None of this has been lost on the fans. As balls fly off bats like pinballs off flippers (Oakland’s Mark McGwire is the pinball wizard, with a remarkable 47 home runs in 112 games), ballpark attendance is up. More important, in the battle for the hearts and allowances of the nation’s children, Major League Baseball’s merchandise is as hot its hitters–up 35 percent from last year. And all of this has come before the playoffs begin next month, an elongated affair that dominates prime-time television.
To be fair, baseball’s redemption began last year when Cal Ripken of the Baltimore Orioles broke Lou Gehrig’s storied consecutive-games-played record. Ripken is the oddest of contemporary public figures, a straight-talking, non-philandering, hard-working character. The celebration of his achievement taught baseball an important lesson: the game is only as big as its stars. So this has become a season for curtain calls. On Friday night, Oriole Eddie Murray, who never met a sportswriter he cared for, or a fast ball he couldn’t juke, became only the 15th player in history to hit 500 home runs. In Cleveland, glowering Albert Belle has stayed out of trouble for a couple of months, concentrating on smacking baseballs, not other players. In Atlanta John Smoltz is pitching the Braves toward another World Series. In Arlington, Texas, it’s September and the entire Ranger team has not collapsed.
In this summer of public pathos, the most compelling stories have involved illness. Minnesota’s Kirby Puckett, a hometown hero, had to retire prematurely when his blurred vision failed to clear. The New York Yankees’ Dwight Gooden got one last chance to pitch–and to beat his drug habit. And in a class by themselves are the tales of Yankee pitcher David Cone and Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Brett Butler, both of whom appeared lost for the season in May with serious health problems.
Butler, 39, had a cancerous tumor surgically removed from this throat, leaving an L-shaped scar that descends from his ear and veers toward his Adam’s apple. When his 32 radiation treatments were finally concluded, on July 29, Butler had shriveled to 140 pounds, down more than 20 pounds from his playing weight. His last concern was reclaiming his center-field job. But his wife insisted: “You can’t go out this way.” And he didn’t. “The radiation has taken a toll a little bit in the cardiovascular, but not the baseball,” he told NEWSWEEK’S Adam Rogers. On Friday night he returned to the field in Dodger Stadium. In his third at-bat he lined a single to left field and tipped his hat as he stood on first base.
Cone’s return was equally dramatic. In the spring, the 33-year-old right-hander had surgery to repair an aneurysm in his pitching shoulder. After months of rehab in Florida, Cone was eager to play. “It was difficult sitting in a bar alone in Florida, watching the Yankee game and cheering all by myself,” he says. When the vein graft in his shoulder was determined to be intact, Cone began throwing. Finally, with New York’s division lead having dwindled to just four games, Cone petitioned his club for an early return.
Before his first start last week, in Oakland, Cone was nervous. “But once I started getting into the rhythm of the game, it became fun,” he told NEWSWEEK. “I thought, “No one will remember this game 10 years from now, so why not relax and enjoy it?’ " He did, pitching seven no-hit innings before leaving the game to protect his tender arm.
Baseball hasn’t solved all its problems. The owners have failed to name a permanent commissioner. Players bounce from team to team. The games are still too long. But that parade of horribles can be ignored when Seattle’s 21-year-old shortstop, Alex Rodriguez, takes the field. In just his first full season in the majors, Rodriguez has done the near impossible, upstaging the Mariners’ resident superstar, 26-year-old Ken Griffey Jr. Rodriguez is hitting over .370 and is on pace for 40 home runs and 130 runs batted in. To put this in persepective, no shortstop in history has ever had a season that good. “I’ve got to stay humble and well grounded,” said Rodriguez before a recent home game with the Red Sox. “God gave me all this talent, and he can take it all away very quickly too.” Maybe he can, but the way Alex swings the bat, the way he hits in the clutch, the way he turns the double play, the memory of all that–no, no, no, you can’t take that away from us. At last, it’s a season for song.
