Recognizing Mark McGwire of The St. Louis Cardinals For Breaking The Historic Home Run Record
August, 2000 (Senate - September 09, 1998)--Madam President, I came to the
floor to speak about campaign finance reform, and I will do that in a moment,
but I thank my colleague from Missouri for adding me as a cosponsor of the resolution.
As
is obvious to my colleagues, I am neither from Missouri nor California, so my
claim to being added is my status as a baseball fan. And even though my colleagues
may think I am reaching, the fact is that when Roger Maris set the record I
was in college together with the junior Senator from Missouri. So it gives me
some standing.
I do want to identify myself with his comments just to stress the obvious personal achievement here that has inspired the country, and also the way in which Mark McGwire did it. It was an act of fate, but somehow so correct, that he tied the record at the 61st homer on the day of his father's 61st birthday, because baseball, in my experience in this country, is very much a matter of one generation passing on the experience to another.
My own memories of baseball, first memories, come from my dad taking me to games, and they are cherished memories. I can tell my colleagues--I hope I am not violating her privacy--when my youngest child was 4 days old, in March, I held her up to a TV set and said, `Sweetheart, this is baseball, and you're going to love it.' Fortunately, for me, she has, and we have shared that experience. As Senator Ashcroft indicated, Mark McGwire beautifully continued that with his son there as a batboy.
The second is the obvious rapport between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa, as they compete for this but do it with extraordinary mutual respect. To make the point that is obvious but maybe still worth making, here we have one person whose family has been in this country a long time, from a family of relative success and comfort, another a new American born in poverty in another country, coming here, joined together in this remarkable American game to I think this year break records that were previously thought to be impossible.
And a final word about Roger Maris, who did set the record in the younger days of both my life and Senator Ashcroft's life. I felt that Mark McGwire probably brought the whole country to give more tribute to Roger Maris than he ever had before, and we owed it to him. So I am proud to be added as a cosponsor.
Did the Senator from Missouri wish to add anything before I proceed to the topic of campaign finance reform?
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