Ichiro

[susandennis]

I've loved watching baseball since I was a little little girl and sat next to my Grandpa on his screened in back porch in Oklahoma City. Dizzy Dean and Peewee Reece were former players who had morphed into broadcasters and they made Sunday afternoons a spellbinding treat. Also Coke. If you were very quiet (and so didn't get kicked out of the room), at the 7th inning stretch you got a bottle of ice cold Coke. The Coke was a rare treat in itself BUT you got to drink it right out of the bottle. And Grandpa, an adult, drank his right out of the bottle, too. Amazingly wonderful rare joy. The whole package.

My Mom, Grandpa's daughter, helped nurture my love for the game. She was a huge Mets fan. In 1969 they lived in Manhattan and the Mets went to the World Series - major miracle there. I was in college. An old college friend of hers flew in to go to the games with her (Daddy was massively indifferent to all sports except gin rummy and backgammon.) After every game, Mom and Mary Ivan would call me, long distance, at school, to fill me in on the score and the highlights.

I have so many wonderful baseball memories. When I moved to Seattle 26 years ago, I moved across the street from the Kingdome - the home of the Mariners and became their fan. You don't love the Mariners for all their World Series trophies. They have been in the major leagues for more than 40 years now and have never, not one single time, gotten to the World Series. They have played in a few elimination playoff games but not gotten close. Their last playoff game was in 2001.

You don't love them for their victories. You love them for their players and well, just because. Ken Griffey, Jr. played for the Mariners in a couple of stints and was fabulous to watch play and fun to have on the team.

But, Ichiro was a force. He was signed to the Mariners with much conversation. Who was this guy? Hot shot star in Japanese baseball but... Baseball people here said he'd never make it in American baseball. I remember some ESPN blowhards all agreeing that Ichiro would quickly fold when he saw American pitching.

He saw American pitching and raised them several. He was a joy to watch on and off the field. A marvelously melodious player who was just classy. He played here for 11 years and made them all better. And then he went to the Yankees and then he went to the Marlins. He got old. Really old. Gray hair. 44. And the Marlins said buh bye.

And, pending the results of a physical, Ichiro could, once again, play for the Mariners. The baseball know it alls say that it's a horrible move for the Mariners. Doing stupid stuff like spending money on washed up players is why they live at the bottom. (They also brought Ken Griffey, Jr. back at the end of his career.)

Maybe. I don't care. I loved seen Junior again and I cannot wait to see Ichiro play in my outfield once more.

Comments

[ravenfeather.livejournal.com]

Change the sport to football, and replace grandfather with father, and I could have written this. :)

[susandennis]

Nice.

[siglinde99.livejournal.com]

I'm not much of a baseball fan (though I did go through a period about the time when the Expos nearly went to the World Series but that damned strike, and another back when the Blue Jays were new, shiny, and then won the World Series). I remember Ken Griffey Jr., though, and all the buzz about Ichiro when he moved from Japan to play.

My Coke memories are similar, but for different games. I used to play checkers and backgammon with my Grandpa. He was a fierce competitor and wouldn't dream of letting me win just because I was a kid. When I lost too badly, too often, my Grandma would come in and say "George, it's time for a snack". She would then hand me a glass of Coke - something I only got to drink a few times a year, on visits to the grandparents - and that was Grandpa's hint to take it easy on me for at least one game. It took me years to realize that Coke didn't actually have magical powers to make me better at checkers or backgammon.

[gracegiver]

I commented often that Ichiro was a gymnast on the field. I even had an Ichiro bobblehead doll, I was a big fan, until I moved to CA. Wouldn't it be fun to see him back in a Mariners jersey again!

I dug this up from the past:


I tried to create an image with his arm around me. I loved him so.

[susandennis]

I LOVE that photo!!

One time seattlejo went to a game and picked up the special hit count Ichiro bobble head and then turned right around and gave it to me. I love it but now I love it even more!

[meowmensteen]

I still remember that dramatic night when he came out on Safeco field in a Yankees uniform one night after coming out in a Mariners uniform. I was mad at Seattle for running him off, and thought it was a just revenge.

[fflo.livejournal.com]

I like Junior a lot too, but Ichiro really delighted me. Starting to run to first as part of his (distinctive) follow-through. One of my fave players all-time.

[susandennis]

I honestly cannot wait to see him up bat from my new close-to-home-plate seat. He just better past that damn physical.

[gneu.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the "adults" in my family got to drink cola just because they were adults. I was left with only Kool-Aid--sugar water all the same.

[susandennis]

Grandpa was the only adult in my family I ever saw drink a Coke. We did have Kool-Aid but only as a special treat. We were a milk and water family :)

[gneu.livejournal.com]

I HAD to have milk with dinner and dinner only, because it was too much a filler. Water was unheard of because the only available was tap, and drinking water is what health freaks do, and the parental units didn't want us looking like any kind of freak. We were supposed to be "normal."

[rsc.livejournal.com]

Dizzy Dean and Peewee Reece were former players who had morphed into broadcasters

I know I'm only a few years older than you, but I have distinct memories of Peewee Reese as a regular for the Dodgers during my early fan days. Aha, Wikipedia says he played until 1958, which means the whole time I was a Dodger fan (I gave up on them when they deserted me for the golden pastures of LA).

As for Ichiro, I note that the Red Sox have brought back former stars for brief stints at the end of their careers on several occasions -- the two that come to mind immediately are Bill Buckner and Dennis Eckersley -- and it doesn't seem to have done the team any noticeable harm. I think it's cool to let Ichiro finish his Major League career where he started it.

[susandennis]

Sounds like maybe my summers listening to Peewee were the very first summers of his broadcasting career. I thought he was an old man. Of course, I was 8 or 9.

I did not know that about Buckner and Eckersley. Cool. Very cool. My fingers are so crossed for Ichiro. I'd just love to see him play again.

Leisure Time

[kent rader (from livejournal.com)]

Surely, it is rather interesting to watch the plays, but it is more useful to play, isn't it? For example, the time with netent live blackjack https://goo.gl/k1exNC that can be the wonderful opportunity for your personal leisure time.