It’s that time of year and the boys of summer are at it
again. But it’s hard to be a beisbol fan in the Aloha State.
First, there’s no professional “home” team, and
second, most of the games are over by pau hana time here. At least
there are a few local boys in the Majors this year so there is some
coverage during the local news sportscasts.
Since we don’t get to go to games these days, I’ll
share some of our favorite beisbol memories.
For example, when we lived in Atlanta we were big Braves fans,
and sillygirl’s favorite player was Javy Lopez.
I (& jrr) grew up a Mets fan and even got an autograph from
Tom “Terrific” Seaver. My first baseball memories are
of those 1969 “Miracle Mets.” That’s when I
learned how to keep a proper scorecard. And even though I
didn’t get their autographs, my favorite pitcher was Tug
McGraw (since he was a Lefty), and my favorite Met ever was Bud
Harrelson.
In the eighties I got to go to American League games at Memorial
Stadium in “Charm City.” It was there in 1983 that I
got to see Carl Yastrzemski during his last season in the Majors.
That same year I attended my first World Series (Game 2)! During my
time in Bawlmer, I became a fan of a couple of guys who played
their whole careers for the Orioles: Jim Palmer and Cal Ripken, Jr.
The Orioles are still my favorite American League team.
Even though I was still officially a Mets fan, I was living in
St. Louis during the 1985 and 1987 World Series. (I stood in line
for SRO tickets and got 'em both years.) I went to lots of regular
season Cardinals games, but I was too late to see Bob Gibson, Ken
Boyer or Lou Brock play for them. I did get to see All Stars Tom
Herr and “walking underwear” (aka Joaquín Andújar)
though.
I moved to Hot-lanta in 1991 in time for the Braves famous
“worst to first” season. They eventually lost the
Series to the Minnesota Twins, but it was a great time to be a
beisbol fan! By 1993, I had a share of season tickets. That was the
year I almost caught a foul ball off the bat of (the highly
over-rated) Chipper Jones. Sillygirl and I met in Atlanta and lived
there during the 1996 Olympics. After the Olympics, Fulton County
Stadium was razed, except for the outfield wall where Hank
Aaron’s 755th home run left the park. In 1999, we went to our
first (and so far only) World Series game together; it was one cold
night and the Braves lost to those “Damn Yankees”!
Since I started this story with sillygirl’s favorite
Brave, I’ll end it with mine: John Smoltz!
You can validate your puzzle solution with certitude.