Early Innings Conversation

The conversation looked backwards for a while between my older brother and I as the Mariners logged such an awful first two innings -- 10 runs for the Rangers on only 5 hits -- that the game seemed to be veering towards the ludicrous. We’ve logged a lot of baseball games and ballparks between the two of us -- 26 and 25 respectively; if only I had gone to Three Rivers in 1986 instead of staying at the hotel to swim, I think now -- and it’s fun to recall some of their moments.

My brother recalled that the most majestic homerun he ever saw was a Sosa blast at a game with me at Wrigley Field in 2001. They estimated it at 495’, and it was all of that. We had to watch the replays on TV later to see where it landed way out deep across Waveland. That was a good one, alright. We bought day of game tickets with an obstructed view that wasn’t actually obstructed; Kerry Wood was pitching for the Cubs; and Piazza hit a frozen rope line drive homerun that was the opposite of that monster Sosa would hit later on that first inning off Rick Reed, Sosa's first of two that game.

I think Carlos Beltran hit the most majestic homerun I’ve ever seen that half season he played with the Astros in 2004. I was sitting in the first rows of the upper deck just past first base in Wrigley, and Beltran was batting lefty. As the ball passed my friend Meghan and I it was still rising, and I don’t think it crested until after it cleared the fence, before landing in the trees across the street on Sheffield. Plus, there’s just something sweeter about a lefty hitting one deep, isn’t there? Allegiances to the Cubs aside, that was an impressive swing.

Last season, Andruw Jones hit a moon shot way back in the left field upper deck in Philadelphia, one my dad still talks about. A few weeks ago, Berkman took one way out into center. And there have been others. As the Rangers-Mariners game got even more out of hand, Julio Zuleta’s long homerun in the Cubs rout over the Dodgers in 2001 came to mind, although that game didn't get out of hand until late. So out of hand that the Dodgers third baseman, Chris Donnels, pitched a third of an inning in the 8th, getting Gary Matthews Jr. out.

On television, I recalled watching Glenallen Hill’s rooftop HR on TV while I was in college. It was mid May, and there weren’t many people watching those afternoon games with everything else going on at the close of the year. Hell, with the Cubs already well below .500 and only 21,995 people at Wrigley, there weren’t many people watching anywhere. I was in my room at the end of the hall on the third story of my fraternity house, watching alone. As soon as he hit it, I yelled; only one yell was returned, down at the other end of the second floor. I remember thinking 1) that was one of the most impressive homeruns I’ve ever seen and 2) that’s why you watch the games -- you just never know when something wild will happen, and to see it in context is always better.

I told him about the night I saw Zambrano take a no-hitter a ways into a game against (I think) the Pirates, and how I never let my Old Style cups leave my right hand. The first cup had started there and stayed there, and by the third inning I realized that I couldn’t transfer my grip as long as Zambrano had it going. The no-no busted, I set down my cups, and zipped to the restroom. Superstition is what it is.

All of this, back and forth, while the Rangers routed the Mariners. Well, actually the Mariners would mount something of a comeback, although it would prove too little. Meanwhile Carlos Lee hit a homerun just past us down by the left fielder, and the theme music to The Natural played and fireworks exploded as Lee rounded the bases.

Later on, the man in front of us turned around and said, “I couldn’t help overhearing, and I have to say: If there’s one place I’d like to see, it’s Wrigley Field.” And then, “I was in college and there was cable, so we got the games on WGN. I loved Harry Caray - especially the games he would broadcast from the bleachers.”

I understand that there’s a corner in some fans’ hearts wishing -- not really of course, but just the tiniest bit -- that the club didn’t have Wrigley Field and that wide-ranging following of guys like this one in Arlington, so that the TribCo would have to build a winner to turn a profit with the Cubs. Except, of course, that they’re not mutually exclusive. What we want most is a winner in Wrigley Field with fans all over the world following along.

What we’ve got is a million ways to interpret dozens of statistical categories that all point to a terrible, terrible season. A season on pace to end up 68-94. One win better than the last season before Dusty Baker arrived... if you’re counting, that is. That's the topic we didn't discuss those innings in Arlington.

Sometimes, it’s just more pleasant to sit in a ballpark across the country on a hot Texas night in August and look backwards, I guess.