My sister and I went to see the Mariners play the Rangers. By that time neither team had a chance at making it to the post-season, but that wasn't on our minds. Ichiro Suzuki was on the brink of breaking an 84-year-old hitting record: Most hits in a single season.
Back in 1920, George Sissler set the mark with 257 hits. On Thursday of last week, Ichiro made his 256th hit of the season, and we knew that Friday would most likely be the night that record would fall. Just to hedge our bets, we had tickets to Friday AND Saturday's games.
First pitch was scheduled for 7:05, and I was anticipating the game all day. Neither one of us could leave work too early, but around 5:15 Esther called to say she was ready to go. She works in another building across the MS campus, and I needed to stop off at my apartment to pick up my photo equipment. I had earlier planned on taking both my digital camera, and my 35mm. I left my building without a care in the world about time… However… EVERYONE at Microsoft seemed to be leaving at the exact same time. It took me 20 minutes just to get across campus to my apartment! I wasn’t worried about getting to the game, but I had told Esther I would be there in about 15 minutes, and my cell phone battery had just died! I grabbed my cameras, checked the film, checked the batteries, and zoomed over to Esther's building. No problem, it was just after 6:00 when we hit the freeway.
Traffic was a bit brutal, but we got to the stadium, parked and started heading for gates just a few minutes after 7:00. Knowing Ichiro is the Mariner's leadoff hitter we knew we needed to get inside, but weren't worried because Texas would bat first. Alas, as we were approaching the stadium a gigantic roar went up, and fireworks soared over the stadium! We had missed him tying the record! My exact expression (literally) at the time was:
We justified it with, "Hey, he's just done something that someone else has already done... no biggy!" And as we said this, we quickened our pace. We made it inside and proceeded directly to our seats. Esther buys a season ticket package with friends and has good seats. They are down the 3rd base line about two-thirds of the way between third base and where the leftfielder plays.
Cooperstown had flown in special MLB baseballs to be used when Ichiro was at bat. There was a rep from the Hall of Fame sitting in the seat right next to the bat-boy’s stool, and they would hand him the special balls just before Ichiro came to bat. He would then give them to the umpire, and collect them after each at bat, and give them back to the Cooperstown agent. It was a nutty little ritual that happened before every one of his at-bats.
As fate would have it, Ichiro was the lead off batter in the third inning. While the pitcher took his warm-up throws, Ichiro was in the on-deck circle doing his stretches. He walked to the plate, and the crowd rose to its feet. Flashbulbs started going off and continued throughout the next 10 minutes. Esther had the digital camera in "movie" mode, and I was zooming in with my 35mm. Ichiro did his patented stance holding the bat in his right hand, his arm outstretched, the bat pointing at the sky, and touched his right shoulder with his left hand.
The first pitch was a ball. A momentary gulp escaped from the crowd, and then the roar began again. Ichiro fouled off the next two pitches, and each time the stadium went wild as he swung the bat, then let out a collective "ohhhhhhhh!" The next two pitches were balls.
Now the count is full. EVERY SINGLE PERSON in the stadium is standing up. Even the entire Texas team is lined up against the rail of their dugout; Buck Showalter among them. Esther and I aren’t just standing up, we’re standing ON our seats to be able to see better, and to get the best camera angles.
Ichiro is in his stance as the pitcher takes the signal, and starts his windup. I have my camera up to my eye, but have both eyes open so that I can see the whole field. Here comes the pitch, Ichiro swings, and I press the shutter. The ball clinks off the bat, squirts up the middle past second base and out into center field.
The crowd completely erupted! Everyone was screaming, and fireworks went off. The first baseman shook Ichiro’s hand, and walked away as the Mariners cleared the bench to congratulate him. The scoreboard lit up with this congrats message:
After the initial high-fives and hand shakes, Ichiro walked over to the stands just past the Mariner's dugout and shook the hand of Sissler's daughter, and his other family members that were in attendance. The whole time the crowd was screaming, and flashbulbs were going off like crazy. After several minutes, the teams tried to get started again, but the crowd wasn't having any of it. We yelled even louder, and all Ichiro could do was stand at first and wave his hat:
Finally the game resumed. Interestingly enough, that hit was the first of 7 consecutive hits in the inning, which happens to be a Mariner's record.
Later in the game, we were treated to hit number 259, and the crowd again went crazy! Without a doubt, this was the greatest sporting event that I have ever witnessed. Hopefully some of the pictures I took with my 35mm will turn out so that I can frame one with my ticket stub.
No comments:
Post a Comment