I ALMOST RUINED JIM ABBOTT'S NO HITTER!

“Hey Dad, it’s the fifth inning and he still hasn’t given up a….”  I said before I was stopped short.

“Are you crazy??? You’re going to jinx him!” my Dad shot back.

It was a month after my ninth birthday. What the heck did I know? You can jinx a pitcher throwing a no-hitter by talking about it? I didn’t know that on September 4, 1993, but I learned that day you absolutely do not talk about it!

At the time my Dad lived in West Haven, CT and we would take the trip down I-95 to I-87 to go to Yankee Stadium rather frequently. Back in those days, tickets, parking, a hot dog and soda didn’t cost a week’s pay.  As always, I was excited to go see the Yankees play. We would listen to WFAN 660 along the way. My Pops always listened to sports radio. He would call me a Goober because I would sing the jingle “Sports radio 66, THE FAN! W-F-A-N, New York!” You guys know what I’m talking about! Anyway...

We were heading to the game that day, without tickets, to see the Yankees take on the Cleveland Indians. It was an afternoon game and "the one-handed pitcher", Jim Abbott, was starting for the hometown Yanks. He was to face a tough lineup that included guys like  Kenny Lofton, Carlos Baerga, Albert Belle, Manny Ramirez, Jim Thome and Sandy Alomar Jr.

To be honest, I never realized how stacked that lineup was. That makes that day that much more special.

The day was, as Abbott put it, “… a cloudy day. A day game, the kind of game I like to throw.”  If he liked cloudy day games, he proved it that day.

Yankee Stadium to me is like a grown man’s Cinderella’s Castle. It's magical. From the big NY behind the plate, to the organ, to the vendors yelling "Get your hot dogs here!" to the sticky ground from split soda and beer mixed with peanut shells.

We arrived at the Stadium and had to find some tickets. If my memory serves me right, we bought some tickets off a scalper outside the stadium and he told us we had great seats. Lower level on the third base line. He showed us a seating chart and that sealed the deal. Awesome. Good price, good seats, right?

It turns out we were alittle misled. We were actually out by the left field foul pole...welcome to the Bronx... right?

My Dad wasn't happy, but have no fear though; he was always the master at making his way to better seats! We ended up sitting behind the third base dugout in the lower level under the overhang. They ended up being almost perfect!  I remember being nervous because we were pretty close... I was afraid of a foul ball nailing us.  My Pops told me not to worry.

Early in the game, Paul O’Neill sliced a foul ball that just missed the protective net and screamed over our heads! But we were alright. No harm, no foul. But if I was nervous before, I was scared as hell right then!

I remember my childhood hero, Don Mattingly manning first base that afternoon. He went 1-3. Donnie Baseball was always my favorite. Still is to this day. I was the bat boy for a youth team my Dad coached when I was about four years old and I wanted to be number 23. My Dad and his friend thought it would be funny, since I was a little guy, to make me number 2/3. Still to this day, people from my hometown of Windsor, CT will occasionally remember me as the bat boy and call me ‘two-thirds”. I’m 30 years old and about once a year someone will bring it up. As goofy as it is, I still enjoy it.

In terms of specifics about the game, I don't remember all that much. Randy Velarde hit a home run and I remember looking at the scoreboard in the fifth and nearly ruining the no-hitter. I recall a great diving play at third base by Wade Boggs to rob the Indians of a hit. Most importantly, I definitely remember the final out.

The whole stadium was on our feet, screaming and cheering for that one final out, as we had done for the final three innings. It was a ground ball off the bat of Baerga, a curve ball down and away. Baerga slapped it to short where Velarde fielded it cleanly and flipped it over to Donnie for the final out. Mattingly then raised his hands in the air as the team rushed to the mound to congratulate Jim Abbott. As Scooter would say, “How do you like that?!”

My Pops and I at Yankee Stadium is always a great day. But the added benefit of seeing Mattingly, a Yankees win and an incredible pitching performance by a man who was born with one hand, well, it was even more incredible. Jim Abbott never made an excuse for why he couldn’t do it. He just went out and did it. It will forever be one of my greatest, special moments of my childhood.

The former first round pick, who made his MLB debut without ever pitching in the minors, had his greatest day on the biggest stage in baseball. With the exception of the five walks Abbott allowed, he was nothing short of spectacular that Saturday afternoon in 1993.

It is a day, I’ll never forget it. Thank you Jim for that day. It was just plain awesome!


 
Dan Lucia
BYB Writer
Twitter: @DManLucia



You've made BYB the fastest growing Yankees fan site in history. Now shop at the Bleeding Yankee Blue store!  Follow me on Twitter @BleednYaneeBlu and LIKE Bleeding Yankee Blue on Facebook!  Also, don't forget to check out the BYB Hub!

THE DANGER OF BEING PUIG

I was every bit the opposite of a “Teacher’s Pet” in school. I was the class clown and found the sound of my classmate’s laughter much more rewarding than earning good grades. Parent Teacher meetings would always follow the same pattern. My Mom and Dad would go to school and sit with whatever poor soul had me in class that year. The conversations would be pleasant for the most part, although my dad told me my 5th grade teacher’s assessment turned into a Bobby Knight tirade. My folks were always told, “Michael has so much potential, he just needs to realize he is in a classroom and not a comedy club.” I’d catch hell for about 25 to 30 minutes during the arraignment and have my sentence delivered – Grounded for 2 weeks, no TV. It was pretty standard.

It wasn’t that I was a bad student; it was that I just didn’t like being told what to do…which is a bad quality when you are merely a link in the chain of command.

I thrived on being defiant and stubborn.  I became the nemesis to any teacher or coach that would dare to control me. I was Moriarty to Holmes, Khan to Captain Kirk, The Joker to Batman…asking every stone-faced educator, “Why so serious?” I needed to grow up.

Luckily I got my wake up call in the nick of time. I saw friends starting to bare down to get into a good college. I started to realize the raw truth, when all is said and done the show will go on without you. Yes, I could get laughs. Sure, I was quick enough to do the bare minimum and get by in the classroom and on the field. But I spent more time and energy trying to game the system than I did doing actual work. I had a coach tell me, “O’Hara, if you don’t listen and put in the hours it won’t matter if you have God given ability or not…you’ll get left behind.” Suddenly everything wasn’t so funny. I didn’t stop being a wise ass mind you, I just learned to pick my spots and try it their way. At the end of the day these coaches and teachers WANTED me to succeed. They weren’t trying to edit, censor or stifle my growth…they were trying to enhance it.

I recently wrote about the rocky relationship between Dodger’s skipper “Donnie Baseball” Mattingly (I’ll NEVER call him Donnie Ocho) and the club’s electric, young outfielder, Yasiel Puig. And apparently, like an episode of Grey’s Anatomy, it’s gone from bad to worse. It’s a lame, predictable story built for Hollywood. A respected, blood and guts member of baseball’s old guard and his superstar in the making…with the bad attitude and two cent head…will it work out? TUNE IN NEXT WEEK!

Puig might be as dumb as he is talented. I don’t mean to sound cruel.  And as I said I was less than a fan of authority when I was younger, but c’mon. He has the potential to be a once in a lifetime player. He has all the tools. But what he is sorely lacking is humility and a sense of team. And baseball is the epitome of a team sport. I think if it keeps going this way we’ll see the Dodger all dressed to the nines, sitting around a table as Mattingly paces with a baseball bat and says, “Part of a team!”…If you know The Untouchables you know how that goes. Bring your helmet, Puig.

Why can’t players see the two roads? Playing in the Big Leagues is something that few will ever realize in their careers. You can take the road traveled by the likes of Derek Jeter, Dustin Pedroia and David Wright.

Or you can choose the one taken by Manny Ramirez, Albert Belle and Alex Rodriguez. All talented guys…but there is a right way and a wrong way to play the game. Puig seems hell bent on the second road and Mattingly is doing his best to put up a sign that reads: ROAD CLOSED – Due to Stupidity & Selfishness – TAKE ALTERNATE ROUTE.

The Puig show will only last for so long. His act is already tired to his skipper and will soon make his teammates change the channel in the clubhouse. Yasiel needs to grow up and he needs to do it now. Because the truth is, when all is said and done, the show WILL pass you by. You get three strikes in this game; Puig is 0-2 in LA LA Land. Will he go down looking?

Here’s Social Distortion “Far Behind”






--Mike O'Hara, MLB Fan Cave Host, Season 1
   Twitter: @mikeyoh21
"Paulie was always my favorite player."



 

You've made BYB the fastest growing Yankees fan site in history. Now shop at the Bleeding Yankee Blue store!  Follow me on Twitter @BleednYankeeBlu and LIKE Bleeding Yankee Blue on Facebook!