2/15/2004
A little bit of history
If you're into baseball like I am (or any sport for that matter), memory can be a funny, hazy thing. In particular, I've wondered time and time again exactly when I became a San Francisco Giants fan. I never had the year right (I always thought it was 1986), and I couldn't have ever remembered what month it was. All I knew was that it was a Giants-Mets game at Shea, where Jeffrey Leonard hit a home run in the top of the 10th (by the way, I'm STILL mad at my father for making us leave in the 9th so we could beat the goddamn traffic). That was it. So, there was never any prayer of me discovering the date, right? Well, actually, there is.
www.retrosheet.org
This site is an absolute blessing. I came across it because I wanted to know a little bit about the players I was using in MicroLeague Baseball -- who the No. 1 starter would be, who the closers were, stuff like that. However, I found out that they had game-by-game logs of every team, for every season (where do they get all the space and bandwidth?)...so, while the search proved fruitless in 1986, then again in 1985, I saw a game in 1987 that was 5-4 in 10 innings. Sure enough, it was a Jeffrey Leonard home run (off of the debuting Jeff Innis) in the top of the 10th. That's my game!
May 16, 1987 -- that is my anniversary (so to speak), with the San Francisco Giants Baseball Club. It's nice, because I don't even have the small threads of memory for the Niners/Bills or Lakers or Arsenal or Celtic (I know I became a Canadiens fan from the game-clincher in the 1986 Stanley Cup Final, but the memory of that is gone...unlike the SF-NY game).
SF: 020 002 000 1 -- 5 12 0
NY: 200 011 000 0 -- 4 11 0
Boxscore is here: http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B05160NYN1987.htm
By the way, yes, it is THAT Matt Williams playing shortstop. The interesting thing is that a lot of SF's regulars had the day off for that game -- Robby Thompson, Jose Uribe, Bob Brenly (yes, the smirking putz I hate now who manages Arizona), Candy Maldonado. Also, considering our pitcher that day was a mediocre guy making a spot start (who would be traded along with not much else to get Kevin Mitchell AND Dave Dravecky), I could VERY easily be a Mets fan right now (I said right from the beginning that I'd swear allegiance to whoever won...I had said that before, so I'm shocked my Yankee-loving father didn't take me to a Yankee game they'd be likely to win).
Ahh well. While being a Met fan would be easier simply because the games are on at normal times and I could always see them on TV, I have to say I'm kinda glad it worked out this way!
www.retrosheet.org
This site is an absolute blessing. I came across it because I wanted to know a little bit about the players I was using in MicroLeague Baseball -- who the No. 1 starter would be, who the closers were, stuff like that. However, I found out that they had game-by-game logs of every team, for every season (where do they get all the space and bandwidth?)...so, while the search proved fruitless in 1986, then again in 1985, I saw a game in 1987 that was 5-4 in 10 innings. Sure enough, it was a Jeffrey Leonard home run (off of the debuting Jeff Innis) in the top of the 10th. That's my game!
May 16, 1987 -- that is my anniversary (so to speak), with the San Francisco Giants Baseball Club. It's nice, because I don't even have the small threads of memory for the Niners/Bills or Lakers or Arsenal or Celtic (I know I became a Canadiens fan from the game-clincher in the 1986 Stanley Cup Final, but the memory of that is gone...unlike the SF-NY game).
SF: 020 002 000 1 -- 5 12 0
NY: 200 011 000 0 -- 4 11 0
Boxscore is here: http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B05160NYN1987.htm
By the way, yes, it is THAT Matt Williams playing shortstop. The interesting thing is that a lot of SF's regulars had the day off for that game -- Robby Thompson, Jose Uribe, Bob Brenly (yes, the smirking putz I hate now who manages Arizona), Candy Maldonado. Also, considering our pitcher that day was a mediocre guy making a spot start (who would be traded along with not much else to get Kevin Mitchell AND Dave Dravecky), I could VERY easily be a Mets fan right now (I said right from the beginning that I'd swear allegiance to whoever won...I had said that before, so I'm shocked my Yankee-loving father didn't take me to a Yankee game they'd be likely to win).
Ahh well. While being a Met fan would be easier simply because the games are on at normal times and I could always see them on TV, I have to say I'm kinda glad it worked out this way!
