Good evening. This is Dead Legends. The daily newsletter that injects your inbox with a dose of baseball nostalgia.

Let’s dive in.

Today’s story is about a historic home run ball that sold for millions.

The ’98 MLB season was one of the most memorable in the history of the game.

It was so epic, they made a 30 for 30 about it.

During the previous three years, MLB had been experiencing a decline in attendance due to public outrage over the strike and the World Series being cancelled in ’94.

Luckily, the pursuit of breaking Roger Maris' single-season home run record captivated the nation and caused a resurgence in popularity during the ’98 season.

Some people even say it saved baseball.

On September 27th, McGwire hit two dingers to reach a total of 70 for the season.

Comic book creator and artist, Todd McFarlane, ended up paying $3 million for the ball at an auction four months later.

At the time, it was the highest sale ever for a piece of sports memorabilia.

Three years later, Barry Bonds broke the record when he hit 73 in ‘01.

McGwire also admitted to using steroids throughout his career, including the ’98 campaign, and that dropped the value of the ball even further.

These days, the ball is estimated to only be worth about $300K - a 90% drop in value.

What’s really crazy about this whole thing is that McGwire could’ve owned the ball himself FOR FREE.

The 70th home run was caught by fan Phil Ozersky.

The Cardinals offered him a signed bat, ball, and jersey for the baseball.

He accepted, but on one condition: he wanted to meet McGwire and have the opportunity to give him the ball personally.

But McGwire declined to meet the fan.

Phil chose to keep the ball instead, and a few months later, he sold it for 100 times his annual salary.

Good call.

BEST FATHER’S DAY EVER 

Dugout Mugs just dropped the coolest Father’s Day gift of the season.

Peep these limited edition cherry-stained mugs.

If your dad is anything like mine, he’ll use this thing every day - probably an unhealthy amount.

There is a limited number of these mugs, and they will likely sell out fast.

STRANGE NAMES

If you're just joining us, we play this game every day where we try to find the weirdest names throughout baseball history.

Why? Don't ask us, it's just something we like to do.

If you've been rocking with us for awhile now, you know what time it is.

Today's winner is:

This guy is basically the opposite of the other Mike Tyson.

He was an average competitor with a slightly below average career.

Tyson played for 10 years in the big leagues and had almost 3,000 AB’s, but he never really did anything special.

Of course, even if he had been a good ballplayer, there’s really only room for one Mike Tyson in this world.

THE DEAD LEGENDS ARCHIVE

If you like this story, check out some of our past favorites:

• The Marriage: DiMaggio’s love story

• The Nuts: A minor leaguer creates a hilarious baseball card

• The “Little” Leaguers: One of the biggest frauds in the history of youth sports

That's it for today. Tomorrow we're back at it like a bad habit. See ya!

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