Listing Through Life

I went to this game with family. We had great seats on the first-base side, with our backs against a chain-link fence.

When the line-up for Peoria was announced, the fans got involved. The announcer said, “Batting first, the D.H., #2 … Warren Arrington.” The crowd shouted, “Who?” The announcer came back with “Arrington.” The crowd then shouted, “Ohh.” This continued throughout the entire Peoria batting order. Then the announcer said, “And now, our Kenosha Twins!” I yelled, “Who?”

This photo shows the view of home plate from our first seats.

One of the interesting features of the park is the train tracks that ran just beyond the outfield fence.

Right when the game got started, a fat, beer-drinking idiot sat down by us and began screaming an incessant string of inane comments at the top of his lungs. We changed seats at the end of the half inning. Our new seats weren’t nearly as good — at the end of the stands down the right-field line.

The park was not very well lit, and we had a hard time following the ball off the bat. In this photo, the Chiefs have the bases loaded in the ninth inning. They didn’t score.

My daughter made friends with Chiefs’ first-base coach Rick Kranitz and invited him to her  birthday party. He was unable to come. The Twins lost 3-0.

More free tickets from a supplier at work. I went down with three friends.

We arrived during Royals’ batting practice. I went down along the left-field line and stood up against the low wall (after pulling paint chips off the foul pole).

Frank White rolled one down the line, and I leaned over and grabbed it. A few minutes later, Bo Jackson hit a liner into the seats nearby. I was in a good position to get it, but it caromed off a chair, rifled past my head (missing me by about six inches) and bounced about 30 feet back toward home plate. If it had hit me, it probably would have killed me. I didn’t even have time to react.

The most notable event of the evening was a full eclipse of the moon that took place during the game. I walked to the back of the park around 8:30 and saw it when the moon was about half covered. When the game was over, it was just past complete, with a sliver of silver showing at the edge of the dark circle. Very cool.

In this photo, Carlton Fisk has just rounded first and is watching his fly-out to center. George Brett is watching him and looking very excited.

In this photo, Fisk is catching, Brett is batting and Bo Jackson is in the on-deck circle.

The White Sox lost 5-4.

Across the street, New Comiskey Park was under construction.

An a summer vacation, I grabbed a chance to see a game in St. Louis.

I arrived 45 minutes before the gates opened, so I wandered around the neighborhood. I was trying to decide what to do about supper when I happened to pass Amighetti’s Deli and Bakery. Through the window I saw a guy eating what looked like a very good sandwich. I went in and ordered one for myself, and it was very good. I sat by a window and watched St. Louis go by. After supper I bought a hot-fudge sundae and ate it as I walked back to the park. I visited the St. Louis Sports Hall of Fame, which was interesting, then went to my seat.

My seat was in the extreme left-field corner, about 25 feet up from the field level. I’ve marked it with a blue wedge on the postcard view above. I expected to not like the park, but I didn’t not like it as much as I expected not to like it. All these photos were taken from my seat.

Jerome Walton of the Cubs was in the midst of a long hitting streak and got an infield single. Jose Oquendo had a 23-game streak snapped. Vince Coleman stole his 50th consecutive base.

Here’s Ozzie Smith running out a bunt single in the first inning.

And here,  Vince Coleman has just hit his eighth-inning RBI single.

The Cardinals won 2-0.

On Thursday, we ate dinner at Ozzie’s Restaurant and Sports Bar. The food was great. Ozzie Smith memorabilia was all over the place. I sat directly beneath the uniform he wore in the 1985 (I think) All-Star game. The waiter was very good — and very happy. I accidentally tipped him too much. I wondered why he thanked me so profusely. I figured it out on the way back to the motel, but I didn’t mind too much.