Today in Chicago History: ‘Slammin’ Sammy Sosa hits home runs No. 61 and 62 during 1998 season

Here’s a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on Sept. 13, according to the Tribune’s archives.

Is an important event missing from this date? Email us.

Weather records (from the National Weather Service, Chicago)

High temperature: 98 degrees (1939)
Low temperature: 39 degrees (1890)
Precipitation: 6.64 inches (2008)
Snowfall: None

Firefighters in snorkel baskets direct streams of water onto a fire on Sept. 13, 1963 at Mercy Hospital on the South Side. (Luigi Mendicino/Chicago Tribune) — Firefighters in snorkel baskets direct streams of water onto a fire on Sept. 13, 1963, at Mercy Hospital on the South Side. (Luigi Mendicino/Chicago Tribune)

1963: Firefighters and nuns worked quickly to evacuate 109 patients during an extra-alarm fire at the hospital, which destroyed the roof and the fourth floor of the building. A human chain of doctors, nurses and aides safely removed 29 newborn infants and their mothers from Mercy’s obstetrics ward.

Flashback: Mercy Hospital’s major milestones

Surgeries — including brain, abdominal and gallbladder operations and a tonsillectomy — were quickly completed as “alarm bells rang thruout the hospital,” the Tribune reported.

There was no joy in the Chicago Today city room on Sept. 13, 1974, the newspaper's last day of publication. A disconsolate Alice Neal sits at a desk in the foreground and considers the future. (Edward Wagner Jr./Chicago Tribune) — There was no joy in the Chicago Today city room on Sept. 13, 1974, the newspaper’s last day of publication. A disconsolate Alice Neal sits at a desk in the foreground and considers the future. (Edward Wagner Jr./Chicago Tribune)

1974: Chicago Today — a descendant of the Chicago Courant founded in 1853 — ceased publication. In its absence, the Tribune vowed to become a 24-hour newspaper with “fresh news in each edition in the morning, afternoon, and evening.”

More than 90 of the 175 Chicago Today staffers were offered jobs at the Tribune. William Decker, a Chicago Today photographer, didn’t need it — he won a $300,000 lottery the day before the publication ended.

Chicago police investigators Richard Schak, left, and Louis Rabbit lead Kenneth Hansen on Aug. 12, 1994 through the Grand Central Area station. (Val Mazzenga/Chicago Tribune) — Chicago police investigators Richard Schak, left, and Louis Rabbit, right, lead Kenneth Hansen on Aug. 12, 1994, through the Grand Central Area Police Station. (Val Mazzenga/Chicago Tribune)

1995: Stable hand Kenneth Hansen was found guilty of the 1955 slayings of Robert Peterson, 14, and brothers John and Anton Schuessler Jr., ages 13 and 11 on Chicago’s Northwest Side. The three boys went to the Loop to watch a movie and were picked up by Hansen while hitchhiking home.

On Oct. 16, 1955, Robert Peterson, 14, and John Schuessler, 13, took the bus from their Jefferson Park neighborhood to a Loop theater to see a Disney matinee, “The African Lion.” They let John’s 11-year-old brother, Anton, tag along. Hitchhiking was a rite of passage at the time and somebody around Milwaukee Avenue — later identified as Kenneth Hansen — offered them a ride. The boys were never seen alive again. Two days later, their bodies were discovered in Robinson’s Woods. (Chicago Tribune)

Police charged Hansen in 1994 with driving the boys to a stable where he sexually abused them, then strangled them and later dumped their bodies in a forest preserve ditch. Hansen’s arrest was one development in an ATF investigation into the 1977 disappearance of Helen Brach, the multimillionaire candy heiress. Richard Bailey, an acquaintance of Hansen’s, was charged with soliciting Brach’s murder.

Hansen, serving a 200-year sentence for the slayings, died in prison of natural causes in 2007.

Chicago Cubs slugger Sammy Sosa watches his 62nd home run sail over the left field fence on Sept. 13, 1998 at Wrigley Field during the Cubs' 11-10 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers. (Jim Prisching/Chicago Tribune) — Chicago Cubs slugger Sammy Sosa watches his 62nd home run sail over the left field fence on Sept. 13, 1998, at Wrigley Field during the Cubs’ 11-10 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers. (Jim Prisching/Chicago Tribune)

1998: Chicago Cubs outfielder Sammy Sosa hit home runs No. 61 and 62 at Wrigley Field, matching St. Louis Cardinals slugger Mark McGwire in passing Roger Maris’ single-season record of 61. Sosa hit 66 home runs during the 1998 season.

McGwire smashed 70 home runs to capture the record. Just three years later, however, Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants hit 73. No player since has threatened Bonds’ total. All three players have been accused of using steroids to enhance their performance.

Chicago Cubs starting pitcher Alec Mills is swarmed by teammates after throwing a no hitter against the Milwaukee Brewers on Sept. 13, 2020, in Milwaukee. The Cubs won 12-0. (Morry Gash/AP) — Chicago Cubs starting pitcher Alec Mills is swarmed by teammates after throwing a no-hitter against the Milwaukee Brewers on Sept. 13, 2020, in Milwaukee. The Cubs won 12-0. (Morry Gash/AP)

2020: Cubs’ starter Alec Mills threw a no-hitter, walked three and struck out five, in a 12-0 win over the Milwaukee Brewers. It was the 16th no-hitter in franchise history.

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