Comments on: My Ballpark Experiences http://jonahkeri.com/2008/09/11/my-ballpark-experiences/ Fri, 03 Feb 2012 13:19:35 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: okobojicat http://jonahkeri.com/2008/09/11/my-ballpark-experiences/#comment-114 Tue, 16 Sep 2008 15:43:43 +0000 http://jonahkeri.wordpress.com/?p=359#comment-114 Ballparks (in order of my visit!)

Metrodome
Wrigley
Old Comisky
New Comisky
County Stadium (Milwaukee)
Camden Yards
Safeco
Fenway
Coors
Petco
Oakland Coliseum (I don’t know who the sponsor was last year)

My best ballpark memory is one that I don’t even have. My parents have told me this story over 1,000 times, so I might as well know it. I was a young-un, we were in Chicago at Wrigley and Harry Cary was out sick. Bill Murray was guest singing the 7th inning stretch, but sat in the booth all day. The guy sitting next to us had a tv and they watched the game from the upper deck first base side and listened to Murray and laughed their butts off.

Worst game: last year, at a Twins game in Seattle, the Twins had the lead but the M’s had tied it up in the 8th. I had been rather loud and obnoxious throughout the game. Any time the section would start chanting “Let’s go Mariners” (and by section, I mean the four guys sitting ahead of us) I would chant “Let’s go Twin-kies” louder then them. They gave up chanting in about the 6th inning. In the ninth, Beltre hits a sharp single to LF with two outs. Everyone stands up as Sexson comes to the plate. The boys ahead of me start chanting “Walkoff.” And I of course point out rather loudly that Sexson sucks. Sexson deposits the ball in the Twins bullpen and I had to walk out of the stadium with an entire section screaming at me. Fantastic.

Favorite stadium is of course Wrigley, growing up a Cubs fan. However, Petco was such a cool, fun, laid back, amazingly designed, easy to love, great views, in such an odd, offbeat neighborhood. I also need to get back to Camden as I haven’t seen that in years.

Yes, I am both a Cubs and Twins fan.

Best play I ever saw live was Gabe Kapler’s debut at Camden. Soft fly ball down the RF line in 7th or 8th, with either tying or winning run on 2B. Kapler catches the ball just in foul territory (which there really isn’t much of in Camden) and turns and throws a strike to 3B to hose the guy by like four steps. It was a quick guy like Roberto Alomar too. I have never seen anyone throw a ball so hard and so accurate. I was scared that someone could do that.

]]> By: amkbean http://jonahkeri.com/2008/09/11/my-ballpark-experiences/#comment-113 Fri, 12 Sep 2008 04:02:27 +0000 http://jonahkeri.wordpress.com/?p=359#comment-113 I have several: sometime in the 90′s, at the Big Owe with Jonah, Elan and Brian, and probably some other Expos die-hards, playing the cubs and Calvin Schiraldi, the count was 2 and 2 with 2 outs and a runner on 2nd base, and Nelson Santovenia (obscure catcher with no glove and generally no bat to speak of) and he hit a double that scored a run and we won the game. From that moment on, the 2-2-2 count against Calvin Schiraldi with Santovenia at bat became some kind of Expos-geek mantra for superstition.

Another, a 1-0 21-inning loss to the Dodgers (again at the Big Owe) in 1989, when Rick Dempsey hit a homer in the top of the 21st. We got home at 2:30 am only because we saw another loser like us (whom we had just met that summer) who happened to have a minivan.

Marlins game with Jonah and Angele, got to watch the late innings in the broadcast booth with Dave Van Horne. It was the year the Marilins won the world series for the 2nd time, I think.

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