First, of course, a digression:

I haven't followed American baseball for at least 20 years, and though as a kid I had a substantial baseball card collection, I can't claim to ever having been too much of a fan. Still, for someone born in the States there's always a certain magic in the game. This may be because of its slow pace, and because everything in the game is a matter of record. But there are records, and there are records. Even for someone like me, separated from the sport both by time and geography, a new homerun record is something to get excited about. And if you're separated geographically, there's nothing like the internet to bring you "up to the minute" news. It was after Mark McGwire hit his 62nd homerun that I came across the following item (from the ABC NEWS internet site sports page, September 8, 1998):

The flashbulbs of a thousand cameras exploded from the Busch Stadium stands, forming a hometown light show as he circled the bases triumphantly for his shortest home run of the year.