Thursday, May 05, 2005

A Trip Down Memory Lane

When I heard there was a web site with every box score in baseball history, I realized that the Internet really does serve a purpose. I've linked about the box score to a game I went to with my father on Tuesday, June 6, 1989 that I remember as the first stirring of what would become the Braves dynasty, or at least the first time I started to think about the team as having some promise. When I went to Hawks games this year, I thought about this particular Braves game and hoped to see some signs of a future surge. (Is "surgence" a word?)

On that night, the Braves beat the defending World Champion Dodgers 3-0, on the back of a young pitcher named Tom Glavine. Glavine threw a six-hit shutout, despite not striking out a batter, (Sign of things to come?) en route to a solid 14-8, 3.68 season. No one in the lineup was playing a major role by '91, except for Jeff Blauser, who was playing third at the time.

A couple memories stand out:

1. The crowd of 7,623 was as sparse as I recall in my memory. Dad and I sat in the lower level down the first base side and as I recall, there was absolutely no one in the upper bowl.

2. Kirk Gibson popped out with the bases loaded and two outs in the 8th. That was a real "this Glavine might turn out alright" moment. It looked like he was going to blow the game and came up with a big pitch. It was fitting that he was the one on the hill six years and change later to give us a World Championship.

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