From: steph@pegasus.cs.uiuc.edu (Dale Stephenson)
Subject: Re: First Game Memories (Was: Re: Hey Giants fans!)
Organization: University of Illinois, Dept. of Comp. Sci., Urbana, IL
Date: Sat, 9 Jan 1993 20:28:54 GMT

My first game was in AFCS in '87.  It was the first time I had been to Atlanta,
and I was excited about seeing a game, and especially my idol, Dale Murphy.
To make things better, they were playing the Cards, my 2nd favorite team, and
a pretty good one.  My Dad and I guessed wrong about how to get the park, and
got off the train a stop too early.  As we tried to find a way across I-75,
we were spotted by a couple of scalpers who were also late to the game.  (They
probably knew we were going by the mit I was carrying).  They sold us box seats
for $6 each.  (Those were the days).  They turned out to be fantastic seats --
only a few rows behind Ted Turner himself, who was at the game.  That's when we
realized we had forgotten the camera.

I was hoping for Zane Smith to be the pitcher, but no such luck.  Still, the
Braves were starting some of my favorite players:  Murphy, Andres Thomas,
Ozzie "Solo HR" Virgil, Glen Hubbard, Ken Oberkfell, Graig Nettles (boy, this
team was sad!).  In the bottom of the first, Murphy walked, and advanced to
second, when Graig Nettles hit a single to right field.  It went right to the
fielder, and Murphy was stopped at third.  But the RF bobbled the ball, and
it got past him.  Murphy started up again, but the RF quickly recovered and
threw the ball home.  Murphy was out at the plate.  Still the Braves had a 2-0
lead.

The cards came back and tied it. Dale Murphy hit a long, long fly to RF.  It
was then I noticed the strange wind patterns in AFCS.  About ten feet from
the track, the ball was still about 100 feet up.  Suddenly, it plummeted
straight downward into a waiting glove.  Flies never looked like that on TBS!

Nettles hit a fly that looked just like Murphy's, only a few feet further.
It hit off the top of the fence and bounced out.  The umpires ruled it a
ground rule double, and Tanner was furious.  Fortunately, the next batter hit
him in.  The Braves had a one run lead.  

They failed to pad it on Murphy's next at-bat, when he hit another towering fly
that died ten feet from the track.  But they were still up 3-2 when the relief
pitchers came on.

Jeff Dedmon was the first reliever.  He got two outs, but he loaded the bases.
In a jam, Chuck Tanner turned to net.hero Jim Acker.  Grand slam, you think?
No, this is Acker in his *prime*.  Acker fooled the batter, and quickly was up
0-2.  Acker came inside -- and hit the batter.  The game was tied.  Acker 
gathered up his veteran savvy, quickly got an 0-2 count on the next batter --
and hit him too.  The Cards were up 4-3.  Acker got the next man out.

Murphy tried to tie it up in the seventh.  This time he hit it to Center Field,
and absolutely clobbered the ball.  The crowd cheered, and the man next to me 
turned to me and said "This time he's done it!  That one's outta here!"  Alas,
it was not so, as the ball did the miraculous 100 ft drop at the last second
again.  The centerfielder (McGee?) caught it right in front of the 405 ft sign
-- the deepest part of the park.

All was not lost.  Ozzie Virgil came up the very next inning with the bases
empty.  At the time Ozzie had about 15 HR with 15 RBIs.  I turned to my Dad
and said "He's sure to hit it out.  No one's on."  Sure enough, Ozzie hit
it out and tied the game.  It was 4-4 going into the ninth.

Ace reliever Gene Garber was on the mound to shut the Cards down.  But he faced
the top of the Cardinal order.  Garber was in fine form that day.  He fooled
Vince Coleman badly, and quickly had the dreaded 0-2 count.  On the next pitch,
Coleman was fooled badly again, and took a desparate stab at the ball out of
the strike zone.  He snagged the ball, a short little looper that that went
barely over the first baseman's glove.  Bad luck for Garber, and for the
Braves.  Coleman on first is Coleman on second, so he was in scoring position
for Ozzie Smith.  Garber quickly had Smith 0-2, and fooled Ozzie into a wild
looping swing out of the strike zone.  Another looper just over the first
baseman.   Coleman scored, Ozzie on first.  Then one pitch later, Ozzie on 
second.  At this point, Garber decided the way to convince these cards to
stay put was to wait so long between pitches that their legs would get tired.
Gene-o waited approximately five minutes between pitches, and in only about
40 minutes he retired the side.  The cards were up 5-4 going into the bottom
of the ninth.

Albert Hall led off the inning, and responded with a double!  Obey bunted him
over to third base -- a fly ball would tie the game.  Naturally, Gerald Perry
struck out.  It was now all up to Dale Murphy.  Tying run on third base, and
three near misses with home runs.  A shot out would win the game, and make
my life perfect.  A hit would atone for getting thrown out at the plate in
the first.  This was hero time.

Murphy hit the first pitch, a towering -- popout.  Braves lose 5-4.  It would
not be until '90 that I saw Murphy get a hit in person.  It would not be until
he joined the Phils that I saw him get an RBI.  And it was not until August
1992 that I was able to see the Braves win a game in person.

-- 
Dale J. Stephenson |*| (steph@cs.uiuc.edu) |*| Baseball fanatic

  "It is considered good to look wise, especially when not 
   overburdened with information" -- J. Golden Kimball