Matthew Monday: Adley Rutschman Bobblehead Day

This and a series of Matthew Monday posts will document the baseball games Matthew and I attended this year.  I already mentioned our Father’s Day game at the Staten Island FerryHawks, which is an Independent Minor League game.  Today I’ll mention our game down in Baltimore on July 28^th between my beloved Baltimore Orioles and the San Diego Padres.  We even got to see former Orioles Manny Machado who had come up as an Orioles and who was traded—traded because he was going to be a free agent and Orioles weren’t going to pay him that huge salary he wanted—in 2017.  He got a warm reception.

Here are some pictures from the game.  We were sitting in left field, not far from the foul pole and just a couple of rows behind the left field wall.

I always love a picture of the Warehouse, that great brick building that was built in Babe Ruth’s day and is situated right behind the right field stands.

And here’s a couple of pictures of father and son both wearing Orioles tee shirts. 

 

For the record, Matthew is not, to his father’s dissatisfaction, an Orioles fan.

The game was great.  We got to see the Orioles win 8-6 with a big six run inning.  Now it was Adley Rutschman Bobblehead Day, and we each got an Adley Bobblehead doll.  Now Adley is a switch hitter, so they had two sets of bobblehead dolls, one batting right handed, the other left handed.  We had hoped that between the two of us, we would come away with one of each kind.  Unfortunately we did.  We both got a right handed batting Adley.  Now, where we were sitting, there was a man who had a whole bunch of boxes with Adley Bobblehead dolls.  At least six, if not more.  And I have no idea how and where he got them, and I was afraid to ask.  He asked if we wanted to trade one for the left handed batting Adely and we did!  So we got an Adley Bobblehead batting from each side of the plate.

Here’s a picture of both Adley dolls.

The black jersey is Adley left handed and the Orange is right handed.  We'll add these to our collection on baseball bobblehead dolls/

A fun time was had!  You can get the detailed box score of this game here.  

Matthew Monday: The 40th Anniversary of the 1983 World Series Champions

On August 5^th, Matthew and I traveled down to Baltimore to an Orioles game.  I specifically wanted to go on this day for two reasons. 

First, it was famed Orioles player and inductee of the Baseball Hall of Fame, Eddie Murray’s bobble head doll night.  I wanted one!  After Brooks Robinson, Eddie Murray is my all-time favorite Orioles.  I remember him as a rookie in 1977, when he won American League Rookie of the Year award, and he went on to have an incredible career.  He was the backbone of the team from that 1977 season to their World Series win in 1983 to his ultimately being traded in 1988.  Steady Eddie, quiet Eddie Murray, he was humble, hardworking and unassuming.  Besides his great baseball statistics, it was his quiet strength that always appealed to me the most.

The second reason for going to that particular game was because it was a commemoration for the 40^th anniversary of the Orioles last World Series win in 1983.  That was the last of a great series of years for the Orioles that spanned my youth.  I became an Orioles fan as an seven year old in 1970.  In 1983 I was 21 during the baseball season, and it was the most glorious of Orioles seasons.  After 1983, the team fell apart, management was horrible, and except for a couple of notable years where they made the playoffs, the Orioles were mostly not a competitive team.  (Until this year, but that is for the future to work out still.)  With the culmination of the World Series win in 1983, baseball for me would never quite be the same. 

So on August 5^th, with every living player who was announced at the anniversary, tears would quell in my eyes until they actually streamed down.  I loved those players.  They were like family. 

Here’s a news clip from CBS News, Baltimore.

 

In that 1983 World Series, in the final game, Eddie hit two homers, and here are clips of them.

 

Here are some pictures I took from the 40^th anniversary ceremony.  I’ve got pictures of everyone, but I’ll spare you to just a couple.  Eddie Murray being introduced.

Rick Dempsey, the team’s catcher, the MVP of that World Series, and team clown here leading the fans in the Orioles chant from that year, a bodily representation of each letter of O-R-I-O-L-E-S.  I think he is spelling “R” here.

And here is the entire team.

A picture of Matthew and me with the beautiful Camden Yards ballpark in the background.

And finally a picture of the Eddie Murray bobble head doll.

Personal Note: My Camera at the Ball Park

I mentioned I had another story to my attending the Baltimore Orioles game on July 16^th.    

As it turned out, in my haste to get out just before the game ended, I left my camera at the stadium, right below the seat I think. I didn’t realize I left it until Sunday night when I went to open the knapsack we had brought that contained a few things, including the camera, and it was not there.

The realization I had left it behind really hurt. The camera was worth around $200 (a Nikon, not a SLR but an advanced point and shoot that had a super telescoping lens), not insignificant but only money, but more importantly the memory card had close to 900 pictures going back to when my son was a toddler. I had not backed up those pictures. The camera could be replaced, but the pictures, which included family affairs, trips, sightseeing, were irreplaceable.

So after kicking myself, praying, and more kicking myself, I called the lost and found on the Monday almost a week later, and lo and behold they had found a camera. The description matched, and they said to come down and pick it up. So on the Wednesday I got on my horse and galloped back down to Baltimore, and to my amazement it was my camera. My goodness, what are the odds? One of my friends said less than a one percent chance of getting it back. God is good. I offered a small reward to the person who turned it in or even the usher or cleaning person for that area, but the young man at the Lost and Found would not take it. He said this is what they do.

What a great reflection on the ballpark administration and working people at Camden Yards. I don’t know how else to thank them but to write this little comment for all to see. To come across such upstanding and honest people is heartwarming. May all those involved, especially the person who turned it in, be blessed. I am truly thankful. I gave that money set aside for the reward to Catholic Charities of Baltimore charity.