ReelBob: ‘Long Gone Summer’ ★★★½

By Bob Bloom

After the strike-shortened 1994 season in which the World Series was canceled, a great many baseball fans were disgusted with both ownership and the players — viewing both sides as greedy individuals who cared for about their bank accounts than their fans.

The game slowly began to return with fans again filing into stadiums. Still, many seats remained empty for a few seasons.

In the summer of 1998, however, two players galvanized the game, its fans and the nation by hitting home runs at a prolific pace and challenging one of the most beloved records in the sport.

“Long Gone Summer,” an “30 for 30” production, which premieres Sunday night on ESPN, looks at that magical season and the two hitters who were at the center of it all — Mark McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals and Sammy Sosa of the Chicago Cubs.

McGwire had hit 58 home runs in 1997 playing for the Oakland A’s and, the final two months of the season, as a Cardinal. He was a free agent and most baseball experts expected him to sign with the California Angels since he was a southern California native.

Sosa came to the Cubs in a trade in 1992. He was a steady player averaging about 30 home runs a season.

Ken Griffey Jr. in 1997 hit 56 homers for the Seattle Mariners, and it was expected that in the 1998 season, he and McGwire would challenge both Babe Ruth’s 60 home run and Roger Maris’ 61 home run records.

“Long Gone Summer,” directed by A.J. Schnack, follows McGwire and Sosa as they began belting home runs at record paces. And the drives they hit were not simple dingers, both were creating moon shots that soared into the atmosphere and landed in upper decks and out of ballparks.

Schnack interviewed both players as well as teammates, their managers, other players and beat writers and broadcasters following the Cards and Cubs.

What emerges is an exhilarating documentary that conveys the excitement that gripped the nation as McGwire and Sosa made their assaults on the cherished records.

McGwire and Sosa talk about the joys and pressures of the season and how they began to push each other to excel.

McGwire is a reserved, almost shy, individual. Baseball was his life — and had been since he was a youngster.

Sosa is more gregarious and flamboyant. He seems to have enjoyed the experience more than McGwire.

Underneath all the delight and interest, a darker drama was slowly — and quietly — emerging.

Schnack features a shot of McGwire’s stadium locker where a series of pills were lined up. McGwire always maintained they were vitamin supplements to help him heal from injuries.

And, at the time, Major League Baseball did not have any rules against using such medications to boost an athlete’s stamina.

In the summer of 1998, however, few people thought about steroids or performance enhancing drugs.

The majority of “Long Gone Summer” focuses on the McGwire-Sosa home run race; the emotions it stirred among fans and non-fans alike.

It only is in the last 15-to-20 minutes of the documentary that we get to see the cost to both men — and the game — of the havoc that the use of these supplements wrought.

And it was right and necessary that Schnack include this is the movie.

Butting that aside, though, “Long Gone Summer” is more celebratory, focusing on a season that helped bring baseball back from the brink and the two men who were lionized — though later shunned — for their feats.

I am a founding member of the Indiana Film Journalists Association. My reviews appear at ReelBob (reelbob.com) and Rottentomatoes (www.rottentomatoes.com). I also review Blu-rays and DVDs. I can be reached by email at bobbloomjc@gmail.com or on Twitter @ReelBobBloom. Links to my reviews can be found on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

LONG GONE SUMMER
3½ stars out of 4
Not rated