Notebook
By Daniel S. Levy, Michele L. Orecklin and Alain L. Sanders
WINNERS & LOSERS
[WINNERS]
JOE LIEBERMAN Senate pal hammers Prez, but this Tough Love may get Clinton out of free fall and cauterize his wound
RALPH ACAMPORA Prudential's bear looks good now, as pressure mounts on Goldman's Abby ("Bull") Cohen
CYNTHIA COOPER It's a repeat MVP, playoff MVP and championship ring for the WNBA's first great star
[& LOSERS]
AL GORE More teens know Leonardo than him, poll says. Will this still be true when he's President?
PEANUTS Planes to have nut-free zones to protect the allergic. Like the rest of airline food was so benign
PAUL WIGGINS Steeler tackle gets suspended for using the same muscle pills taken by Mark McGwire
Sosa & McGwire BY THE NUMBERS
Scribes are already scrambling to immortalize in poetry and prose the sensational seasons of Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire, which is why we decided to take a page from the bean-counter's handbook and offer naught but the facts. Here they are, as compiled by our friends at the Elias Sports Bureau.
60 Number of home runs Mark McGwire has hit
58 Number of home runs Sammy Sosa has hit
442 Number of at-bats McGwire has had
558 Number Sosa has had
1/9.6 Sosa's ratio of homers to at-bats
1/7.4 McGwire's ratio of homers to at-bats
1 Where McGwire's ratio ranks among all players in baseball history
61 The number of times Sosa has been walked
146 The number of times McGwire has been walked
170 Record for walks in a single season, held by Babe Ruth
27 Number of McGwire's walks that were intentional
11 Number of entire teams that have received fewer intentional walks than McGwire
0 Number of intentional walks received by Roger Maris in his record-setting season
55 Number of pitchers that gave up McGwire's homers
5 Number of pitchers whom McGwire has lit up twice (Tyler Green, Livan Hernandez, Rick Reed, Jeff Suppan, John Thomson)
9 Number of times McGwire has been retired this year by Kevin Brown of the San Diego Padres, the pitcher who has retired him most often without surrendering a homer
6 Number of times Sosa has been retired this year by Shane Reynolds of the Houston Astros, Pedro Astacio of the Colorado Rockies and Francisco Cordova of the Pittsburgh Pirates, the pitchers who have retired him most often without surrendering a homer
9 Number of games in which Sosa has homered more than once
8 Number of times McGwire has homered more than once
0 Number of National League teams Sosa has failed to hit a home run against
7 Number of pitchers with ERAs below 3.00 that McGwire has homered against
20 Number of times McGwire and Sosa have homered the same day
$9,500,000 Amount McGwire makes, excluding bonuses
$10,625,000 Amount Sosa makes
$135 Estimated value of a mint 1985 Topps McGwire baseball card
$425 Value of a mint 1958 Topps Roger Maris card
$25 Value of a mint 1990 Leaf Sosa card
$6,000 Value of a 1915 Sporting News Babe Ruth card
All numbers through Saturday, Sept. 5
60-SECOND SYMPOSIUM
WHOM WOULD YOU RATHER PITCH TO? Mark or Sammy? Sammy or Mark? We asked a panel of baseball greats to tell us which of these sluggers they would least like to see coming to the plate against their team with the game on the line.
Ralph Kiner (Hall of Fame slugger): "Sosa is more apt to swing at bad pitches. McGwire would be the tougher one. He is more disciplined."
Harmon Killebrew (573 lifetime homers): "McGwire would be a guy you would fear if you were 60 ft. away from him. But Sosa, he is no slouch either. It is a no win in the end." (left)
Reggie Jackson (563 lifetime homers): "The harder one to strike out is McGwire. That is no slight to Sosa. That is based on the statistics. However Sosa is a higher average hitter." (center)
John Smoltz (Cy Young winner, Atlanta Braves): "That is like choosing your way to die. McGwire and Sosa are about as good as power hitters can get. I would rather be trying to kick a 50-yd. field goal." (right)
Don Sutton (Hall of Fame pitcher): "Both are red hot. I would prefer not to see either one of them."
PROGRESS
THE ASCENT OF MAN, PART LXXVIII
An evolutionary leap was achieved last week. Herewith, a brief history of the lollipop:
1850s Prelude What a treat! Small dabs of sugar candy on the end of a slate pencil.
1880s Experimentation A Connecticut candy merchant puts chocolate-caramel taffy on a stick; it's easier to eat.
1892 Eureka! Connecticut candymaker George Smith adapts hard candy to the stick and gives it a name that sticks too. He calls it the Lollypop, after a popular racehorse.
1924 Institutionalization An American classic, the Dum Dum Pop, is born.
1931 Competition How about a lollipop with a filling? Enter the Tootsie Pop.
1993 Technology The first interactive lollipop, the Spin Pop, is rolled out.
1998 Multimedia The debut of Sound Bites. It plays music in your mouth. Civilization marches on.
WHY SORRY SEEMS THE HARDEST WORD TO SAY
Deborah Tannen, Georgetown professor of linguistics and author, most recently, of The Argument Culture, was asked by NOTEBOOK's Tam Gray to help us understand Bill Clinton's approach to apologizing.
Why are apologies so important?
Apologizing affirms a sense of reality and justice. People have to show they care about the effects of their actions for you to believe they won't do it again.
Do women apologize more than men?
Yes. Men are attuned to whether something weakens their position. They look for middle ground, like saying, "I'm sorry if I offended anyone." It seems to be an apology but stops short of admitting fault.
Did President Clinton apologize?
Yes. His first statement and his statement from the Kremlin had the key elements of apologies. He admitted fault (saying "I made a mistake," not "Mistakes were made"), expressed regret and promised to make amends ("I am prepared to do whatever it takes").
Polls showed most people were satisfied with that, but many politicians and pundits weren't. Why not?
In the press and politics everything is cast in a Gunfight at the O.K. Corral scenario. Clinton was defeated, so they wanted to see him act defeated. The average citizen believes it was wrong to deny the affair but sees a difference between covering up a crime and a crime that consists solely of the cover-up.
CONTEST CORNER
WE HAVE A WINNER FOR CONTEST #2! Our thanks to the legions of aspiring philatelic artists who imagined a design for a stamp that the Postal Service might issue in the year 2050. Among the entries that caught our eye: commemoratives on Bill & Monica, Jerry Seinfeld, Bill Gates, Mark McGwire, John Glenn and, yes, Viagra. After careful scrutiny, though, we give our stamp of approval to Miggs Burroughs of Westport, Conn., for this submission:
ANNOUNCING NOTEBOOK CONTEST #3 It's back-to-school season across America, and everywhere, schoolchildren are being asked to write essays on how they spent their summer vacations. Our new challenge goes to all essayists among our readers: pretend you're Bill Clinton, and write a 50-word composition on how you spent your summer vacation.
E-mail the entry to [email protected] or fax it to 212-467-1010, or mail it to TIME Notebook Contest #3, Room 2321B, Time & Life Building, New York, N.Y. 10020. Points will be deducted for errors in spelling and punctuation. The excuse that your dog ate your submission will not be believed.