TTM: Making Up for Lost Time

Over the last couple weeks, I've recounted the tale of the trip I took with my friend Eric Hendrickson some twenty-five years ago. In order to have my daily posts about that trip uninterrupted, I've refrained from any updates on the autograph collecting front. So as I get things caught up today, we have a couple weeks worth of TTM autographs to share:

 



Some of my earliest sports memories are those of watching the Mizzou Tigers play football in the late 1970s, with exciting quarterback Phil Bradley throwing the ball to Kellen Winslow, handing off to James Wilder, and running the ball himself. Nevertheless, it was baseball that Bradley would go on to play as a professionally, putting up a career .286 batting average in a career that included one all star season (1985: .300/26 HR/88 RBIs).

Another of the cards I was excited to get back was that of Vance Law. The son of former Cy Young Award winner, Vern Law, Vance follows the 1985 Cardinals Twitter account I run (@HeckOfAYear). It was thrill to see the first time Law "liked" one of my tweets recounting the 1985 Cardinals season day-by-day, and it was a thrill once again when I not only received his 1987 Topps card back in the mail, with a note written on the envelope commending the Twitter account!

Another player whose cards I was especially excited to get back was Sid Bream. I've written about him before, and he was one of my favorite non-Cardinals in the late 80s and early 90s. He had his bes years with the Pirates, but is most well-known for his time with the Braves, specifically when he scored the NL Pennant-winning run in 1992.

 

Frank Tanana won 240 games throughout his 21-year career. A three time all star, Tanana accumulated a career WAR of 57.9, which is higher than that of Whitey Ford and many other Hall of Fame pitchers. A native of Detroit, he spent eight seasons with the Tigers.

Greg Gross hit .287 over a 17-year career. He now puts to use those skills as hitting coach for Diamondbacks' AAA affiliate, the Reno Aces, a post he has held for five seasons. He previously had two stints as hitting coach for the Phillies.

His 143 pinch-hits ranks fifth all-time in MLB history, and at one time he was only seven short of Manny Mota's then record total of 150 pinch hits.

Gary Pettis was a speedy center fielder who won five Gold Gloves and stole 354 bases during his eleven-year MLB career. What I'll always remember about Pettis though is the fact that he had his 16-year-old brother Lynn pose for his 1985 Topps baseball card! If I were pursuing the 1985 set, I'm not sure who I'd send it to to get it signed, Gary or Lynn. Maybe both of them?

Without question, one of the favorite Cardinals of my youth was Bob Forsch. I had four different cards he signed for me when I was a kid, not to mention a 1986 pocket schedule.

Forsch is the only Cardinal to throw two no-hitters, and is (with Ken Forsch) part of the only brother pairing to each throw a no-no. A member of the Cardinals Hall of Fame, he started Game 1 of the NLCS & World Series for a World champion (1982) and is 3rd all-time in wins by a Cardinal. He even started perhaps the most memorable game I ever attended.

I don't think he really enjoyed signing autographs, but I also don't think I ever saw him turn someone down. One Saturday afternoon, after he had starred in the  NBC Game of the Week, I witnessed him signing for nearly a half hour as his family waited for him.

Sadly, Mr. Forsch passed away a few years ago, so I had to purchase this card. I was more than happy to do so though, as his 15 years with the Cardinals comprised the bulk of my youth and given the fact that my memories of him are so fond.

Finally, what a joy it has been to have carried on a running correspondence with NFL Hall of Famer, Raymond Berry. I finally purchased an 8x10 of this great wide receiver and even finer gentleman, and sent it to him. Not surprisingly, he quickly returned it personalized and signed.

Epilogue

What a trip it was, indeed. Looking back over the entire trip, it really is amazing the things we experienced. Over the course of those two weeks in June of 1992, we saw...

13 FUTURE HALL OF FAMERS IN ACTION:

• Goose Gossage
• Paul Molitor
• Robin Yount
• Wade Boggs (3x)
• Dave Winfield (who hit a home run for us)
• Eddie Murray
• Cal Ripken (who hit a home run for us)
• Jack Morris (who pitched like every bit the ace he was) 
• Harold Baines
• Lee Smith
• Manager Joe Torre
• Manager Tony Larussa
• Manager Sparky Anderson
• Unfortunately, we did have some pretty crazy bad luck when it came to seeing Hall of Famers. In our leadoff game, we missed out on seeing the greatest leadoff hitter ever, because Rickey Henderson was injured. We also missed out on a trio of Hall of Fame middle infielders, because Ozzie Smith, Alan Trammell, and Roberto Alomar were all out with injuries when we saw their teams play, as was the Indians' young third baseman, Jim Thome.  

OTHER STARS:

• Jose Canseco
• Mark McGwire
• Albert Belle
• Lou Whitaker
• Cecil Fielder
• Roger Clemens (saw 2x)
• Joe Carter
• Don Mattingly (saw 3x)

We saw a Major League record set one night and celebrated the next, as Jeff Reardon became MLB's all-time saves king.

Phil Plantier became a favorite of mine by hitting clutch home runs for us on back-to-back days.

Having seen our favorite team, the Cardinals, play countless games at Busch Stadium, for once we got to watch them play on the road.

We visited the Baseball Hall of Fame, the Babe Ruth Birthplace and Museum, and Mickey Mantle's Restaurant, and heard a funny story dealing with a famous baseball moment.

We went to the top of the Empire State Building to take in the breathtaking New York skyline, we beheld the amazing natural beauty of Niagara Falls, and we went sailing on Lake Michigan.

We saw a softball game, played a little wiffle ball, and played A LOT of Strat-o-Matic Baseball!

We of course got to see seven MLB ballgames in six ballparks, three of which no longer exist.

• County Stadium...A's 6 - Brewers 1
• Tiger Stadium...Indians 4 - Tigers 2 (11 innings)
• Skydome...Blue Jays 4 - Red Sox 0
• Fenway Park...Red Sox 1 - Yankees 0
• Fenway Park...Red Sox 4 - Yankees 3 (10 innings)
• Shea Stadium...Cardinals 8 - Mets 3
• Oriole Park at Camden Yards...Orioles 10 - Yankees 7

I caught a souvenir ball in batting practice.

Through it all, we logged over 3,700 miles, and Eric and I got to create shared memories that will forever seal our friendship.

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Day 14...Manitowoc and Home

Sunday was Father's Day, and Eric and I spent it with his girlfriend and her father. He owned a sailboat and took us out for a sail that morning on Lake Michigan. It was a great time, unlike anything I had ever experienced.

I had never been sailing before, even on a small lake. And to sail on Lake Michigan...wow! What an experience! I remember having the opportunity to take control of the vessel, which was a sailboat about 30 feet in length. As the sail caught the wind, the boat began to list, and I quickly shifted the rudder in fear that we might capsize. I was assured that I needn't worry; they had tried to bury the wooden rail that ran around the top of the boat's hull, but never been able to. "Really?" I asked. Again, I was assured I needn't worry.

Emboldened now, I steered once more so as to catch the full force of the wind, and like we had been shot out of a cannon, we were off. I'll never forget the amazing opportunity to feel like you had captured the wind and were drawing out all its power to be utilized under your control. It was an absolute thrill!

That afternoon, still flying high from our boat ride, we had to carry on to the conclusion of our trip. We drove back to Northwestern, where we dropped Eric off at the fraternity house where he would be living as he took summer classes. And after that, I made the drive south myself, down Interstate 55 and back to St. Louis. It was fairly late when I returned home and the next day I would have to return Mr. Hendrickson's car to him. Sadly, the trip was at this point nothing but a memory. But it what an amazing memory it was!

Distance driven today: 478 miles

Total distance driven: 3,723 miles

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Day 13...The Longest Drive

We had to wake up fairly early on Saturday morning because we had quite the drive in front of us: nearly 875 miles from Baltimore to Manitowoc, Wisconsin, where Eric's girlfriend lived. I'm not exactly sure why we incorporated this into our trip, but we had to get him back to Northwestern for summer classes, and though Manitowoc certainly wasn't on the way, it didn't add that much to our trip.

The plan was to hit the road by 6:00 am, so I was up and in the shower not long after 5:00. While the water fell on my very tired body, I heard Eric’s voice in a loud whisper from the bathroom door asking where I put the keys to the car. The night before, I had borrowed them to get something from the car. Unfortunately we soon came to find out that I must have set them down on the dashboard and locked them inside the vehicle because that’s where they were!

After the two of us tried fruitlessly to break into the car, Eric called AAA. They said they’d send someone out and they’d be there in the next hour. Or two. Long story short, by the time we actually got out it was after 8:00 EDT. After a later than anticipated start, we were on the road. 

There are two other things, I remember about that day. When we arrived in Manitawoc it was 10:30 pm CST. The reason I remember that is that the opening to Saturday Night Live was on as we came into the house. The other thing I remember is that in the 15 1/2 hours on the road that day, we played A LOT of Strat-o-matic baseball.

The trip was winding to a close, but what an adventure it had been!

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Miles driven today: 873 miles

Total miles driven: 3,245 miles

Day 12...Baltimore

With one game left in our trip, we were off to Baltimore. We met up with Eric's friend from Northwestern, Corey. Corey's family lived in Baltimore and graciously offered to host us the evening we were there. We picked up Corey and headed toward the stadium. 

Before we got to the ballpark, we took in some of the other sights. We had a nice visit to the Babe Ruth Birthplace and Museum, which housed artifacts not just about the Babe, but about the Orioles as well. We went on from there to the nearby inner harbor, and after grabbing a bite to eat, we headed to the ballpark.

Oriole Park at Camden Yards had just opened that season and was absolutely beautiful, marking a new era for baseball stadiums. I can hardly believe that it is now one of the ten oldest ballparks in MLB. The new Comiskey Park had opened in Chicago a year earlier (Eric and I attended the second game ever played there) and was fairly non-descript. Camden Yards, on the other hand, had a retro design that hearkened to the days of yesteryear when baseball truly was America's national pastime. It's widespread acclaim changed the way ballparks were designed, as most ballparks now have more of a retro feel to them.

Terry Cashman, who most famously wrote and sang Talkin' Baseball (Willie, Mickey and the Duke), recorded a song that attempts to communicate the charm and feel that we felt in the shadows of the B&O Warehouse, directly across Eutaw Street from the Oriole Park.

We got to the ballgame early for batting practice, and what with our seats being in the right field bleachers, I not only was wearing my new St. Louis Browns cap, this also was the one game on our trip to which I brought my glove. It turned out to be a good thing, because during BP, Mell Hall hit one directly to me. I stuck up my glove and (thump!) I had a souvenir! Coincidentally, Hall was the same player that hit the foul ball in Boston that I narrowly missed getting. Even more coincidentally, Twenty years later (to the day!) I took my family to a Cardinals game in Detroit and bullpen catcher Jamie Pogue tossed my eight year old daughter a ball.

The Orioles failed to score in the first, but tallied runs in the next five innings, including four in the second and two each in the third and fourth. They got home runs from Mike Devereaux, Randy Milligan, and (much to our joy) future Hall of Famer, Cal Ripken Jr. The Yankees managed to put up seven runs of their own, including five in the third, powered by a Danny Tartabull three run dinger. Everybody in the Yankees lineup got at least one hit except for none other than (you guessed it) Mel Hall.

Forty year old Mike Flanagan, who won the 1979 Cy Young Award and was a member of a number of Earl Weaver's great Baltimore pitching staffs retired the only batter he faced in the eighth. before yielding to closer Gregg Olson. Olson retired all four batters he faced (including three on strikes) in securing his 19th save of the season.

With that, we had seen the final game of our trip. But the trip was still not over; there were adventures yet to be had in the next couple days...

Miles driven today: 257 miles
Total miles driven: 2,639 miles

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At the home of Eric's friend from Northwestern, Corey Perman.

Part of our pre-game prep was a trip to the Inner Harbor.

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The Babe Ruth Birthplace and Museum

When the Babe was a babe: George Herman Ruth was born here

 

Memorial Stadium: Home of the O's from 1954-1991

The instantly iconic B&O Warehouse behind the right field stands

Believe it or not, I still use the same glove today!

The man who gave me a batting practice souvenir

Already a legend in 1992

The view from our seats

He's no Fredbird, but we got a kick out of the Oriole mascot!

OK now...Down in front!

Yankees 7 31-34 Lost 1 5th, 8 GB

1  2  3   4  5  6   7  8  9    R  H  E                 -  -  -   -  -  -   -  -  -    -  -  - Yankees         1  0  5   0  0  1   0  0  0    7 11  1 Orioles         0  4  2   2  1  1   0  0  X   10 14  2 W: A Mills (4-1), L: S Hillegas (0-3), S: G Olson (19)

Orioles 10 39-26 Won 1 1st

BATTING

New York Yankees             AB   R   H RBI   BB  SO    BA   OPS  Pit   PO   A  Details

A Stankiewicz SS              4   1   1   0    1   0  .306  .813   21    2   4   3B

M Hall LF                     5   1   0   0    0   0  .247  .695   17    1   0  

R Kelly CF                    5   2   1   1    0   2  .298  .781   18    4   1   2B

D Mattingly 1B                5   1   2   2    0   1  .253  .708   14    9   0  

D Tartabull RF                4   1   1   3    1   1  .261  .813   22    4   0   HR

K Maas DH                     5   0   1   0    0   1  .284  .851   19    0   0   2B

M Nokes C                     4   0   2   0    0   2  .220  .664   12    1   1  

C Hayes 3B                    4   0   1   0    0   1  .262  .694   11    2   2  

M Gallego 2B                  4   1   2   0    0   0  .277  .770    9    1   2  

J Johnson P                                                              0   0

  S Hillegas P                                                           0   2

  T Burke P                                                              0   0

Totals                       40   7  11   6    2   8              143   24  12

BATTING

2B: R Kelly (14, off B Milacki); K Maas (7, off B Milacki).

3B: A Stankiewicz (1, off B Milacki).

HR: D Tartabull (5, off B Milacki; 3rd inn, 2 on, 1 out to Deep RF Line).

TB: D Tartabull 4; A Stankiewicz 3; D Mattingly 2; M Nokes 2; R Kelly 2; K Maas 2; M Gallego 2; C Hayes.

RBI: D Tartabull 3 (27); D Mattingly 2 (33); R Kelly (35).

2-out RBI: D Mattingly.

Team LOB: 8.

With RISP: 3 for 13.

FIELDING

DP: 2. R Kelly-M Nokes-C Hayes; A Stankiewicz-M Gallego-D Mattingly.

E: A Stankiewicz (6).

Baltimore Orioles            AB   R   H RBI   BB  SO    BA   OPS  Pit   PO   A  Details

B Anderson LF                 4   1   2   1    1   0  .283  .874   17    4   0  

M Devereaux CF                5   1   3   4    0   1  .286  .851   19    3   1   HR

C Ripken SS                   5   1   3   1    0   0  .276  .787   12    1   1   HR

G Davis DH                    5   0   1   0    0   0  .225  .685   19    0   0  

  M McLemore PR               0   0   0   0    0   0  .245  .603         0   0  

R Milligan 1B                 4   2   1   1    1   0  .277  .854   27    5   0   HR

  J Orsulak RF                0   0   0   0    0   0  .256  .641         0   0  

L Gomez 3B                    3   3   1   0    2   0  .292  .802   21    1   1  

C Hoiles C                    2   1   1   0    2   0  .284  .952   21   10   0  

D Segui RF-1B                 4   0   1   2    0   0  .248  .643   15    0   0   GDP

B Ripken 2B                   3   1   1   1    0   0  .200  .539   12    3   2   HBP

B Milacki P                                                              0   1

  A Mills P                                                              0   0

  M Flanagan P                                                           0   0

  G Olson P                                                              0   0

Totals                       35  10  14  10    6   1              163   27   6

BATTING

HR: R Milligan (7, off S Hillegas; 6th inn, 0 on, 0 outs to Deep LF-CF); C Ripken (8, off S Hillegas; 5th inn, 0 on, 2 outs to Deep LF); M Devereaux (10, off J Johnson; 2nd inn, 3 on, 2 outs to Deep LF).

HBP: B Ripken (3, by J Johnson).

TB: M Devereaux 6; C Ripken 6; R Milligan 4; B Anderson 2; C Hoiles; L Gomez; B Ripken; D Segui; G Davis.

GIDP: D Segui (2).

RBI: M Devereaux 4 (40); D Segui 2 (11); B Anderson (43); C Ripken (34); R Milligan (28); B Ripken (15).

2-out RBI: M Devereaux 4; D Segui 2; B Ripken; C Ripken; B Anderson.

Team LOB: 8.

With RISP: 4 for 12.

FIELDING

DP: 1. M Devereaux-B Ripken-R Milligan.

E: M Devereaux (2); L Gomez (3).

BASERUNNING

PO: B Anderson (1st base by S Hillegas).

PITCHING

New York Yankees           IP     H   R  ER   BB  SO  HR    ERA   BF  Pit-Str   GB-FB  GmSc  IR-IS

J Johnson                   2.2   8   6   6    3   0   1   6.40   19   77-40     4-3     15    -

S Hillegas, L (0-3)         4.1   5   4   4    3   1   2   5.48   20   76-42     3-7          2-0

T Burke                     1     1   0   0    0   0   0   4.66    3   10-8      0-2          0-0

Totals                      8    14  10  10    6   1   3          42  163-90     7-12         2-0

Baltimore Orioles          IP     H   R  ER   BB  SO  HR    ERA   BF  Pit-Str   GB-FB  GmSc  IR-IS

B Milacki                   4.1   7   6   4    1   3   1   5.40   24   84-50     2-8     31    -

A Mills, H (3), W (4-1)     3     4   1   1    1   2   0   1.32   13   36-24     2-4          2-0

M Flanagan, H (9)           0.1   0   0   0    0   0   0   8.83    1    4-3      0-1          1-0

G Olson, S (19)             1.1   0   0   0    0   3   0   1.16    4   19-11     0-1          1-0

Totals                      9    11   7   5    2   8   1          42  143-88     4-14         4-0

Balks: None.

WP: None.

IBB: None.

PO: S Hillegas (1; B Anderson, 1st base).

HBP: J Johnson (2; B Ripken).

OTHER

Umpires: HP - Ed Hickox, 1B - Jim Joyce, 2B - Terry Craft, 3B - Dave Phillips.

Time of Game: 3:20.

Attendance: 45,579.

Field Condition: Unknown.

Weather: 81° F, Wind 5mph out to Leftfield, Overcast, No Precipitation.