en Griffey may have won the Oscar for most smashing performance in last night's All-Star Home Run Derby at Fenway Park, but Mark McGwire was clearly the People's Choice. At least as far as the rest of the participants were concerned.
''It's just about going out there and having fun,'' Griffey said. ''Watching Mark hit 'em 500 [feet] when you're just barely getting them over 420, 430. And his balls are doing their postal service, just flying by you and dropping mail off at your house.
''It doesn't matter how many you hit; the distance is the most important thing. Nobody remembers if you hit 20 and they all go 330 to 400; but you hit one 450 to 510, that's impressive.''
In that case, McGwire was more than impressive. He hit 16 home runs covering 7,007 feet, including a Derby-record 13 in the first round for 5,693 - a little over a mile.
It was clear by the applause that many fans came to Fenway to see two players in particular: hometown favorite Nomar Garciaparra and baseball's Goliath.
The sentiment was shared by the players. Even Garciaparra was eager to see McGwire.
''My goal was to hit one, and I hit two,'' Garciaparra said. ''So I figured I'd get out of the way so I could watch what these guys could do.''
Although he hit in only two rounds, since he failed to qualify for the final after hitting only three homers in the second round, McGwire tied Griffey for the overall lead with 16 home runs. That's pretty much what everyone expected.
While everyone else seemed to be struggling to hit one out, McGwire appeared to be simply going through the motions. Big Mac had streaks of three and four in a row, each homer going out so fast that fans' heads could barely whip back to home plate in time to see the big guy crush another one.
It got to a point, after McGwire had blasted nine dingers, that Pedro Martinez went over and took the bat from him. But that didn't stop Big Mac. He simply walked over, patted Martinez on the head, took the bat back, and belted four straight over the wall.
McGwire's performance was so stunning that B.J. Surhoff refused to follow it. ''I rigged it,'' said Surhoff. ''I was supposed to hit after [McGwire], and I made Shawn [Green] go.''
Poor Green. His session had the feel of a Tyson-McNeely bout compared to McGwire's knockout performance. For anyone who visited the rest room after McGwire was done, Green hit two dingers.
''I'd like to question a lot of those measurements,'' Garciaparra said of McGwire's blasts. ''I'll tell you that right now. Some of those might've hit the Citgo sign.''
