Last Sunday night Ben, my friend and baseball buddy, and I went to the Hot Rods' home opener. We had great seats just behind 1st base with a good view of the entire field. That's our mugs in the picture on the left. Upon arriving at our seats we were pleasantly surprised to find that the first base coach for the visiting Dayton Dragons (an affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds) was Ken Griffy Sr.
He was the left fielder for the 75 & 76 World Series Champion Reds. He also played a couple of years for the Yankees in the middle 80's.
Once we saw him on the coaching lines at first we regretted not getting their earlier so we could ask for an autograph. Luckily I had got a 2nd chance to do that at a day game on Tuesday. Mr. Griffy was kind enough to sign my game ticket. The autograph is pictured above. Trust me that's his signature.
The game didn't start out too well for the home team. The Dragons got out to a 6-0 lead after 1 inning. The Hot Rods came back to tie the game in the middle innings. They fell behind again when when eventual winning run scored on a catcher's interference call with the bases loaded in the top of the 9th. The final score was 8-6.
Still the game we really enjoyed being there. Adding to the fun was the fact that the people who played the games in between innings walked by us on their way to and from the field. There were lots of "good job" and high fives exchanged as they went back to their seats. The team's mascots, Axel & Roscoe, also came up and down our aisle on the way to the field. Ben and I even put on camera and shown on the scoreboard.
The most important thing about the night was the renewal of a friendship. Ben couldn't believe it when I told him it had been 3 years since we'd been to a baseball game together. A lot has happened in each of our lives in those 3 years. But with just one night at the ballpark it became evident to me that our friendship will always withstand the test of time. That right there is priceless.
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