Last night's Cards-Reds game drew 51,969 at Cinergy
Field, the largest non-Opening Day weeknight crowd in team
history, breaking the record set in '85 when Pete Rose broke
Ty Cobb's MLB hit record. Tonight's game is sold out, and
the team put 2,000 SRO tickets on sale today (THE DAILY).
EXTRA, EXTRA: The St. Louis Post-Dispatch "ran out of
its regular and special editions" yesterday. As of last
night, the paper's lobby "was still jammed and the 48 phone
lines into the paper were swamped." The paper's daily
circulation of 325,000 was increased to 785,000 by Wednesday
night, and Managing Editor Dick Weil said outlets reported
they were out of papers. Assistant Managing Editor Bob Rose
said that the P-D plans a collector's edition Sunday and
another after the season. He also said there are "tentative
plans to produce a coffee-table book in October" (AP, 9/10).
HR NOTES: McGwire wore a "No Fear" cap during his
pregame press conference in Cincinnati, while Sosa sported a
hat reading "The Zone" and a T-shirt reading "It's a
Baseball Thing" during his interview (THE DAILY)....McGwire
and Sosa "are scheduled to appear" at tonight's MTV Video
Music Awards ("ET," 9/9)....After No. 62 was hit, apparel
commemorating the record went up for sale throughout Busch
Stadium. One of the "top sellers" was a red Cards hat with
McGwire's signature and No. 62. MLB Licensing Dir for Adult
Apparel & Headware Steve Armus said one manufacturer sold
"almost" 30,000 caps at around $25 each (GLOBE & MAIL,
9/10)....QVC broke into its programming just four seconds
after No. 62 was hit, selling over 100,000 baseball-related
items totalling more than $2.6M (QVC)....Nikco Sports, in
conjunction with McGwire and Rawlings, will produce a
limited edition of 19,998 bats identical to McGwire's. They
will be numbered, sold for $229.95, and will raise $20,000
for Cardinals Care (Nikco)....A MI gas station offered
regular unleaded gas Wednesday for $0.62 a gallon in honor
of McGwire. By 2:00pm, the gimmick "was so popular" that
police made Owner Bradley Morton raise the price back to
$0.99. Morton: "I had businesses complaining that they
couldn't get in or out of their driveways" (DETROIT NEWS,
9/10)....Tim Forneris, the grounds crew worker who caught
No. 62 was in Disney World yesterday, and appeared on CBS's
"Late Show" last night. Forneris, on his relationship with
McGwire: "I spoke to him in a rain delay once" (CBS, 9/9).
