David SchoenfieldSep 25, 2025, 12:02 AM ETCloseCovers MLB for ESPN.com Former deputy editor of Page 2 Been with ESPN.com since 1995
“I feel like my name shouldn’t be in the same sentence as those guys, Mickey Mantle and Ken Griffey Jr.,” Raleigh said. “I don’t really have words for it. I don’t really know what to say. I’m sure one day it will set in, but for now it’s just ‘keep it going.'”
“That video is crazy,” the always understated Raleigh said from Truist Park in Atlanta. “I mean, I don’t know where they found that thing in the archives. Yeah, just kind of surreal. You don’t think you’re going to win it. You don’t think you’ll ever get invited. Then you get invited. The fact that you win it with your family, super special. Just what a night.”
We didn’t know it at the time, but the chase for 60 was on.
CloseCovers MLB for ESPN.com Former deputy editor of Page 2 Been with ESPN.com since 1995
Cal Raleigh’s two home runs put him in exclusive 60-homer club (0:36)Cal Raleigh hits two home runs to join Babe Ruth, Roger Maris and Aaron Judge as the only American Leaguers to hit 60 in a season. (0:36)