Sometimes it's the Little Things

  Ok, so I wasn't there when Barry Bonds broke the home-run record.  I wasn't there when Cal Ripken passed Lou Gehrig in most consecutive games played (although I saw both on television as they happened) and the piece of history I witnessed is not nearly as glamorous as either of those two events.  However, I was there tonight.  I can already hear the wheels turning. "What the heck happened tonight?" asks the die-hard baseball fan who happened upon my article.  Tonight was the first time in MLB history that an instant replay was used to review a home-run call.

  The reader must now forgive me, for I am about to tell a little story that has no real meaning to anyone but me other than that it is just kind of a cool little story.  I promise I will return to the point of the article after I set up the scene as it was for me.  I arrive at Tropicana Field on the evening of Wednesday, September 3rd 2008 at 4:15 PM.  Seasoned baseball fans may wonder why I got there so early for a game that started three hours later.  Well, my cousin's son (my second cousin) plays in the Largo, Florida high school marching band and the boosters run a concession booth at Tropicana for profits for the band.  I offered to help them tonight since I was free.  I finish my volunteer duty and around the beginning of the 8th inning, we shut down shop.  This allows me the opportunity to go catch a bit of the game.  I am excited because I was born and raised in New York State, have been a die hard Yankees fan my entire life, and they just happen to be playing the Rays this evening.  Here I stand, my first time at Tropicana Field (which is a very impressive place for a game I might add) watching my favorite team play out the last two innings of what would turn out to be a winning game.  As I stand there talking baseball with a St. Petersburg police officer working security, he mentions to me that I could get in trouble standing in the entry way and he isn't allowed to let me stand there anyhow.  I apologize to him and, before I can turn to go, he points to a seat and says, "you can sit here if you want to watch the rest of the game though.  It is a reserved seat, the man isn't here, and this is my area for security."  He was indicating, of course, that I would not get in trouble since he would be the one reprimanding me if anyone would.  I smile and thank him as I happily sit myself down to watch the rest of the game unfold.

  Here is where my story meshes with the true reason for the article.  As I sit there, an uneventful 8th inning plays out before me.  I am still busy marveling at a gorgeous, domed field of dreams that I have never before had the privilege of seeing in person.  The 9th inning rolls around and I am sure I am watching a Yankee victory so I am happy despite seeing Damon fly out to right and Jeter ground out to second.  Up steps Bobby Abreu.  After a twelve pitch series, Abreu's unexciting at-bat comes to an end with a walk and A-Rod walks casually up to the plate.  A couple uneventful pitches occur and Abreu successfully steals second.  Then, a little piece of history begins to unfold.  A-Rod catches a piece of the ball and, with a crack of the bat, the ball flies down the left field foul line in a slightly elliptical line.  It is curving, there is no doubt about that, but I am on the edge of my seat, eyes wide, hoping for a home-run. The ball sails far enough, bounces off something, and tumbles down to its resting place. There I am, eyes glued on Umpire Brian Runge and my hands glued to the rail in front of me.  In a split second, I see that tell-tale strong armed finger point toward fair and I come unglued, jumping out of my seat and cheering as my favorite player hits a 2-run homer in one of the two innings I am fortunate enough to be able to watch in person (the others I watched on a little television screen mounted just past the concession booth).  As I am cheering my head off, I look around and notice some scattered perplexed looks focused squarely on me.  It is at that moment, that I realize I am still in my Rays concession shirt which is basically a polyester jersey looking thing with Rays emblazoned on the front.  I either look incredibly disoriented as I cheer on one team and wear another or stupid enough to antagonize a home crowd by intentionally wearing their team while routing for my own.  Either way, it was a bit of a bad scene for a moment.  I coyly explain to a couple of them that I was merely working concessions and had the Rays shirt forced upon me - I am not a willing wearer.  I do not know if that was the best way to go about the explanation, but it worked for the moment.  It is a split-second later that I snap out of my euphoria and hear the boos of the home crowd and the faint chants of "IN-STANT RE-PLAY."  Now, in games past, this was a taunt because fans knew that there was no such thing in baseball, but tonight something different was about to happen.

  As the Umps confer at the mound, I know what might be coming next.  Could it be?  Is the instant replay mechanism that has been talked about recently actually going to be used?  The answer is yes, it was.  As the umpires disperse, the home fans look around in slightly confused happiness as the realization strikes them that their plea for a replay will actually be answered this time.  Yankees fans throughout the dome wonder if their guy's homer will be stripped by the first ever review in MLB history.  During NFL games, this is a great couple minutes for fans.  They talk amongst family, friends, or even complete strangers about what they saw.  Fittingly, now that MLB has replay, that fantastic review-time tradition lives on in another sport.  In my case, I chat with Bill, a man from Pennsylvania who works as a fan host at Tropicana since moving down to Florida; the friendly police officer, who is clearly a Rays fan; and a bespectacled, grey haired man decked out in full Rays attire who had run from the bathroom to hear what all the commotion was about.  In all areas of the stadium, the conversations can be heard: "That was foul! They must be crazy!" "I saw home-run, that umpire was right on the money, I tell ya." "I think you need new glasses friend because that ball was foul!" The murmurs can be heard all around us, battling each other for supremacy as we anxiously await the call.  In a little over two minutes, the call is made with a swirling of an Umpire's finger (you know the one) and the home-run stands as called.  Apparently, it remained fair long enough to curl around the pole and ding the catwalk slightly left of it.  Yankees fans cheer in triumph as Rays fans sink in defeat. 

  There it was.  A piece of baseball history, albeit a small one.  Roughly five minutes of a three-hour plus baseball game that I was fortunate enough to witness in person.  Like I said, I know it was not the most fantastic MLB moment.  Still, it is really great to be there when sports history happens.  As a sports nut, I got this funny feeling in my stomach like I was witnessing something special.  It didn't matter how big of a mark it would be in the MLB history books.  What mattered was that it was the first time ever and I was there.  I know some of my readers are wondering why they wasted their time reading this, while others know that feeling I am talking about.  The true sports guys and gals out there are feeling what I felt as they read this story or reliving in their minds that feeling they had when they saw history.  It happened for my friend, Rob.  When I told him about what I had witnessed he said, "Yeah, I saw The Comeback in person."  The Buffalo Bills faithful, like myself, know what he is referring to. 

  If there is anything to take from this, I suppose it is only a couple small things.  For one, if you find yourself in an opposing team's shirt and your favorite player on your favorite team does something wonderful, do not be afraid.  Stand up and cheer because you will never see that moment again.  Maybe a different game in a different place, but never that specific moment.  Lastly, be proud of the little sports moments you witness as well as the big ones.  After all, history is history and one day years to come when that trivia box pops up on the television during the seventh inning stretch of a baseball game and the question reads, "When was the first time instant replay was used to review a home-run?"  I can proudly smile and say, "Yankees vs. Rays September 3rd, 2008 at Tropicana Field.  I was there."