The season is fast approaching and I am very excited for Brewers opening day. This week I am going to share a blog post I did a year ago that I think you'll enjoy. I did the story when I was out in Arizona for the Brewers Spring Training during my Baseball in America Tour.
Last summer, I was attending a baseball game every day. In order to keep my streak going, I needed to find a day game to attend in a rural area in Arizona, because a friend had hooked me up with some tickets to go see the Phoenix Suns play the New York Knicks that night.
I found a high school tournament on the outskirts of Scottsdale, Ariz., in the middle of nowhere at Salt River High School. I found a game between Northland Prep Academy (NPA) and Bagdad High School. Northland Prep only had 11 players on their team!
What I loved about these teams was the enthusiasm and tenacity that they showed. Each team had excellent middle infielders, which impressed me. One kid, a freshman, was very small compared to his peers, but he made every play that came his way (the David Eckstein type). I sat in the bleachers with a man, his wife and his daughter. His daughter was the wife of the coach for NPA.
I talked with the family throughout the game and told them about my cross country trip and what I was doing. The woman was very interesting to me. She was telling me about her favorite baseball teams. Coincidentally, her favorites happened to be the same as mine, the Brewers and the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Stay on top of the news of the day
Subscribe to our free, daily e-newsletter to get Milwaukee's latest local news, restaurants, music, arts and entertainment and events delivered right to your inbox every weekday, plus a bonus Week in Review email on Saturdays.
The funny thing is that I had somewhat dismissed their baseball knowledge initially since they were out in the middle of nowhere watching some smaller schools play baseball. The father made occasional baseball comments but I really didn’t think to much about them. I continued to talk to his wife and she tested me on some of the Dodgers players. I reeled some off and she reeled some off. I was impressed with her, she was really knowledgeable.
She stumped me when she asked, “Who replaced Steve Garvey at first base when he left the Dodgers and signed with San Diego?” Any other day I would have remembered. I asked her who and she said she didn’t recall either. I couldn’t even Google it since my reception was bad out in this small town.
The man told me that they lived in Wisconsin (West Allis or New Berlin) for a time back in the late '80s through the '90s. I told him where I grew up in Wisconsin, living in Ashland and Wauwatosa for the most part. He was very nice and listened intently as I told him my story. I even told him about the blog I did on ASU moving their stadium.
He told me he played at ASU once back in the '70s, I didn’t think much of the comment. I told his daughter about what we say about West Allis. I won’t repeat it since its the same thing Ashland people say about Hurley. If you want to know, email me. Anyway, I was absorbed with myself, my baseball knowledge and frustrated as “all get out” that I couldn’t remember who replaced Garvey. I could picture him, but couldn’t place him…
I started thinking about this family. The man said his daughter and another son were born in Milwaukee. Then he confirmed with his wife that another son was born in California. He wasn’t mentioning what he did for a living, but he did say something about Wyoming and his days playing there. The puzzle pieces weren't all falling into place in my mind so I finally asked him why he moved to Milwaukee.
He smiled and said, “The Brewers.”
I still didn’t catch on. My thought was that he worked in the office or ushering. I asked him what he did for them and he said, “I played first base for them” in a matter-of-fact manner.
Finally, his last name came to me. I said, “Your last name is Brock,” and he said, “Yes.” I couldn’t remember his first name, but it all came back to me. I remember the pressure he was under in L.A. because he was replacing Garvey.
I remember reading all the hype, Greg Brock! What makes it even more frustrating is that I didn’t make the Brewers connection and the 1987 season was the most memorable to me. I listened to every game, the streaks that year, winning, losing and Molitor’s hitting streak! Greg Brock’s first year with the Crew and he did great. He batted around .300 and had a great glove in the field, if my memory serves me right!
They were very kind and I felt humbled. I enjoyed watching the game with them. I hope to keep the important lesson I learned in not underestimating people again.
|
|
Greg doesn’t know how thrilled I was to meet him. I don’t get as excited about the players today as I did about the ones I grew up with. Greg Brock, thanks for playing it the way you did with me. I appreciated the humility you showed. If I were you, I would have been telling me that I batted .300 in the MLB.
You showed a lot of class and please tell you wife for me, I remembered, “You were the one that replaced Garvey!”
