Thirteen Years ago today...October 23, 1993

Best series ev.... nevermind.

 

Uh, no. There were about 6 million people east of you who wouldn't be caught dead cheering for the Jays - ever.

 

Yeah, he gave off that impression, no argument here. Thing is, he probably did know more about baseball than anybody in this city, including the GM and the President.

 

I was home from college for the weekend and was in the midst of this weird, awkward, are-we-more-than-friends thing with my best friend (who was a GIRL, keep quiet wise guys). So we went to a dance club, though I kind of wanted to watch the game, and flirted all night long. DJ says around midnight "The Toronto Blue Jays just won the World Series" and I thought, oh, OK, that's nice. Then we got in the car and heard how they won and I was thinking to myself "Self, this better be worth missing the first walk-off World Series-winning homer of my life."

It wasn't. :-\ Got the worst of both worlds: We never hooked up yet our dalliance ruined the friendship.

I have fonder memories of listening to the 15-14 game on the radio a few nights earlier while wew were laying out the paper. That was the night I realized our editor in chief, a brilliant poli sci major, was a seamhead like me. Somehow I mentioned the 1981 season and we both rattled off the four guys to lead the AL in homers (Oglivie, Reggie Jackson, Bobby Grich and...uhh...Tony Armas?) in like a second flat. Been great friends ever since.

 

Bobby Grich, my all-time favorite second baseman.

 

As exciting as Joe Carter's home run was, it came in Game 6, with the Blue Jays still ahead in the series. Imagine if that were to have happened in Game 7.

Anyone who has followed the Eastern League (Double-A) doesn't have to. They got it in the fifth and deciding game of the 1999 league championship series. Norwich (then the Yankees' AA affiliate) had an 11-8 lead over Harrisburg (Expos) with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. Milton Bradley (yes, THAT Milton Bradley) was down to his final strike against Norwich closer Joe Lisio, who had saved 33 games that year and three more in the playoffs.

The rest is history. And, sadly, so was Lisio's baseball career soon thereafter.

http://72.14.209.104/search?q=cache:xTUmz3W8TtcJ:www.norwichbulletin.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article%3FAID%3D/20050515/SPORTS/505150329/1006/NEWS01%26template%3Dprintart+Joe+Lisio+Milton+Bradley&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=4

 

I was waaaaaaaaay behind with my bookie and won hundreds on that game, coming back to even things out at the very end.
Sort of like what I'm doing here tonight with the football Giants.

 

That's a great story. I covered Bradley's big-league team at that time, and we got word in the press box when that happened. Amazing all the familiar names who were on that squad, not to mention their future teammate, Nick Johnson, on the other side: Brad Wilkerson, Brian Schneider, et al.
I wonder, if Bradley ever heads to Shea for interleague, someone could get the two of them together on game day.
That'd be a pretty interesting story, too.

 

And Milton celebrated by beating up several women on the way home.

 

ESPNClassic celebrated this anniversary by replaying the game for the 1,000,000th time, followed by some rousing commentary from Carter and Kruk.

Gary Miller then launched quite bluntly into the tale of Mitch Williams hurling a ball into Kruk's jewels and injuring them. This mishap later revealed the testicular cancer raging inside Kruk's body.

 

Fuck Joe Carter...
Wasnt for the Jays, the baseball strike never would have happened... Instead, jays win, baseball goes on strike.
Fuck Joe Carter, fuck Mitch Williams....

 

I saw the House of Pain open for Cypress Hill that night, my first semester in college. I heard who won while driving home from the concert with my friend and thought OK, that's great. Then they said the score -- we just looked at each other in disbelief, wondering if we heard that update right. Got home, turned on SportsCenter and sure enough ...