'Til it's over. So goes Yogi Berra's famous saying about baseball, or life. I have--to my wife and some friends--an annoying habit of staying at all sporting events until they are over. Zeros on the clock, I don't care about the score--the comeback or a player's response to overwhelming odds or even defeat is the thing to watch, not the score. But one of the beauties, and oddities, of baseball is that there is no clock. There is no machine that stifles a great comeback. Everything is allowed to play out to its natural conclusion. That makes staying to the end of a baseball game even more important than other types of games. Well, that habit paid off last night, even though I was just watching it on T.V.
Brief recap: Dodgers and Padres are vying for first place in the NL West. Dodgers were down 1/2 game to the Padres. If they lost, they'd be down 1 1/2 with only 12 games left to play, basically, they'd probably lose the West. They went down 4 runs in the first. Then they came back to tie it. But then the Padres went up 2 in the 8th. Dodgers scored one and had guys on base--but couldn't score more.
Then began the remarkable ninth inning. The Dodgers' pitcher gives up 3 runs. Dodgers are down 4 again with only 3 outs left. It seemed over. I almost turned off the TV and picked up my book. But for some glorious reason I didn't.
Then, back-to-back-to-back-to-back home runs. That's right, 4 straight homers. Hasn't happened since 1964. More than 200,000 MLB games have been played since that happened. Only happened 3 times before, in the history of the MLB! Unbelievable. Then, Nomar hits a two-run shot in the 10th to win it.
I stayed up late to see Gibson's 9th inning homer in the World Series--and I still remember it. This one wasn't the World Series, but the comeback was more improbable. This is what makes sport so intriguing, so captivating, so human. It is grown ups playing a game and getting tired people jumping up off their couch in the living room, pumping their fists yelling and screaming.
Why does sport do this? That's probably a post for another day, but it does do it.
Eric Neel penned this piece capturing the moment. It's a letter to his son, who had to go to bed before the remarkable comeback. Eric wanted to put it down so father and son could relive it together. My favorite parts:
I figured four dingers and a tie ball game was officially something to talk about, so I slipped into your room and whispered to you, "They've come back, T. Four home runs in the ninth inning. You won't believe it." You stirred, but didn't wake...
I want to tell you more, but like me, you're lost in a dream.
So I've set it down here. So we'll both feel like nothing can stop us now. So we'll both have it to point to when the boys are celebrating the division crown. So we'll both have it to remember years down the line. So we'll both know, when the morning comes, that it was real.
With sports, prima donna athletes, agents, steroids, money, and the rest can sure make a mess of something that can be so right.
But then there are moments like last night, that allow fathers and sons to have life-long bonds and comebacks of their own.
Vin Scully, the greatest living sports broadcaster, summed it up best:
"This is why baseball is such a wonderful game. You just never know what you're going to see."
Baseball. Life. Parents. Kids. Comebacks. Memories. Thrills. Joy.
Take me out to the ball game,
Thomas More
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