MICHAEL KIRAL / L’Observateur / April 7, 1999

The 1999 baseball season can be compared to a composer who had Beethoven for an opening act.

The 1998 season was a masterpiece, arguably the greatest season the game has had. There was the home run chase between Mark McGwire andSammy Sosa with McGwire getting to Roger Maris’ record first and ending with 70 home runs. David Wells pitching a perfect game against Minnesota.Kerry Wood striking out 20 Houston Astros. Cal Ripken ending hisconsecutive playing streak at 2,600-plus games. The Yankees winning 125games.

And to think, it was five short years ago that a requiem was being prepared for the game. The game was dying, the experts said, mortallywounded by the 1994 work stoppage. Fans would not come back to the park.But first Ripken with his playing streak and then McGwire and Sosa with their home run chase played the pied pipers to lead the fans back.

How will baseball follow last season? That’s the beauty of the game. Itdoesn’t have too. Every season is a symphony in itself with new stanzasbeing written every day.

Who knows what to expect when they pass through the turn styles to enter a ballpark? This time last year, did we think a Wells, a journeyman pitcher to that point, could set down 27 straight batters? What casual fan had ever heard of Wood? What were the odds of a player hitting 62 home runs, let alone two players doing it? Or one reaching 70? Baseball followers knew the Yankees would be good, but 125 wins? They knew the Marlins were going to be bad, but that bad? Who would have thought that San Diego, a last-place team the previous year, would be the National League’s representative in the World Series? And what fan, when they walked into Camden Yards on that day in September, realized that history was being made when the line up yards were being exchanged and Ripken’s name was not on the Orioles’ for the first time since 1982? As the 1999 season opens, the game has already said goodbye to Joe DiMaggio and Cal Ripken Sr. It will honor Hank Aaron on his 25thanniversary of his 715th home run. Later this season, it will say goodbyeto venerable Tiger Stadium, a field that legends such as Ty Cobb, Hank Greenberg and Al Kaline have called home. Also making their lastappearances will be the Kingdome in Seattle, Houston’s Astrodome, Mil- waukee County Stadium and 3Com (Candlestick) Park in San Francisco.

Tony Gwynn, Wade Boggs and Ripken all have chances to pass the 3,000-hit plateau. Rickey Henderson needs three stolen bases to reach 1,300 for hiscareer. To put that in perspective, nobody else has passed 950 in theircareers. And with 43 more home runs, McGwire will reach 500 for hiscareer, becoming the first player to get his 400th and 500th in consecutive seasons.

Those are the moments we are expecting to happen. But what about theones we don’t? What rookie will burst onto the scene this year? Will it be J.D. Drew or will it be one making the jump from Double or even Single A? Will there be another perfect game or no-hitter this year? How about an unassisted triple play or a four-home run game? The maestro is at the podium. But this a symphony that will be writtenover the next seven months. Let’s sit back and watch it unfold.

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