ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, September 10, 1996 TAG: 9609100060
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BEN WALKER ASSOCIATED PRESS
FROM COAST TO COAST, 1996 has become the year of the homer.
Frank Thomas started the whole thing. Only a few pitches into the 1996 season, he hit the first March home run in history - off Randy Johnson, no less.
That got the ball rolling. Or flying, as it turned out, in what quickly became the Year of the Home Run.
Gary Sheffield made it official Sunday when he hit the 4,459th homer of the major-league season, breaking the mark set in 1987. In the rush of home run records to fall, his drive in Florida off Montreal's Pedro Martinez became the latest highlight.
No telling the reason for the onslaught, either. Could be smaller parks, maybe it's poor pitching or it might be a juiced ball.
``Obviously, there's a lot of offense this year and a lot of home runs,'' said Mike Piazza, who hit homer No.4,458 about 20 minutes before Sheffield connected. ``I can't put any particular thing on it. I mean, you hear all kinds of theories.''
``I guess it's a combination of things, but I look at it this way - it's probably because of expansion the last couple of years and everything,'' he said. ``It'll take a few years, but the pitchers will get caught up again and then, in a few years, everybody will be saying the pitching is so good.''
In the meantime, the names and numbers are piling up.
Eddie Murray, at age 40, hit the 500th homer of his career. Andruw Jones, at 19, became the youngest National Leaguer to connect in more than 30 seasons.
Ryne Sandberg and Eric Davis came out of retirement to hit more than 20 each. Jermaine Dye homered in his first at-bat in the bigs. Light-hitting Kevin Elster hit 23, seven more than he'd managed in the entire 1990s.
Even Mick Billmeyer took part. Who? He's the California Angels bullpen catcher and, given a chance to play in the Hall of Fame exhibition game against Montreal, he stepped up to the plate and hit a drive over the right-field stands.
``I'm saying to the guys, `It ain't that hard,''' the career minor leaguer said.
Apparently, it isn't.
Of the 27 home runs hit Sunday, bringing the season total to 4,463, there were these:
*Houston pitcher Shane Reynolds' second homer of the year. A day earlier, Donovan Osborne became the first Cardinals pitcher to hit a grand slam since Bob Forsch in 1986.
*Nigel Wilson's first career hit in 26 at-bats. The No.1 pick by the Marlins in the expansion draft, he's drifted to Cleveland.
*Todd Hundley's 40th home run, which tied Roy Campanella's record for most home runs by a catcher. Hundley also broke the Mets' mark for homers held by Darryl Strawberry; earlier this season, Henry Rodriguez surpassed the Montreal record set by Andre Dawson.
``They can say all they want about the ball being juiced, but the two I've seen would have been out in the dead-ball era,'' new Mets manager Bobby Valentine said.
Hundley became the ninth player to reach the 40-homer plateau this season, setting another record. There already had been a record number of 30-homer players.
On deck, the likes of Mark McGwire (48), Albert Belle (44), Juan Gonzalez (44) and Ken Griffey Jr. (43) could top the mark of two 50-homer players in a year. Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle did it in 1961, Ralph Kiner and Johnny Mize did it in 1947 and Hank Greenberg and Jimmie Foxx set the standard in 1938.
The Baltimore Orioles, meanwhile, have hit 231 home runs and are closing in on the record of 240 by the 1961 Yankees team featuring Maris and Mantle. Leading the way for Baltimore is unlikely leadoff hitter Brady Anderson, whose 44 home runs are more than double his previous career high of 21.
Rafael Palmeiro is one of six players to hit 20 homers for Baltimore this year. Murray and Todd Zeile, acquired in recent deals, also have 20 and newcomer Pete Incaviglia (19) is close. Incaviglia, by the way, hit a grand slam the day after he was traded, the first player to do that in the modern era.
This season's 4,459 homers came in 1,999 games. In 1987, the 4,458 homers came in 2,105 games.
Back then, the Florida Marlins did not exist and neither did the Colorado Rockies. Nor did homer-friendly parks like Coors Field in Denver and Camden Yards in Baltimore.
``This place is a joke,'' Detroit manager Buddy Bell said after the host Orioles homered three times in the eighth inning Sunday. ``Everything goes to the warning track.''
There, it seems, and everywhere else.
LENGTH: Medium: 92 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Chicago White Sox slugger Frank Thomas watches hisby CNBtwo-run homer clear the center-field fence on April 30. KEYWORDS: BASEBALL