Major League Baseball has been holding onto its clips like a hoarder on one of those hoarding television shows (I'm guessing, since I couldn't even tell you which channel they're on). But they've finally opened the vault and let a tsunami of clips burst forth.
So I'm posting two clips that have some meaning for me.
The first is from 1996. I was on the phone with Dave Imai, Game 1 of the ALCS went into extra innings, Baltimore in the Bronx, when Bernie stepped to the plate:
I lost track of the conversation at that point and told Dave I'd call him back as I pumped my fist. This was my favorite baseball moment up until that point. Charlie Hayes catching that last out in Game 6 of the World Series that same year passed it, but, for sheer excitement, this one was it.
The next clip is from ten years later. I was at Marc's apartment in the East Village watching Game 7 of the NLCS between the Mets and Cardinals. The game was tied with a runner on first. Ollie Perez sent a pitch to Scott Rolen, who hit the shit out of it:
When it came off the bat, my brain said, "Just gave up that tie..." And then Endy Chavez ran it down and made the best catch I've ever seen live. Ever. Still. He snow-coned that sumbitch and looked as surprised as everyone in the else in the stadium. The runner on first was halfway to third when he realized Endy had caught it, and was easily doubled off to end the inning.
Sad to say that may have been the last time the Mets and their fans had legitimate World Series hopes and aspirations. They went on to lose that game, then choked the 2007 season away at the very end, and have been middling since.
So...CLIPS! Be careful so that you don't waste too much time at the archive site...
Speaking of baseball... have you heard about the Bloody Sock of Kurt Schilling? Weird...
ReplyDeleteThat effing bloody sock. Joe Torre didn't believe that Schilling was as injured as he was. He'd just had a tendon reattached with sutures or staples or some shit. If the Yanks had dropped six bunts in a row they would have scored three runs and maybe had only one out; Schilling just couldn't get around. That was part of the worst chokes in baseball, or any other American sport, and if you hate the Yankees, Schilling's Bloody Sock Performance is one of the most legendary events in the destruction of the Curse of the Bambino. Curt Schilling fucked us with Arizona and again with Boston. He's also responsible for a classic quote about the Yankees' mystique and aura, saying those are just two stripper names.
ReplyDeleteDan, you may find this interesting, but Schilling, in his post-playing life, founded a video game company originally named Green Monster Games, but was best known as 38 Studios. They eventually filed for bankruptcy, but not after releasing an MMORPG called "Kingdom of Amalur: Reckoning". R.A. Salvatore wrote the story and Todd McFarlane designed the look and environment. MMORPGs aren't for me, but I respect the effort, and would never wish Schilling to fail as a company owner.
He was one of the few guys who aged realistically--he got doughy as he got older, like a regular guy--during one of the most rampant drug-use-eras in baseball history. He always spoke out against steroids and the like, and repeatedly said that it boggled his mind that players, when outed for steroids, didn't immediately call a lawyer and sue the shit out of whoever made those claims. That's he would do, he claimed. And, his name has never been connected with 'roids or HGH, but he did admit to pain-killer shots before each start, but that starts the question about what's okay and what's not, and should we really care all this much.
Re Bernie homer clip: I was driving from San Carlos to the East Bay to visit someone when Bernie did his thing. I will always associate parking the car on the street in the cool of the evening outside the apartment building in Hayward with Bernie's classic shot.
ReplyDeleteAnd I do remember early in his career, when talking about Bernie, those worst-announcers-in-the-universe, Ken "Hawk" Harrelson and Steve Stone (employed by the White Sox) said, "But with the game on the line do NOT turn Williams around and make him bat right-handed." Having looked it up I can report the hapless Randy Myers served up Bernie's gopher.