They are excited. As McGwire spoke, his remarks were amplified on the stadium public address system. Hundreds of fans remained in their seats, cheering his most mundane remarks like planted supporters at a political rally. If you want to say it has brought America, together, it has. Some spectators resented Roger Maris as an unworthy heir to Ruth's legacy, and quibbled with the expanded schedule and expansion pitching he faced in 1961.
Fans are far less puritanical today.
McGwire has surely benefitted from the effects of another expansion, and his numbers may also have been enhanced by androstenedione, the controversial protein supplement. Yet his power is so plain, and his deeds have been so remarkable, that few would attempt to diminish them. In his own way, he is quite Ruthian. The Cincinnati Enquirer , a Gannett Co. Inc. newspaper.