Thursday, October 21, 2004

Coming Full-Circle

As a young boy growing up in Los Angeles I lived for baseball. I was different than most of my friends because hated the Dodgers and loved the Giants. Willie Mays (the Say Hey Kid) and Willie McCovey were my heros. Life was good as the Dodgers didn't have anyone that could match them other than Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale. The Angels were a new team, and I rooted for them, but they didn't have a chance against some of the more historic teams in the American League.

The first baseball game I remember watching on TV was the St Louis Cardinals vs the Boston Red Sox world series finale (I think it was in 1967). It was wonderful. I have grown up since then and the Cardinals are now my hometown team. But, my memories of that first baseball game on TV has lingered in my mind over the years and I have cheered the Cardinals and the Red Sox, though more passionately for the Cardinals since that first game. Tonight the Cardinals have the chance to help me relive that 1967 World Series. If the Cardinals win tonight they will meet the Red Sox in a dramatic rematch. Carl Yastremski, Jim Lonborg, Bob Gibson, and Lou Brock are all long gone, but they have been replaced by Curt Schilling, Jason Varitek, Scott Rolen, Albert Pujols, and Jim Edmonds. If the Cardinals can win tonight it will make for a great World Series.

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