Although a lot of people play baseball two names that come to mind are Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. McGwire and Sosa are very good hitters but are also so very different hitters. McGwire and Sosa are very great athletes who share apart of baseball history. McGwire and Sosa are good players but off the field they are very charitable individuals. McGwire and Sosa have many similarities and differences.
IT is hard to compare Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa's statistic's because they haven't been in the league the same amount of time. The only way to fairly evaluate and compare these two individuals is to truly wait until they have both retired from baseball. Today we can only compare them to what they have done to today.
McGwire and Sosa's hitting average over all is very close. McGwire has a .265 and Sosa has a .264. At the rate their going Sosa will probably have a better average then McGwire when he retires.
Mark McGwire
Professional baseball bats are typically made of a...
English: Sammy Sosa taking one of his famous might...Their slugging percent right now as it stands. McGwire has a better slugging percent then Sosa. McGwire has a .575 as Sosa has .497 averages. Lately I noticed that McGwire's slugging percent in the past couple of years has only gotten better so at the rate he is going his slugging percent will probably be over .650 when he retires. However, for Sosa he has pretty much stayed the same in the past few years. If he keeps it up his slugging percent will probably stay pretty much the same.
The number of hits that McGwire and Sosa have been pretty close to the number they should have in this point of there careers. McGwire has 1388 hits in 1576 games and Sosa has 1280 hits in 1289 games. If Sosa was in the league, the same amount of time that McGwire has Sosa would have probably had more hits. Sosa has only played in 1289 games as where McGwire has only played in 1576 games Sosa has a 99 percent change of getting a hit per game but McGwire has only an 88 percent change of getting a hit per game. Sosa has only played in 1289 games but McGwire has played in 1576 games.
Their Runs Batted in (RBI) is a different story. McGwire has 1162 RBI's in his 13-year career so far while Sosa has 832 RBI's in his 10-year career so far. McGwire has struck out only 1294 times in 5267 at bats (AB) but Sosa has struck out only 1244 times in 4832 Ab's. They have both struck out more then they got walked (BB). McGwire BB 1089 time and Sosa bb 371.
During the 1998 baseball season McGwire and Sosa were chasing the home run record which was held for 37 years by Roger Maris who played for the Yankees in which he hit 61 home runs. McGwire started the season off strong. Sosa who came on strong in the middle of the year caught up with McGwire. Sosa who battled McGwire for the major league (M.L.) Single season record until the end of the season.
Sosa who was trailing McGwire 24 to nine in the home run race came on strong and out homered McGwire 57-46 from May 25 until the end of the season. Sosa who only led the home run race twice during the whole season finished with 66 and McGwire finished with 70. On August 19th vs. St. Louis, Sosa went ahead with a homer in the 5th inning putting him at 48 to 47. But McGwire had something to say about that with two homers of his own in the same night putting him at his 49th of the season. The only other time Sosa went ahead was on the 25th of September when he went ahead in the race 66 to 65. But less then an hour later McGwire went and tied it up. Sosa and McGwire were tied only six times the whole season. They were as follows on Aug. 10th 46, Aug. 16th 47, Aug. 31st 55, Sept. 16th 63, Sept. 23rd 65, and Sept 25th 66. Sosa and McGwire both homered 21 times on the same night. McGwire Who holds the record for most homers in the month of may with 20. Sosa holds the record for the most homers hit in the month of June with 21. These two records were held by Roger Maris who also hold record for most homers in a season. That record was broke by both McGwire and Sosa in the 1998 season. The home run chase did a lot for baseball because of the strike in 1994. Baseball had never really been the same since but a lot of that has changed do to the fact that McGwire and Sosa made it fun to watch baseball and follow the chase. Sosa and McGwire said they didn't really care who wound up with the record but that they would be happy either way.
Off the field McGwire and Sosa are two fine people that do a lot for others. Sosa during the 98 season gave 40 computers to the schools in the Dominican republic and with Sosa hitting 66 homers he gave a total of 2640 computers. When Sosa wasn't playing baseball, he spent most of his time at Wryler Children's Hospital P.I.P program in Chicago. Sunday games were once known as "Sammy Days" they were known as this because Sosa would give tickets to children less fortunate then others. Sosa organized The Sammy Sosa relief fund which helped hurricane George victims in the Caribbean receive food and help rebuild homes and schools.
McGwire Does a lot for children because he also loves children like Sosa. McGwire gave one million dollars to abused children charities. McGwire also has his Mac Attack Pac which helps raise money for local charities in St. Louis and other areas. To become a member of the Mac Attack Pac you have to donate 25 dollars which is used to go to a good cause.
Sosa and McGwire have both done a lot baseball and for their charities. In this paper was mentioned their stats, the home run race, and what they do for charities. Although you might not know a lot about other ball players, these are two that should stick in your mind for a long time to come.
Sammy Sosa
Sammy Sosa on the Red Carpet 2009
Mark McGwire, St. Louis, 2001. This picture was ta...