Baseball Memories

[DONT TREAD ON ME]

With Spring Training just around the corner I am getting Baseball fever!

I am a huge baseball fan and love to watch my teams...St. Louis Cardinals and Boston Red Sox. I am from St. Louis area and have family in Bean Town so, no I am not a bandwagoner.

I am wondering if any of you want to share any great baseball memories.

NO team bashing or my teams better or anything like that.

I have a few amazing memories to me that I will start off with.

-Went to my very first basball/Cardinal game with my dad, grandpa, and two uncles
-I attended Ozzie Smith's last game in Bush Memorial Stadium
-I went to the 99 All Star game at Fenway Park
-Saw the Red Sox play the Cardinals at Bush Memorial
-Two weeks prior to deploying to Iraq saw two Cardinal wins with my best friend, one on Sat night and one Sun afternoon
-Went to Fenway park and got to watch the Red Sox from the top of the Green Monster
-Spent 2 full days at the Baseball Hall of Fame!

[pbwalker]

Having grown up a subway stop away from Shea Stadium, I was an AVID Mets fan...right around 1985 is when I got in to it at the ripe old age of 6.

I remember the 1986 World Series like it was yesterday! I will always remember watching Jessie Orasco, HoJo, Mookie, McReynolds, Gooden, Dykstra, Strawberry, etc.

Today, can't watch it on TV and I much prefer Minor League games...

[DONT TREAD ON ME]

My wife is a mets fan by way of her dad. He has never lived there just loves the mets.

While we were up in Boston we tried to get to a Cape Cod League game but we could not find one that fit into our schedules...

[mymojo]

One afternoon back in the early 90's the guys called up to see if I wanted to catch a game. At the time we were going to about 20 games a season (bleacher seats were like $4) so I thought, "nah, I'm tired, I'll catch the next game".

The next day I woke up to find out that I had passed on seeing Nolan Ryan pitch his 7th no hitter.

So my brother gave me a signed Nolan Ryan baseball cuz he knew the pain that story caused me. One day I walked into the living room to find my 6 year old nieces playing with it.... and, yes, they had smeared the signature.


As a side note, I was there a few years later to see Rusty Greer make a diving catch to save Kenny Rogers no hitter.

[The Annoyed Man]

Well since you're a big Cards fan, my cousin, Bryn Smith, pitched in their starting rotation for three seasons — 1990, '91, & '92.

He's a pitching coach now for a minor league team in Santa Maria, California.

My favorite baseball memory is also my favorite memory of Bryn (although I've visited with him a number of times since then), and it is quite an emotional one...

My dad was a big baseball fan. He was laying in the hospital in Santa Monica in 1990, dying of pancreatic cancer, when the Cards came to town to play the Dodgers. Bryn took part of the afternoon off when they got to town, rented a car, and drove down to Santa Monica to visit my dad. It was a private visit with just the two of them — none of the rest of us were there at the time — and it would be the last time he ever saw my dad alive. My dad told me a couple of days later that they had quite a great visit. Then Bryn drove back up to Dodger stadium to do a pre-game interview with Vin Scully. He was the starter for the Cards that day, and during a very emotional interview, he dedicated the game to my dad. My wife and brothers were with me at the game that evening. Bryn went out that night and pitched 8 innings of shutout baseball, got 2 hits and an RBI out of 3 at bats, and put the Cards on top 5-0 going into the 9th. He was relieved at the end of the 8th inning, and his reliever gave up 1 run in the 9th for a 5-1 final score, marring an otherwise perfect game and an inspired performance.

My dad listened to the whole game on the radio. After the game, Bryn gave us one of the game balls with his autograph on it for my dad. That day gave my dad a lot of pleasure in what was otherwise a very grim and painful time. He died about 4 months later. I have always been intensely grateful to Bryn for having given my dad that gift, making a dying man happy for a day. Bryn is a great guy. You would like him a lot.

[DONT TREAD ON ME]

TAM,
What a great gift to be able to give!

I was looking at the stats for Bryn...looks like he was a darn good pitcher. It seems he was drafted in '73 by the Cards but did not sign with them.

Thanks again for the incredible story!

[cougartex]

Went to the 2004 All-Star game in Houston.

[BR549]

Hey folks--been lurking here for a couple years--picked up great information and am grateful for the forum. Retired Institututional Parole Officer--State of Texas (interviewed inmates elligible for parole, reviewed their TDCJ files, and wrote case summaries for the Parole Board to consider in their decisions). I carry a Beretta 96 24/7 because:
1. I never know if the guy gassing up 2 bays over from me is someone I interviewed for parole consideration 5 years ago and he got turned down and is convinced that the last 6 months he spent in prison is my fault--(I don't remember him--way too many) and,
2. Out of the thousands of Police Reports I read in the course of my job I don't remember a single one that said the victim
picked the time and place for the crime that occurred.
Anyhow, jumping in now because this thread brings back great memories--played against Nolan Ryan in 1963 on the way to the State Tournament--beat Alvin in Regional playoff--(can't take credit, I was a sub and didn't get in either game) and he was throwing the proverbial aspereen tablets then. It was a real pleasure to follow his fantastic career.

[The Annoyed Man]

TAM,
I was looking at the stats for Bryn...looks like he was a darn good pitcher. It seems he was drafted in '73 by the Cards but did not sign with them.

When Bryn came up into the majors, he was with Montreal. They brought him up in long relief. He wound up with the lowest ERA in the league. So he got promoted into the starting rotation after a couple of years and did pretty well. I think it was his second season as a starter (1985), he went 18-5 and was runner up for the Cy Young that year. He did that on a $290,000 including performance incentives (a little over $584,000 in 2010 dollars). Try and imagine a major league ball player that would perform like that on that kind of salary today!

[DONT TREAD ON ME]

Hey folks--been lurking here for a couple years--picked up great information and am grateful for the forum. Retired Institututional Parole Officer--State of Texas (interviewed inmates elligible for parole, reviewed their TDCJ files, and wrote case summaries for the Parole Board to consider in their decisions). I carry a Beretta 96 24/7 because:
1. I never know if the guy gassing up 2 bays over from me is someone I interviewed for parole consideration 5 years ago and he got turned down and is convinced that the last 6 months he spent in prison is my fault--(I don't remember him--way too many) and,
2. Out of the thousands of Police Reports I read in the course of my job I don't remember a single one that said the victim
picked the time and place for the crime that occurred.
Anyhow, jumping in now because this thread brings back great memories--played against Nolan Ryan in 1963 on the way to the State Tournament--beat Alvin in Regional playoff--(can't take credit, I was a sub and didn't get in either game) and he was throwing the proverbial aspereen tablets then. It was a real pleasure to follow his fantastic career.

Nolan Ryan huh? That is pretty neat right there!

[DONT TREAD ON ME]

TAM,
I was looking at the stats for Bryn...looks like he was a darn good pitcher. It seems he was drafted in '73 by the Cards but did not sign with them.

When Bryn came up into the majors, he was with Montreal. They brought him up in long relief. He wound up with the lowest ERA in the league. So he got promoted into the starting rotation after a couple of years and did pretty well. I think it was his second season as a starter (1985), he went 18-5 and was runner up for the Cy Young that year. He did that on a $290,000 including performance incentives (a little over $584,000 in 2010 dollars). Try and imagine a major league ball player that would perform like that on that kind of salary today!

You are correct it was '85. I agree no one these days would play like that for that. I must say though his salary took a nice turn for the better when he came to the Cards!

[The Annoyed Man]

I must say though his salary took a nice turn for the better when he came to the Cards!

It did indeed... ...and that was 20 years ago. I'm trying to imagine what it would have been like to earn a couple of million a year for three years in 1990 dollars.

You should see the place he built outside of Santa Maria with that money! He's got a bass pond and a 3 hole golf course, for cryin' out loud. And that's just a part of the property. The garage alone is bigger than most homes in Southlake. A man and his toys.... and all that.

[DONT TREAD ON ME]

I must say though his salary took a nice turn for the better when he came to the Cards!

It did indeed... ...and that was 20 years ago. I'm trying to imagine what it would have been like to earn a couple of million a year for three years in 1990 dollars.

You should see the place he built outside of Santa Maria with that money! He's got a bass pond and a 3 hole golf course, for cryin' out loud. And that's just a part of the property. The garage alone is bigger than most homes in Southlake. A man and his toys.... and all that.

Thats AWESOME. I think I would have to throw in a range, a small baseball field and some hunting ground...Ahh to dream!

[A-R]

I saw a double-header at the old Arlington Stadium between Texas Rangers and Chicago White Sox that I'm certain was the precursor to Robin Ventura charging the mound on Nolan Ryan the next year. Ryan pitched 10 1/3rd innings, gave up one hit, no runs and got a no decision . But around the 7th inning, he hit one of the Sox players hard in the shoulder with an errant pitch. The bottom of that inning, first Rangers batter at the plate is Steve Buechele and he gets beaned right in the helmet. Benches empty, except for Ryan who is sitting patiently in the dugout next to his then teen-age son Reid (now in charge of the Round Rock Express, I believe). The next time Ryan faced the Sox was the following year when Ventura made the biggest mistake of his life and disrespected a living Texas legend, who promptly grabbed him like a steer and beat the top of his head until he submitted

Also from the same game(s), I remember the temperature at game time was about 115F on the stadium scoreboard and we poured water on the old aluminum bleacher benches in the outfield just so we could sit down. Beer never tasted so good (or had such quick effect).

To start off the second game of the double-header, Carlton Fisk hit a home run that either broke or tied (can't remember now) Johnny Bench's career record for HRs by a catcher.

My other memory is going with a group of college friends to the Astrodome for what would be the final home game of the 1993 season before the strike. We all dressed up, painted our shirts and faces with words protesting the pending strike, and generally acted like angry children.

I have never paid my own money to attend a Major League baseball game since that day in 1993. That strike and the canceling of the World Series that year ruined me on baseball, with only brief respites in 1998 for the HR chase and 2004 (2005?) when Astros made the Series. But the steroid scandals of the last few years have sealed my hatred for the game. I don't even know who played in the World Series last year. Haven't attended a game since that Astros playoff run (free tickets courtesy of step-dad's company). And truly have no further interest in the game on that level.

But I still love baseball. Watch college and minor leagues when the opportunity presents itself. Plan to teach my kids how to play.

Just can't stomach The Show anymore.

[The Annoyed Man]

I saw a double-header at the old Arlington Stadium between Texas Rangers and Chicago White Sox that I'm certain was the precursor to Robin Ventura charging the mound on Nolan Ryan the next year. Ryan pitched 10 1/3rd innings, gave up one hit, no runs and got a no decision . But around the 7th inning, he hit one of the Sox players hard in the shoulder with an errant pitch. The bottom of that inning, first Rangers batter at the plate is Steve Buechele and he gets beaned right in the helmet. Benches empty, except for Ryan who is sitting patiently in the dugout next to his then teen-age son Reid (now in charge of the Round Rock Express, I believe). The next time Ryan faced the Sox was the following year when Ventura made the biggest mistake of his life and disrespected a living Texas legend, who promptly grabbed him like a steer and beat the top of his head until he submitted

I remember when Bryn was playing for the Expos and they came to town to play the Dodgers. I don't remember for certain who was pitching for the Dodgers in that game, but it might have been Valenzuela... in any case, the Dodger pitcher hit an Expos batter right in the left eye with a fast ball. They poor guy went down like he'd been hit by a truck, and they carted him off the field on a stretcher. It turned out the guy had a minor fracture of his cheek bone, but his eyeball was uninjured and he was otherwise alright. But Bryn was pitching that game for the Expos, and he told me after the game that he was surprised when the skipper didn't tell him to put down the first Dodger batter he faced after that incident. He said that pretty much everybody on both teams understood that it was a wild pitch and the beaning was entirely accidental. I remember the Dodger pitcher being very distraught after the pitch, and wanting to help but being told to stay out of the way.

At the time, I was incredulous. I remember asking him, "You would have really tried to hit the other player if told to do so?" And he nodded, yes, and made some comment like the pros not being a place for the faint at heart. It's weird, because Bryn is basically a soft-spoken, and gentle guy.