William Helms: “when one pauses to ponder the implications of it all, 1998 has been a remarkable year in terms of there having been a…”

“when one pauses to ponder the implications of it all, 1998 has been a remarkable year in terms of there having been a sort of rebirth of (I still contend) America's great national pastime--baseball. And as an old (very) former sports writer, I have never pretended that baseball has not always been my favorite sport. I like all of them, I hasten to say, but baseball is, to this good day, Number One with me. So what, you may inquire, has made this year all that great? Let us begin by recounting the drama of Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa, each of whom broke the 37-year-old home run record of Roger Maris--and then kept on breaking their own records. I had meant, Mr. President, to pay my respects long ago to 14 very special youngsters from Greenville, North Carolina, who made hearts beat faster and faster as the team made their way to the national championship game of the Little League World Series. Greenville is the hometown of a lot of good things and good people. East Carolina University is there, including its splendid medical school. It is a colorful city (56,000) which understands and practices the free enterprise system. And you better believe that everybody in the area around Greenville was proud of those 14 young Little Leaguers who made it to the championship game.”