he said Thursday afternoon. “I mean if someone gets to 50 by September 1, they have a shot down the stretch run.”

Well, McGwire is there.

After Brian Jordan led off the seventh with a homer off Willie Blair (4-16), McGwire sent a 2-1 pitch over the wall in left-center. McGwire pumped his right fist above his head as he rounded first base as the large Shea Stadium crowd gave him a standing ovation.

Only Ruth (1920-21 and 1927-28) and McGwire had hit 50 or more homers in back-to-back seasons before McGwire’s homer, which traveled 369 feet, in the first game. McGwire hit 52 homers in 1996 for Oakland and 58 for the Athletics and Cardinals last year.

“It’s nice to be a part of major league history, and to have done so in such a historic baseball city as New York,” McGwire said in a statement.

“Ironically, I broke Babe Ruth’s record just across town from the stadium he played in.

“To be the first player to do it three consecutive years, you go back through the thousands of power hitters who played this game and nobody’s ever done it. And now I can . . . say I’m the first player to do it. I’m pretty proud of it.”

McGwire has 161 homers over the last three seasons, tying a Ruth record which he set from 1926-28.

When he came off the field after Game 1, McGwire was greeted by high-fives and congratulations from teammates outside the Cardinal clubhouse.

“Beautiful,” said Donovan Osborne (3-2), winning pitcher in the first game. “Nobody deserves it more than he does. Everybody is excited, we’re all rooting for him.”

In the first inning of the second game against Rick Reed (15-7), McGwire lined a 3-2 pitch into the left-field seats for No. 51. It was his fourth homer in three games. He hit Nos. 48 and 49 on Wednesday in Chicago.

“He has a chance to do what no one thought would be done,” said Reed, who gave up McGwire’s 400th home run earlier this season. “He has a good shot now. To be honest, I’m excited. But he could have started this stuff after he left.”

Fans at Shea Stadium cheered McGwire during batting practice and kept it up when he came to the plate in the game.

McGwire is the sixth NL player to hit 50 in a season and first since George Foster hit 52 in 1977 for Cincinnati.

McGwire wanted to retrieve his historic home run ball to give to the Hall of Fame, but the fan who caught it, Mike Scelsi, 31, of Yonkers, N.Y., wouldn’t give it up.

“The sad thing is that all these balls will be held up for ransom, it’s sad,” said McGwire who got teary-eyed during both his interview sessions. “I would like to have it.”

Jordan homered in both games for the Cardinals, while Mike Piazza hit a two-run homer--his 22nd--in the second game for the Mets, who were playing the second of three doubleheaders this week.

The Mets lead the Chicago Cubs by half a game in the National League wild-card race.