The year was 1998. I was 6, and I got my first diary. It was purple and had Winnie the Pooh on the front. Plus, it was super cool because it had a lock on it. You know for all the personal things I had to write at age 6.
Also in 1998, Major League Baseball was coming off of down years due to player strikes. At the forefront of bringing fans back to the game were Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. Both were battling to break Roger Maris' single season home run record which had stood since 1961. To make matters more intriguing it was a classic St. Louis Cardinals (McGwire) versus Chicago Cubs (Sosa) rivalry.
Games back then (1998) weren't as easy to watch on TV as they are now. We (Cardinals fans) were lucky, because once McGwire and Sosa heated up, the Cardinals were given primetime games.
On September 8, 1998, the Cubs were playing at Busch when Mark McGwire hit home run number 62 of the season. It was a night game. It was also a school night. By then I was 7 and in 2nd grade, so it was way past bedtime. Surprisingly, the time never mattered to my parents that year. My mom, dad, sister, and I were making memories. My dad was teaching me The Cardinal Way and showing me what it meant to be part of Cardinals Nation.
That night when McGwire broke the record, after a lot of jumping up and down, screaming, and running circles on our living room floor, I ran for my purple, Winnie the Pooh diary. I wrote my first ever diary entry about Mark McGwire breaking the record with home run 62. I also wrote about my parents letting me stay up late to watch history happen.
Twenty years have passed but not much has changed. I still stay up way too late to watch Cardinals games. If something historic, or exciting, happens in a game, the first call I make is my dad, even if it's midnight I know he'll be up. While it may not be in my Winnie the Pooh diary, I still write about the memories I make with my family and friends over Cardinals baseball. And on occasion, I revert back to my 7 year old self and find myself running in circles in my living room, screaming my head off because I know I've just witnessed history.
Even I was a Cardinals fan during this era, as I was a senior in high school going into freshmen year of college. No wonder you are a Cardinals fan--what a great time to grow up! I also love Winnie the Pooh is one of my favorites as well. What great parents you had, and I love how you wove the love of baseball and writing started so long ago.
ReplyDeleteI have the book, 'Home Run' written about that moment! I also have a wee bit of information in regards to Big Mac...my mom's best friend used to teach in Pomona, California. Mark was in her first grade class!! She's trying to go through old boxes of stuff to find the year book!
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