This lot is closed. Bidding ended on 12/10/2001.
Mark McGwire found Nirvana in St. Louis when he was traded to the Cardinals in mid-1997 after nearly a dozen seasons blasting home runs before small crowds for the Oakland A's. He provided an omen of things to come when he jacked a grand slam on Opening Day 1998 and dingers in the first 4 games. In a season sent from the heavens, Big Mac gripped the nation as he crept closer to Roger Maris' single-season record of 61 homers. By the All-Star Game, he had 37, and even in the teeth of enormous public attention and a friendly competition with Sammy Sosa to get to the record, McGwire's bat only got more lethal. On August 20, he hit No. 50, making him the only player to reach that mark 3 straight seasons. On September 1, his 57th broke Hack Wilson's NL record and on September 7 he tired Maris. The next day, before the home crowd at Busch Stadium and a national TV audience came No. 62. McGwire padded his total to an amazing 70 with 4 blasts over the season's final 2 days. We are proud to offer this Cardinals home knit jersey worn by McGwire during that history-shattering campaign. On the inside left front tail is the "Rawlings" label and adjacent flag tag reading "Set 12 1998." Below is the size tag "52." Across the front is "Cardinals" in script style letters made of red on blue embroidered stitch. Going through the "C" is a gold embroidered bat with a red Cardinal on each end. On the back is a white nameplate with "McGwire" and below the number "25". Both are made of red on blue tackle twill. The jersey was custom made for McGwire and shows game-use and appears to have no alterations of any kind.