by hechojazz » Thu Apr 13, 2006 5:27 pm
Barely on topic, but I feel compelled to share an embarrasing item of personal history...I took my mom to a Yankee day game back in the 80's, when Rob Deer was on the Tigers. I'd just gotten out of grad school at Michigan, and had become a Tigers fan while out there in Ann Arbor. I had a Tigers road jersey on at the Stadium. I had a mitt with me, and was coming back from getting a beer, having left my mom in the box seats we had up along the third base line. She was seated on the aisle, to my right as I came down (between me and home plate). I had the brew in one hand, and was holding the mitt in the other (but didn't have the mitt on my hand). Anyway, Deer was at the plate, and he smashed an incredible foul shot line drive - right at my mom's head! She was reading a paperback and wasn't paying attention, and I reached over her shoulder at the last moment, deflecting the ball with my folded mitt.
Well, to the assembled thousands, it appeared as though some moronic Detroit fan couldn't even catch a foul ball with a glove on! I learned the true meaning of a Bronx cheer that day! It was certainly odd being the center of such negative attention! At least I hadn't spilled a drop of my beverage...but anyway, any mention of Rob Deer brings back that memory...
:P