Did I Ever TellYou About the Time I ...made up for missing Cal Ripken's last California appearance?

Published on January 28, 2005 By director-dangero In Sports & Leisure

In my hometown of Baltimore it is difficult to escape the cult of Orioles baseball. After losing the Bullets to Washington, and the Colts to Indianapolis, the Orioles were all the blue collar mid-Atlantic city had.

I would go to the games as far back as I can remember.

Opening Day was always an interesting game. The April temperature was usually holding at a steady zero. The hot chocolate would be spilling out of the styrofoam cups because we were shaking so hard, and our frozen-numb hands couldn't even feel the scalding liquid running down them.

At that time my big hero was 3rd baseman, Brooks Robinson

.

My father would always have me rooting for Brooks, instructing me early on that the popcorn box, when finished, popped open to be a megaphone so Brooks could really hear me then.

After Brooks retired, one of the coaches' sons starting playing for the Orioles. That coach was Cal Ripken, Sr. and his son would go on to become one of the most respected and admired players in baseball's hundred-year history. The Iron Man, Cal Ripken, Jr.

I saw him play often. I saw him play good baseball always. I saw him play always. He broke Lou Gehrig's unfathomable record of consecutive games played. That night I watched live on ESPN as Cal, not sure exactly what to do, run victory laps around Camden Yards Ballpark in our big little city of Baltimore.

Not long after, the Orioles took the field one night and with no announcement of any kind, another player took Ripken's place on the infield and the game began. Ripken had told the manager he didn't feel up to par and that was that. It was announced shortly thereafter that Ripken would retire at the end of the 2001 season.

I moved to California a week before Opening Day 1994. That was the same week that the new Orioles Park at Camden Yards opened up for Orioles Baseball business. I drove past it on my way to the airport. I would only step inside it once to watch the Orioles play. That was in April of 2000. It was as cold as I had remembered. Ripken hit a solo homerun, but they lost that day.

I had seen Cal Ripken play twice, however, since moving to California. I drove down to Anaheim to catch a couple of games against the Angels. Ripken hit a homerun there one game I saw. And he's the only player on an opposing team that I ever heard get applause.

So when the announcement had long been made about his retirement I checked an Angels schedule to see when the last games the Orioles would be in California for. The final series was scheduled for August.

That day my partner drove me to the airport. I planned to take the Disney bus to Anaheim and I would make my way to the Anaheim Stadium from there. But as I waited at the bus stop, just as the bus with Mickey and Donald on it pulled up, I changed my mind. I guess the high cost and long journey just swayed me to skip it. I wasn't really happy with myself over that decision.

So cut to one year later --

I was walking aimlessly around Tokyo one cool Thursday night in October when I spotted the tall bright lights of a stadium. I walked up to a young guy posted at a road entrance gate.

While pointing at the stadium, I meekly asked, "Tokyo Giants?" He replied that it was not (of course not, they play in Tokyo Dome!), but he did confirm my next question. It was a baseball game in progress.. I asked him if I could still buy a ticket which he directed to a superior in an adjacent guard booth. It was relayed back to me that there were none.

I shrugged my shoulders and thought Oh well, its probably better that way, financially speaking. I proceed on, thinking that it would have been interesting. I found another entrance and spotted a box office. I walked up to the window and asked how much for one ticket. She asked me for that night's game? I said it was, and 800 yen later I was walking into the Stadium where the Yakult Swallows were hosting a home game against Hiroshima.

I took a seat on the 3rd base side down by the dugout. The guy next to me was drinking something hard from a pint bottle of liquor and screaming "IKEYAMA!" every few minutes at the top of his lungs.

Takahiro Ikeyama came up to the plate in the bottom of the tenth as the Swallows' last hope. With the tying run on first base in a 2-1 game, I was surprised how nice and proud the Japanese fans are, even when they lose, as they all began applauding when Ikeyama, unfortunately struck out, losing the game.

Or so I had thought. Actually, I came to find out, it was Ikeyama's last game. I figured it out, along with why they were applauding even though they lost, when they began a ceremony, complete with a tribute reel playing up on the big video screen.

To hear the actual ceremony . Interesting and amusing, even if you don't speak Japanese.

Looks fun!

It was an emotional tribute to a man who clearly loved the game of baseball. And I was happy to have stumbled across it. It provided more meaning than if I had seen Ripken's last game in Anaheim, in fact, it came as close to what his last game in Baltimore must have been like. For me it was closure. How about that, huh?

Comments

No one has commented on this article. Be the first!

Welcome Guest! Please take the time to register with us.
There are many great features available to you once you register, including:

Richer content, access to many features that are disabled for guests like commenting on the forums.
Access to a great community, with a massive database of many, many areas of interest.
Access to contests & subscription offers like exclusive emails.
It's simple, and FREE!