One More Day to Opening Day

With one more day to opening day, I am reminded of two favorite moments from the 2006 season.

The first – arguably my favorite moment of the season – was the day our home town team played their arch rivals for the first time.

Over the winter, management traded away a key player – a catcher. This catcher was experienced at catching our knuckleballer. Management’s plan was to bring a younger, less expensive catcher into the role and groom him. The plan didn’t work out so well. The young catcher, talented as he was, was struggling.

The day of this game (also the day a formerly loved player returned to the park for the first time wearing – gag – pinstripes), a deal was made. The young catcher was to go out west, the experienced catcher was to come back home. The only question was, would he make it in time for the game? The knuckleballer was set to pitch regardless of who was catching.

News stations were abuzz. As game time approached, there were live feeds from the park and from the airport. Twenty minutes before the first pitch, a private plane landed. A state police SUV pulled up to the plane, the catcher stepped in, and the whole region held its breath. A news helicopter followed the SUV’s drive to the park.

Eleven minutes later, that SUV pulled up to the park. The catcher stepped out of the vehicle, already in uniform (the catcher changed in the back of the SUV during the fast ride), ran into the clubhouse, put on his shoes, said bare hellos to his teammates, and ran to the field to catch the first pitch.

To make the moment even better, our boys won that night.

My second favorite moment is more about our family, but it happened in the context of baseball.

My husband acquired two tickets to a Sunday game through work. He ended up taking M. Before they left, I perused the team store Web site, thinking it was about time S had a team hat of her own. I asked my husband, as they were leaving, “Would you mind going into the team store for me?”

My husband replied, indignantly, “I hate that store. It’s so crowded and people are so rude!”

Me: “It’s for S.”

Him: “Oh, okay, what do you want?”

And S got her pink floral team hat.

My, how the balance of power has shifted in our house.