Take me out to the ballgame!
The most memorable World Series of my lifetime is memorable for reasons unrelated to baseball.
It was the day the local Bay Area rivalry between the Oakland A’s and the San Francisco Giants was to be decided. Game 3 was about to start in Candlestick Park in San Francisco, and the stands already were filled with thousands of people. My husband, Jeff, was looking forward to the game.
Jeff has been a Giants fan since his childhood. His dad took him to baseball games in Candlestick Park. He was a big fan of Giants star Willie Mays. The one time Mays hit a home run in a game Jeff attended, they had been caught in traffic and were still in the parking lot when Mays blasted it out of the park. He still shakes his head as he recalls his misfortune.
Jeff and I lived in the Bay Area for a short time. We had conflicting work schedules and rarely had time together. But sometimes, when we had an evening together, Jeff would plan a family outing to either an A’s or a Giants baseball game. Our two young children enjoyed the fireworks, even if they did interrupt their slumbers.
The A’s were not the Giants’ primary rivals. The Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants already had been vital enemies for many years when both teams moved to California in 1958. To like the Giants was to hate the Dodgers. The New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox also have maintained a similar rivalry for years.
It has taken many years for me to gain an appreciation for the nuances of baseball. Early on in my marriage, I enjoyed the atmosphere, the people watching and the traditions associated with baseball. I even learned to sing the lyrics to the song sung during the 7th inning stretch, “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” one note behind. Yes, I’m a woman of many skills.
But gradually I learned that there are strategies called things like “squeeze” or “suicide squeeze.” A squeeze is when there is a runner on third base. The batter makes a short hit called a bunt, and the runner on third tries to make it home. The fielder ends up usually getting the batter out on first. A suicide squeeze is when the runner begins to run before the pitch is pitched and hopes that the batter doesn’t miss. If he doesn’t miss, the runner scores easily.
Stealing bases is when a runner runs to the next base before the catcher can throw him out.
While stealing second base isn’t uncommon, stealing home is rare. Ty Cobb holds the all-time career record for stealing home 50 times.
The first African-American Major League Baseball player, Jackie Robinson quickly became a superstar in 1946. He played his whole career for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Though including an African-American in the big leagues was unpopular with some players, Robinson racked up statistics so astonishing that his popularity and acclaim overwhelmed the racial prejudice. Robinson’s success paved the way for many other African Americans who soon became stars, such as Willie Mays and Hank Aaron.
Jackie Robinson also changed the style of baseball. Up to that time, heavy hitters like Babe Ruth won games by consistently knocking the ball out of the park. But as Robinson used his foot speed to steal bases and finesse his way to home base between 1946 and 1956, the game naturally changed with him. Robinson could do it all, and other players had to literally step up to the plate. Others such as Rod Carew and Pete Rose followed in his footsteps.
But on the fateful day of Oct. 17, 1989, suddenly the lights in the stadium began to sway. A powerful earthquake, with its epicenter about 60 miles south of the stadium, tore through the area. Nearby, the Nimitz freeway collapsed. Bridges buckled, and buildings cracked and crumbled.
Ten days later, the 1989 World Series was resumed. The A’s won it in four games. Baseball, after all the terror and heartache of disaster, allowed the nation to think about something else for a little while. It’s our game.
Only in America. God bless it.