Video: ESPN's 'Long Gone Summer' Trailer on Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa Released
Major League Baseball fans who are dreaming of the day they get to see home runs all over highlight reels again will get a slight reprieve from the league's hiatus Sunday, June 14, with 30 For 30's "Long Gone Summer."
The ESPN documentary revisits the 1998 home run race between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa, and it gets ready to premiere as MLB and its players union continue to negotiate a return-to-play plan amid the coronavirus pandemic.
On Saturday, the network offered a first look at the film, dropping a nearly 90-second trailer that features Sosa and McGwire—two sluggers from contrasting backgrounds who became baseball's biggest stars while battling for its most hallowed mark: the single-season home run record.
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That Sosa and McGwire's race to hit more than 61 homers in a season came during the height of baseball's steroid era now clouds what was one of the more epic years in league history—one that saw McGwire hit 70 home runs and Sosa 66.
McGwire said near the end of the clip he was "born to hit home runs," but the crux of the documentary can be summed up by announcer Bob Costas' remarks.
"People were desperate for a feel-good story," Costas said. "In retrospect, there was a price to pay for it."
