In 1998, fans across the country fell in love with the home run race as Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa chased baseball immortality. Sportswriter Joan Niesen recounts her memories of that summer, examines the history and mythology of the home run and asks why people across the country wanted to believe they were watching heroes.

Crushed is a production of Religion of Sports and PRX. Listen to the full season now at apple.co/crushed.

Podden och tillhörande omslagsbild på den här sidan tillhör The Confessional with Nadia Bolz-Weber. Innehållet i podden är skapat av The Confessional with Nadia Bolz-Weber och inte av, eller tillsammans med, Poddtoppen.