Bobby And I Down By The Bullpen

I went to the A's game this afternoon with Bobby. It's been years since the two of us attended a ballgame. You see, Bobby and I have a pedigree when it comes to major sporting events rarely seen.

We had partial season tickets together from 1987 to 1991; from the ages of 12 to 16. In that span we witnessed an All-Star Game in Oakland, American League Championship series games from 1988 to 1990, and five World Series games and the greatest day of my life. The day when Tony Phillips tossed the ball to Dennis Eckersley to win the 1989 World Series against the hated Giants. We were definitely spoiled by our parents and by such dominant baseball in those years.

We were able to have season tickets because of our age, tickets were discounted. My parents would pick Bobby up and drop us off at the Coliseum Bart station. We'd walk across the ramp to the stadium and call for a ride when the game was over.

In between seeing my parents, Bobby and I witnessed something our kids will probably never see; a team in Oakland that swaggered all over the world of baseball. Every player wanted to the be a part of the A's success and and the top talent could be easily afforded for a strong late season run. While the economically of baseball have changed so dramatically that even fairly worn and beaten team like the Yankees still have a chance because they have all the green and gold, the A's, though showed today by coming frrom behind to win versus Cleveland, that they still wear those colors with the same dignity of the team's Bobby and I rooted for back in the 80's.

It was as if the essence of Dave Henderson floated upon Bobby Kielty when he smacked a clutch single to right. Like the ghost of Rick Honeycutt slightly turned the angle of Huston Street's arm for the best break to strikeout Jhonny Peralta. And I had to squint at the scoreboard to see if it wasn't Mike Gallego who was wearing the number of Marco Scutaro when he launched David Riske's two-strike pitch to left to win it for the A's in ten.

What I learned is that you can't love only the youthful players on the field today, but also remember of those from the past. You must oddly cherish the heartache when they achieved little because when glory finally is realized it's power will become exctasy and legend for the rest of your life.