We Will See You Tomorrow Night

CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND

Freese (HR) vs. McGwire
Personally, I have to wonder, would I be as big of a Cardinals baseball fan had the McGwire and Sosa battle not happened during my pivotal, mind-shaping years of becoming a fan? I was 6 when the 1998 season started. Mark McGwire's 62nd home run was my first diary entry in my purple, Winnie the Pooh diary. I was in love. Both with baseball and the Cardinals. Because of the 2011 season, I met and became best friends with my still best friend, Brianna. However, if the McGwire season hadn't happened in my life, my Cardinals obsession, love for Mike Shannon and John Rooney's voices on the radio (listening to every single game during college on the radio in 2011), eat, sleep, breathe Cardinals baseball, even in the offseason, might not be so extreme. Both moments are life-changing in my love for baseball. I will never forget Joe Buck saying, "We will see you tomorrow night!" after Freese hit the walk-off home run in Game 6. I'll always remember running and screaming down my dorm hall, stomping down the stairs, and finding Brianna running to our dorm parents door (the moment still in the middle of happening), and greeting her with a hug, jumping, screaming, and spinning in a circle. But because of a dad who is equally obsessed with Cardinals baseball, showing me what The Cardinal Way meant as a fan at an early age, and experiencing the high of the 1998 season with Mark McGwire, it made it possible to have that special moment 13 years later.