Hey there,
Have been in the States for just over a week. Once I knew I was coming back, started looking for things to do and there has been no shortage. The first weekend here, was able to go to Portland to help my buddy ToCo coach his U10's in a tournament. They are a great bunch and finished the weekend 2-1-1. A crappy first game loss relegated them to the lower bracket, but a great time and look forward to hanging with them a bunch this summer.
Hard to see but the kid had two black eyes from taking a fastball to the face a couple weeks before. While he was a runt, he was always a damn fine ballplayer as he lived and breathed it. He grew and ended up getting onto the baseball team at NYU. His journey there wasn't direct as he took a gap year to focus on his game so entered as a Sophomore. His first season then was 2020, and they played 5 games before the plague hit. His Junior year in 2021 was totally lost to Covid so his senior year was his first and only full season. It was always our intention to go check him out for a game, but as you can see, our opportunities were almost nil. May the 4th was senior night and ToCo had booked himself a quick trip back to be a part of it and asked if we wanted to join him. We did and were able to work it out so The Boy, ToCo and I would meet up and surprise Junior.
I got the same flight as ToCo and we made it to the airport a few minutes early and ToCo was pre-checked so went to the bar to wait for me. He has really long white hair, very straggly, and I walked up to the bar and started to talk to him...but it was another old guy with white long straggly hair. We all laughed at these dopplegangers...the other dude didn't have over 50% of his teeth. Later, when we went to the boarding gate, I sat down next to ToCo, but it was an old lady with straggly white hair.
ToCo and I got to NYC first and we met Junior for dinner. He was surprised to see me, but was ecstatic when The Boy walked in about 20 minutes later coming straight from the airport.
The NYU game was the next evening, so we had an afternoon to kill in NYC. Of course, we went to the Mets game. A buddy of mine named Smitty from Taiwan moved to NYC a couple years ago with his wife and he is a baseball guy too, so he joined us for the game.
Here we all are...from L2R:ToCo, Smitty, me and The Boy (Junior had finals this week)
Nice stadium, the game was scoreless till the 6th when Atlanta busted up the Mets for 7 runs. It takes 1.5 hours by subway to get from Flushing out to Coney Island where the NYU game was, so we hit the road early.
The NY subway has been getting a lot of bad press lately, but it looked the same to me. Freaks and geeks of all sorts, a guy in a wheelchair with a massive open sore on his leg, the usual.
NYU plays their games at the Mets AA stadium right next to the amusement park there. The stadium is called Maimonides Park, which is a funny name. No two people say it the same way and it was referred to as Marmaduke and Marmalade Park on occasion. For the record, Maimonides was a Sephardic Jewish philosopher in Muslim controlled Spain in the 12th century
It was senior night so we got there early and were invited on the field as they honored the graduating seniors before the game. The Boy and Junior...
Let me set the scene. It is an unexpectedly gorgeous evening, a bunch of family is there to honor the Seniors, and the crowd at this 7,000 seat venue totals at most 70 people. Junior has us there, Smitty and Coolio, and 4 of his NYU buddies in attendance, so our contingent is easily 10-15% of the cheering section.
For whatever reason, the roster that dresses for home games at NYU totals 36 players, which is insane cause how are they all gonna get decent playing time?
The answer is they don't. Coming into the game, our Junior only had 9 at-bats for the season, but as it was senior night, he got the start in right field.
The game was a good one. The NYU Violets struck early and often and also got a great game by the starting pitcher to have a 7-1 lead going into the 8th inning. Junior made all of his plays in right field including one that he had to make with his back to the infield in what can only be described as a circus catch. He struggled at the plate though and was 0-4 thru 7 innings with each AB getting progressively worse..
In the 8th, the other team (St. Joseph's...we joked that they were a male nursing college) took advantage of a shaky Violet bullpen and took the lead 8-7. Down a run going into the bottom of the 9th, we were doing the math and a bunch of things had to happen for our Junior to get one more at bat. And they all did. NYU tied the game at 8, had runners on 2nd and 3rd with two outs and our guy was up to bat.
And then the coach pinch hit for him. What? We were all beside ourselves. They let him get up to the plate before calling him back to which The Boy said they 'did him dirty'. ToCo was out of his mind. Yelling at the coach with all the swear words. We were stunned and barely remember the slow ground ball the pinch hitter rolled to the shortstop, who double clutched the throw and the NYU runner crossed the plate in time for the win.
ToCo's ass was still red when they opened up the gate and we spilled onto the field for post game pix with the seniors. ToCo said he went up to Junior, who was hearing a speech from an assistant coach about how events like tonight make a man out of you, or some bullshit like that, and ToCo told him directly that he had given that speech before and that we all know it is bullshit. In a total chicken-shit move, the head coach was nowhere to be seen, which is definitely a good thing cause ToCo and he may have come to blows.
So the game ended with a thud. The NYU boys and our group wanted to go drown our sorrows, but Coney Island is sleepy outside of the summer. It said Margarita Island was open at that hour, but it wasn't. A couple of other bars were similarly closed so there is 8 of us stumbling around Coney Island looking for booze when we walk up to Taco Bell. Not just any Taco Bell, but a Taco Bell Cantina that sells beer! Who knew? We go in looking forward to a Chalupa and whatever they have on tap, and the guy says they're out of beer.
Writing is on the wall and we all hug our goodbyes. Junior says he is sorry for the ending of the night and my heart wrenched for him. While it will be a story they tell forever, with each telling getting more embellished I'm sure, the pain in the moment was hard.
One more baseball note. On Sunday, a Taiwan acquaintance that moved to Portland a few years ago came up for a Mariners game. A good Taiwan buddy of his had just arrived in the States for family/business, so we all met up for the game. The buddy and I got to the meeting bar separately and I didn't know the guy. As I walk through the bar looking for him, I determine which one is him as he has a mask hanging out of his jacket pocket. I figure only a white guy recently in from Asia would have a mask at the ready.
Gorgeous day. And not a mask in sight. When we got on the plane in Taiwan, as people are still boarding, the Captain comes on and says that when the doors close, we are officially out of Taiwan and US rules apply, so it was cool if you wanted to take off your masks for the flight. Taiwan hit 50K cases on May 10th. The Boss says that the town is not freaking out, but she is laying low until departure so as not to contract it. Taiwan seems to be dealing with this thing as good as anywhere and hope they make it through this one as envisioned.
