Can of Corn Challenge: Swing and a miss (May)

Well, this month's challenge snuck up on me.  I blame the end of the year for my lack of activity on all fronts.  Let's face it.  It just gets plain busy at the end of the school year and time is at a premium. So this post is a basic Swing and a Miss.  

Here's a shot I took in 2013 when my daughter took me to a baseball game at Anaheim Stadium to see my beloved Angels take on the Seattle Mariners.  If I remember correctly, the Angels won, so I went home a happy camper.

Can of Corn Challenge: An early baseball memory (April)

P.J. has convinced me, or probably like tricked me into another writing challenge.  He's done a good job, noting several times in the past that I seem to write more frequently when I have these challenges in front of me, so here goes.  This is a monthly challenge, to write about baseball.  Today's topic is an early baseball memory.

I grew up in Orange County, a suburb of Los Angeles.  Disneyland was only 6 years old when we moved to California.  The Lakers hadn't hit their stride yet and baseball was all about the Dodgers.  I listened to Vin Scully on the radio for Dodger baseball, but whenever we went to a game, it was always to Anaheim, to see the Angels play.  The stadium was close to home and we'd always see either Cleveland Indians or the Chicago White Sox.  

Anyway, we'd go to the game, pay a buck fifty to sit up in the upper deck by the left field foul pole and watch an Angel game.  Always the Chicago White Sox or the Cleveland Indians.  I hadn't really thought why, but I was fairly young, so as far as I knew, the only teams in the American League were the Angels, the Cleveland Indians and the Chicago White Sox.  I didn't know any different.

My first game that I can remember seeing, I saw catcher Tom Egan hit a two run homer for the Angels, then saw Andy Messersmith hit a solo shot.  Both homers cleared the left field fence and two lucky baseball fans went home with souvenirs that day.  I was shocked really.  In the past, listening to the games on the radio, I always assumed that the ball had to be thrown back on to the field so the players could keep playing.  Who knew?

From then on, I always brought a glove to the game.  We were always in the upper deck, so they never came up there, but I could still be an optimist.

Home run

Although I was born in Indiana, I grew up in Orange County and so am an Angels fan at heart.  Yes, 2002 was a wondrous year and I hope I don't have to wait that long again for a second World Series championship.  

I've been to so many games at this stadium, I cannot count them.  I think I went to 20 games the summer of 1979, the year the Angels won their first Western Division title and then were wiped out by the Baltimore Orioles in the playoffs.  I saw Nolan Ryan flirt with a no-hitter that summer, coming within two outs of one, losing it in the top of the ninth inning.

I've never seen a no-hitter, either live at the stadium or in person.  I have seen batters hit for the cycle, including one that summer by Dan Ford.  When I started writing this, I was under the impression that hitting for the cycle (single, double, triple and home run all in the same game) was rarer than a no-hitter, but after a quick Internet search, I've found that both are equally rare, but the no-hitter is still a little bit more rare 288 times vs. 306 times.

August 10, 1979, Dan Ford hit for the cycle.  We were sitting in the upper deck.  I'm pretty sure I kept score, as I kept score for most games back then, being a 21 year old geek at the time.  Where that scorecard is, I don't have any idea, but I really wish I'd kept it.  I remember telling my buddies at the time that if he tripled in his last at bat, he'd hit for the cycle.  And then he did. 

The cool thing about it is he hit for his cycle with probably the toughest hit to get as well.  Singles and doubles are fairly easy.  Home runs come from time to time, but it is a rare individual who can leg out a triple.  You need to hit it to a gap and you need good speed.  It's also one of the reasons, I'd much rather see a triple over a home run.  Home runs are fun, but they are rather anti-climactic and over all, they tend to end rallies.  Triples keep rallies going and they are usually bang/bang at third base.  And there you go.  Give me a triple any day over a home run.