Getty Mark McGwire #25 of the St Louis Cardinals and Sammy Sosa #21 of the Chicago Cubs in 1998.
Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa’s legendary back-and-forth home run battle during the summer of 1998 is the subject of the latest 30 for 30.
Long Gone Summer premieres Sunday, June 14, at 9 p.m. ET/PT on ESPN, and it will be on ESPN+ immediately following the premiere.
If you don’t have cable, here’s how you can watch https://bit.ly/espn-plus-long-gone-summer live or on-demand on your computer, phone, Fire TV Stick, Rokue, Apple TV or other streaming device:
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ESPN+
Starting immediately after the premiere, Long Gone Summer–along with every other 30 for 30 documentary–will be available on ESPN+:
Once signed up for ESPN+, you can then watch Long Gone Summer anytime on your computer via the ESPN website, or you can watch on your phone (Android and iPhone compatible), tablet, Roku, Firestick, Apple TV, Chromecast, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Smart TV or other compatible streaming device via the ESPN app.
Hulu With Live TV
If you want to watch the documentary live as it premieres, ESPN is one of the 60-plus live TV channels included in Hulu With Live TV, which comes with a seven-day free trial:
Once signed up for Hulu With Live TV, you can watch Long Gone Summer live as it airs on your computer via the Hulu website, or on your phone (Android and iPhone supported), tablet, Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Echo Show, or other streaming device via the Hulu app.
‘Long Gone Summer’ Preview
It was one of the more memorable summers ever in the history of America’s game. Chicago Cubs outfielder Sammy Sosa and St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Mark McGwire engaged in a slugfest that hadn’t been seen in baseball before — and it hasn’t been seen since. When the 1998 was over, McGwire finished with 70 home runs, while Sosa sat just behind him with 66, but the fascinating part was watching both men one-up each other one the way to breaking Roger Maris’ single-season home run record, which was then 61.
Many fans saw their memories tarnished when years later, both McGwire and Sosa wound up as central figures in baseball’s steroids scandal. McGwire has since admitted to using steroids during that time; Sosa still denies it.
Long Gone Summer is directed by AJ Schnack, who interviewed both McGwire and Sosa for the project. According to Sports Illustrated, however, the documentary doesn’t ask either athlete about their respective steroid use until very late in the film, with McGwire admitting his usage again, while Sosa was “evasive and stubborn.”
Schnack’s primary goal was to re-capture the moments of the summer of ’98 as best as he could, focusing mostly on the way the home run race captivated the nation and made Sosa, who hadn’t hit over 40 home runs in a season prior to that year, a household name.
“I knew that neither Mark nor Sammy had really talked at length about that summer and certainly not together for the same project. So to get them both to reflect was incredible,” Schnack said. “When I started, it was about 20 years since that had happened. But obviously the story around that summer is a little bit cloudier now. And what’s interesting to me was to try to say, OK, we know a lot about what happened in baseball during the steroid era. But can we go back and show what that summer really felt like?”
The film promises to be a nostalgia-filled look at a time and a sport that haven’t been as popular since, and should be can’t-miss viewing for baseball fans everywhere.