ESPN's '30 for 30' Special 'Long Gone Summer' Taking Major Heat From MLB Fans

Sunday night, ESPN continued its series of 30 for 30 documentary specials with Long Gone Summer. [...]

By John Newby - June 15, 2020 08:01 pm EDT

Sunday night, ESPN continued its series of 30 for 30 documentary specials with Long Gone Summer. The story focused on Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and their home run race in 1998. Both players wanted to break the longstanding record of 61 home runs hit in a single season, which drew considerable attention at the time. The documentary, on the other hand, sparked critical reactions from Twitter users.

When viewers tuned in to watch Long Gone Summer, they did so with the expectation that the documentary would provide a similar entertainment level to The Last Dance. What many discovered, however, is that they did not enjoy the end product. They viewed the baseball-centric special as more of a "rerun" than an actual documentary. Some also noticed that McGwire played a more prominent role than Sosa, which created even more criticism. Viewers continued to voice their displeasure on social media throughout Sunday night and into Monday.

Long Gone Summer fell so, so flat for me.

It was a Mark McGwire doc with a little bit of Sammy sprinkled in. That's fine if you don't build it up to be a doc about both.

They did a terrible job of focusing on Sammy's journey to the Cubs and that point but fawned over McGwire.
— Matt Eurich (@MattEurich) June 15, 2020

Long gone summer ending was trash. You can’t just drop Bonds in there as a after thought and talk about steroids before he gets his own documentary. Weak
— Glenn Ford Jr (@Black_Brutha_15) June 15, 2020

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Just hope it’s way better than Long Gone Summer, that left a lot to be desired.
— James Cothron (@JCothron2) June 15, 2020

I think Griffey got more run last night in Long Gone Summer than Sosa did. Lol.
— Kevin Cleary (@Krucial_Kev253) June 15, 2020

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just now watching long gone summer and it’s literally just a compilation of mcgwire home runs i could have watched on youtube
— Hyun-Soo COVID-19 (@fakehyunsootwo) June 15, 2020

@WaddleandSilvy was really disappointed on the 30 for 30 “Long Gone Summer” right from the start when I found out the director was a Cards fan. Knew from that second that it would be a Cards show with Sammy as a highlight...Nailed it!!!
— Zac Reimer (@ZacReimer) June 15, 2020

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If I’m making a documentary on the 98 home run race I’m not hiring the director of Long Gone Summer that’s for sure
— Matt Emerson (@MattEmerson14) June 15, 2020

Long gone summer worst 30 for 30 I've ever seen. In fact, the only one I wouldn't recommend because they are normally tremendous. What a let down.
— mitch m (@mitchm76876477) June 15, 2020

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Long Gone Summer sucked
— Ben (@Roldoski) June 15, 2020

“Long Gone Summer” ruined my memories of 1998. I wanted the Cubs to bring Sammy Sosa back. Now I never want to see him again. And BigMac, even worse. #LongGoneSummer #sammysosa @DannyParkins
— Bruce Winche'll (@AmericannThighs) June 15, 2020

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Long Gone Summer actually kind of sucked. Could have covered so much shit and just showed McGuire highlights the whole time
— Casey McQuiIIan (@caseymcquillan) June 15, 2020

So, um, I think there's an elephant in the room here... Long Gone Summer sucked.
— Matthew Owens (@24mowens) June 15, 2020

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Long Gone Summer was so disappointing. Have been looking forward to it for so long and got that. https://t.co/mj7NbsI0dc
— Chavet (@elchavet) June 15, 2020

Not going to lie... Be Water and Long Gone Summer were 2 of the driest 30 for 30’s I’ve ever seen... Didn’t meet the high bar of expectations set by other 30 for 30 documentaries.
— Keanu Haghighi (@KeanuHaghighi) June 15, 2020

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