Home-run race gives Cubs, Cardinals attendance lift

Journal Record, The (Oklahoma City), Aug 13, 1998

CHICAGO (Bloomberg) -- If Chicago Cubs fans want to see Sammy Sosa try to chase down Roger Maris, they better hurry.

Chicago's attendance has increased markedly this year because of a winning team, pitcher Kerry Wood's appeal and Sosa's power output. The Cubs expect to surpass 2.5 million in attendance for only the second time in franchise history, said Frank Maloney, the club's director of ticket operations.

The Cubs drew 2.19 million fans in 1997.

"If you want to come out and see Sammy, you're going to have to cherry-pick your dates," Maloney said. "My hope is that people can't get tickets to so many dates, they'll start buying the dates they can get."

St. Louis first baseman Mark McGwire hit his 47th home run Tuesday to move one ahead of Sosa. With those two players and, to a lesser extent, Seattle's Ken Griffey Jr. generating publicity in their pursuit of 61 home runs, the impact at the gate has been mixed.

Through 57 home games, the Cardinals were 332,637 ahead of their 1997 attendance. They expect to draw 3 million fans for the first time since 1989, said Mark Murray, the club's manager of ticket sales.

St. Louis plays 14 games at Busch Stadium in September, and finishes the season with a six-game homestand against Houston and Montreal. While the season finale against the Expos on Sept. 27 is almost sold out, Murray said "several thousand" seats are available for the other games.

With the Cardinals underachieving on the field -- they're 56-62 and 16 1/2 games out of first place in the National League Central -- McGwire remains the principal source of excitement in St. Louis.

"We know because people say that when they call for tickets," Murray said. "They tell us, `We want to see McGwire,' and they're coming from all over the place. They're not just coming from Missouri and Illinois."

The Cardinals have a chance to sell out seven of nine games on their current homestand with Chicago, New York and Pittsburgh. A late push by McGwire would have a significant impact on ticket sales in late September, Murray said.

"A lot of people may be waiting to see how close he gets," Murray said. "If things keep going the way they're going and he has even an outside chance of breaking the record, I suspect there wouldn't be any tickets left for that last week."

The Mariners close out the season with a homestand against Oakland and Texas. The team is well below .500 and Griffey hasn't homered since July 30, so Junior mania is subsiding.

Dave Aust, Seattle's director of broadcasting and communications, said the club probably will draw 2.8 million fans. That's second to the franchise record of 3.1 million set last year.

"Junior's been here 10 years now and this is his fifth year with 40 or more home runs," Aust said. "Not to belittle it, but coming to see Junior hit home runs is kind of old hat around here."

In contrast with Griffey and McGwire, Sosa will spend the majority of September on the road. The Cubs play only three of their final 12 games at Wrigley Field.

"I didn't like our schedule six or seven months ago, because it was so heavily loaded with home games in the early months," Maloney said. "Every team would like to play all its home games in June, July and August. It just doesn't work that way."

Ticket availability in Chicago is further squeezed by the size of the ballpark. Wrigley Field's capacity is 38,902, smaller than every major-league stadium except Boston's Fenway Park. The Cubs have averaged about 31,000 fans a game.

Maloney said most of the games on Chicago's next homestand against Houston, San Francisco and St. Louis from Aug. 18-24 are sold out, or close to it.

Weekend ticket sales for September also have been strong, Maloney said, leaving weekday games with Cincinnati and Pittsburgh in the final month available for Sosa watchers.