ESPN recently aired a 30 for 30 on the summer of ’98, encapsulating the home run race between Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire, but that season also boasted arguably the greatest team of all time: the ’98 New York Yankees.
Yet, the manager of that team – Joe Torre – appears to insinuate the Yankees get overshadowed due to the home run race.
Per Sam Borden of ESPN, Torre had a conversation with a friend a few weeks ago who mentioned that McGwire and Sosa saved baseball in 1998 following the 1994 labor strike that went like this:
“What about our team? The Yankees …. Who won 114 games … and set a record?” Torre asked.
“Oh … yeah,” the friend said.
“Oh yeah,” Torre sighed.
The Yankees won 114 regular season games (a record at the time) and 125 games total – still a major league record -- sweeping the San Diego Padres in the World Series.
“That team was really something special,” Torre said.
In a year that was dominated by power and home runs, no Yankee hit more than 30. Tino Martinez led the team with 28.
They did lead the league in runs scored, runs batted in, on-base percentage and OPS.
“I just never had any luck on my birthday,” Torre said on a recent video call, per ESPN. “I’d go hitless or we’d lose or whatever. But in ’98, I remember saying to once of my coaches, ‘Hey, we even won on my birthday,’ and he looked at me and said, ‘Joe, we won on everybody’s birthday.’”