I was thumbing through my 2008 ESPN Almanac and noticed that I had seen some pretty decent baseball players in my life. Here's some of the best of who I was fortunate enough to see 'in person'.
Nolan Ryan, Randy Johnson, Roger Clemens, Steve Carlton, Bret Saberhagen, Rickey Henderson, Wade Boggs, Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Mike Schmidt , Ken Griffey Jr, Dave Winfield, Robin Yount, George Brett, Paul Molitor, Roberto Alomar, Carlton Fisk, Ivan Rodriguez, Craig Biggio, Bo Jackson and Todd Helton.
Now this is not the greatest list of all time and it does include some steroid users, but it's what I got. I got to see Mike Schmidt hit a home run back in 87, Nolan Ryan as an Astro and Ranger, Roger Clemens when he was with the Red Sox, Griffey Jr when he was a kid and saw Rickey take three bases in one game.
One of my favorite moments of all time was watching Big Mac in batting practice back in 2000. He was destroying everything that came at him. My buddy and I were in the upper deck back behind Big Mac land waiting to see how far he could hit them. He drove the first pitch to him to straight away centerfield and it landed up where the Cards have all their championship pennants. It looked like it was an 800 ft'r. Then he railed off about 6 in a row into the Big Mac land. I came pretty close to grabbing one but I valued the $9.00 Budweiser a little bit more. We had went on a tour of Anheuser-Busch in St. Louis and it made me apprecite every last little drop of those hops and barley!
I tried to get George W. Bush's autograph back when he owned the Texas Rangers. I tried crawling under the seats and got pretty close from what I remember. Then his security grabbed me and I was escorted back to my seat. I always knew he would go on to a bigger and better place?! Not really.
Maybe my favorite times ever were at Baum Stadium in Fayetteville Arkansas watching the diamond Hogs. Back then the outfield was free and you could bring all the beer you wanted. Cookouts, friends, drinks, and baseball in that cool Ozark setting. Priceless.
