Capt. Don's Retirement

Capt. Don's Retirement

Thursday, April 9, 2015

Ramblings of a Baseball Fan



With most sports, like football and basketball, you have to pay attention to the whole game so as not to miss any of the action. Not so with baseball, at least for me. I find I can have the game on the radio or television and listen to it while I am doing other things. I just check in occasionally to get an update. And, a baseball game is a good place to go with friends to have a few beers and a good conversation. I do believe it is our “National Pastime.”


I identify with the sport’s history and its place in the American culture. It is not a “major” city for me if it does not have a Major League Baseball team. Not a day goes by during the baseball season that I don’t check the box score of my favorite team. I often wear a cap these days and it usually has the Rockies logo on it. I am wearing one right now.
I played little league for a couple of years while growing up and enjoyed it. At first I played shortstop and third base. My father gave me a small booklet published by 7-Up about how to react to a ball hit to you, by position, in any situation; one out, two outs, no runners, runners on first and third, etc. I memorized the entire pamphlet. I believe I still remember how to play ‘em.
I tried out for the Montebello High School team, but was cut because I was not good enough. I must say however, that that team was very good. Our school had an enrollment of 3500 and won the California Interscholastic Federation-Southern Section High School Baseball Championship my senior year, having come in second place the year before.
Professional baseball came to California with the arrival of the Dodgers from Brooklyn, NY in 1958. So, I switched my baseball allegiance from the Milwaukee Braves (my first little league team was named the Braves) to our new home 9.
I can remember attending a game that first year with my second little league team, the Cadets, in the cavernous Los Angeles Coliseum. Our coach suggested I study the catchers, as that was the position I had moved to.
The Dodgers were an easy team to follow. They soon started playing winning baseball and had many good players. Maury Wills, Tommy Davis, Willie Davis, Wally Moon (and his moon shot home runs), Duke Snider, Johnny Padres, Gil Hodges, Don Drysdale and the incomparable Sandy Koufax were the stars. I remember listening to the games on the radio. I enjoyed it most when the Dodgers were at bat, but when Sandy pitched, I liked to keep track of how many strikeouts he was going to get that evening.
In 1961 the Los Angeles Angels were created. My father and brother followed them, but they never caught my interest.
In 1964 and 1965 I had the opportunity to work as an usher for both the Dodgers and Angels at Dodger Stadium. Here is the story of that experience.
In 1973 I moved to Portland,Oregon and, since nearby Seattle was between the Pilots of 1969 and the Mariners starting in 1977, I continued to follow the Dodgers.
1974-1976 I lived in Omaha, Nebraska and sort of followed the St Louis Cardinals. This was due to the fact that many of the business people I worked with were fans of theirs because, prior to the Dodgers moving to L.A. in 1958, the Cardinal’s were the farthest west of all professional teams. I have run into old-time Cardinal fans in such unsuspected places as Colorado, Montana and Idaho for the same reason.
1976-1979 I moved to Boston. VERY serious baseball town! Fenway Park is dirty, antiquated, small, hard-to-get to and reeks with ambience, in short, a wonderful place to see a ball game. And, the team management somehow arranges to have Red Sox history experts sprinkled liberally throughout the stadium, ever willing to share the sacred lore with anyone from out-of-town. The Red Sox are still my favorite American League team but, now that they have won the World Series a couple of times, many of their fans have become as obnoxious as the Yankee fans always were.
1979-1991 Back to the Northwest and the Seattle Mariners. They were bad most of the time I was there. Of one particularly ineffective pitcher we used to say, “no Nunez is good Nunez.” One advantage of the poor team and their low attendance, was that we could drive up to the Kingdome most rainy nights, park very close to the gate and smuggle in a couple of 6 packs of beer down the sleeves of our coats. The stadium was warm and dry and we would sit all alone in the outfield, openly drinking the beer and eating peanuts. No one would bother us, they were happy to have us there. After I left Seattle the Mariners got good for a while, but have since slipped back to the bottom of the pack.
1993-Present. Now in Denver and they get the Rockies. I am a Rockies fan, although they, like the Mariners before them, make it hard sometimes. With the exception of 2007, when they got to the World Series and a few other times when the team has crept up to respectability, being a Rockies fan has not been easy. Every time I get down on the team, I remember what a fellow fan and sufferer once said, “I am a fan, that means I support them good or bad.”
Me too, sort of.
We usually get down to 8-10 games a year where I enjoy the 7th inning stretch and never miss singingTake me out to the ball game.
I have been fortunate to have visited many major league stadiums across the country; The Seattle Kingdome, St Louis Busch Stadium, The Houston Astrodome, Old New York Yankee Stadium, the original Texas Ranger Stadium and some place, I forget where, the Anaheim Angels used to play, all of which no longer exist. I have also been to the new Seattle and Texas stadiums as well as Chicago’s Wrigley Field, Boston’s Fenway Park, Kansas City’s Kauffman Stadium and of course Dodger Stadium. Additionally, I have seen professional baseball games in Honolulu, Cancun, Mexico and Maracay,Venezuela.
For a number of years my son and I would drive from Boulder to Tucson in March for Spring Training with the Rockies. When Tim got married and got a life, I went out there with Cindy for a few more years, but she has limited time off work now, so it has been a number of years since we have gone. Additionally, now the Rockies are in Phoenix, it does not have the same appeal as did Tucson.
As I read what I have written above, I realize that baseball has always had a significant hold on my psyche, maybe more than I thought. Well I suppose that is OK because, win or lose, I am a baseball fan.

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