by Philip Berquist, Honorary Consul of Croatia to Texas
These days, there is a lot of debate as to which of the major sports can truly claim to be the “National Pastime.” For me, it has always been baseball. Since the baseball season has recently been a hot topic here in Houston, I have gone down my personal memory lane of some unique baseball games that I have attended that gave me incredible highs and bottomless lows.
Let me state one rule for the following narratives – these are games that I saw in person.
Growing up in Grand Rapids, Michigan in the fifties, one was a Detroit Tiger fan, and I was. My love affair with the Chicago Cubs and Wrigley Field, (INTOWN MAGAZINE July 2017) would come later. I loved the American League Tigers, hated the Yankees, Red Sox, White Sox, Senators, Indians, Twins……..
In 1962, I decided that I really needed to follow a National League team. A new expansion team was put together in Houston, Texas, a place that I had never been. I certainly had no idea that eight years later I would move there for the rest of my life. The fact that the Colt 45’s were going to build the first inside baseball stadium was all it took to make me a Houston fan.
TIGER DOUBLEHEADER
With a long drive of 3 hours to get to the corner of Michigan and Trumble, site of Tiger Stadium, my parents and I took regular advantage of the then-fashionable Sunday doubleheader’s, two games for the price of one. There would be several each year and we made the trek at least once a year, often taking in the Saturday game the day before. One time I was the first person at the ballpark, eventually a sell out of nearly 54,000, and there I was alone, smelling the stale Stroh’s beer from the night before and gazing at the beautiful green field with a big smile on my face.
I vividly recall seeing a 1964 Yankees doubleheader with Mantle, Maris, Skowron, Ford, Berra, Blanchard, Howard, Richardson, Tresh, Boyer – I was in heaven. Also the Red Sox with Yastrzemski, Hawk Harrellson, Lonborg, Petrocelli. Like I said, I hated ‘em but I sure loved seeing em!
LONG HOT SUMMER OF ’67
1967 was an unusual year – the American League season would go down to the last day with four teams in contention for the pennant – Red Sox, White Sox, Twins and Tigers. But 1967 was also a very dark time in the country for race relations.
On Sunday, July 23, my parents, my girlfriend and I were in Detroit to see a doubleheader against the Yankees. A good crowd, nearly 35,000, saw the Yankees win the opener, 4-2, with Mel Stottlemeyer outpitching Mickey Lolich. In the second game, the Tigers won, 7-4. Any actual memories of the plays that day have been forgotten due to what was happening that day in Detroit. I recall the PA announcer saying quite often, “Do not take Grand River Avenue west when leaving Tiger Stadium.” Over and over this message was repeated – never with a reason given. Well, to drive home from Tiger Stadium you got on Grand River Avenue and drove – WEST!
Once in our car we realized what the message was about – it was the first day of the Detroit Race Riots, one
I was driving and our Chevy was being rocked by the mob at stop lights. Whiskey bottles were being thrown on our hood. Buildings were on fire. I will never forget seeing a miles-long convoy of National Guard vehicles, some flatbed trucks with tanks on them (they would soon be patrolling the streets)! Over 1,000 injured, 7,000 arrests and 43 dead. Those were my last baseball games of the 1967 season.
This was one of over 150 riots that summer across the US. As we crept along Grand River at a snail’s pace, we would naturally stop for red lights. When we did so the looters would take their stolen bounty and cross Grand River Avenue in front of us. When we got a green light, they crossed parallel with us. Where we were there were no police or firefighters to be seen. It was a long snake of traffic, fire alarms, flames, smoke, and chaos. There were also snipers.
I only saw two games in 1968 – a World Series championship year. It was another doubleheader, this time against the Red Sox, the defending American League champs. In the first game, the Red Sox hit two homers and led 4-0 and the Tigers had not even come to bat. The Tigers battled back to a 4 – 4, then, in the bottom of the 14th inning Tiger pinch hitter, Gates Brown, a pardoned felon who the Tigers recruited from prison hit a two-out home run to right field for a walk-off homer and a 5-4 win. The old stadium literally shook.
The second game also did not disappoint. The Red Sox finally broke a scoreless game with two runs in the seventh. The Tigers tied it with two in the bottom of the eighth. That set up a monumental ninth inning. The Red Sox scored three to lead 5-2. In the bottom of the ninth, the Tigers got a walk and consecutive singles by Bill Freehan, Dick McAullife, Mickey Stanley making the score 5-4. Future Hall of Famer Al Kaline came to the plate and blooped a single to right and McAullife scored – 5-5. Future All-Star Sparky Lyle came in to pitch for the Red Sox, and guess who was at the plate? Gates Brown, whose single to right field plated Stanley and the final was 6-5. Those were my only games in 1968, a year in which the Tigers beat the Cardinals 4 games to 3 in the World Series.
THE FATE OF TIGER STADIUM
I loved that stadium. I even marched on the field with my Ferris State University marching band as a freshman in 1966 when the Lions played the 49er’s. The old lady was brought down in 2009 and a lonely diamond and home plate only remain at Michigan and Trumbull.
Now it was time (1970) to move to Houston and follow my other team, the Houston Astros.
Among the best games that I saw in the Astrodome were the no-hitters by Nolan Ryan in 1981 and by Mike Scott in 1986. Also, the playoff game that the Astros lost to the Mets in 1986, a 16 inning game that went on for nearly 6 hours.
For Minute Maid, the first game that stands out was the 18 inning playoff game victory against the Braves in 2005. There were two grand slam home runs, one for each team, the one by Lance Berkman in the bottom of the eighth brought the Astros to trail only by a 6-5 margin. In the bottom of the ninth, with two outs and two strikes, Brad Ausmus hit a homer to left center that barely cleared the yellow line to send the game to extra innings.
The game would go until the bottom of the 18th knotted at 6 apiece, and included several innings of clutch relief by Roger Clemens, when sub Chris Burke hit a line drive into the Crawford boxes and win the game, eliminated the Braves from the playoffs.
I also was fortunate to see Craig Biggio’s final hit, his 3,060th, which would bring him eventually into the Hall of Fame.
THE ASTROS AT DODGER STADIUM
In 1980, my buddies Billy Gaffey and Mike Herrmann and I had season tickets and we promised ourselves a road trip. As the season wore on we decided that we would take our trip to Los Angeles for the last three games of the season IF the division-leading Astros had not clinched first place. As luck, fate, or whatever would have it the ‘Stros’ had a 3 game lead over the hated Dodgers with three games to play. Our trip was on.
On Friday, October 3rd, Joe Ferguson hit a home run in the bottom of the tenth to lead the Dodgers to a 3-2 win. Two game lead, two games remaining. On Saturday, the Astors lost another one-run game, 2-1. One game lead, one game to go. After the Saturday game, the announcement was made that tickets for a possible playoff game for Monday were on sale. We ran to the box office. It was a good thing since the Dodgers also won the Sunday game by one run, 4-3. Tied after the regular season. You cannot make this stuff up!
On Monday, order was restored to the universe as we saw Joe Niekro win his 20th game of the season as the Astros won by a score of 7-1. I vowed never to again sit in Dodger Stadium – way too much pressure!
ASTROS RULE
Back to the recently concluded World Series. I have been blessed to witness in person three World Series games, the Detroit Tigers in 2006 and 2012 at their new home, Comerica Park, and the Astros at Minute Maid in 2005. Each game was a loss. I was fortunate to get a great seat for game 6 against the Yankees in the ALCS and saw Verlander and the Astros prevail, 7-1. I was offered comp seats for the final two games in Dodger Stadium but remembering the vow made 37 years earlier I declined and opted for the tube.
I could not be prouder of our 2017 Houston Astros. Can’t wait for 2018!
Is there really a debate about which sport is the National Pastime? I don’t think so and I think a lot of Astros fans would agree.