We baseball fans might not remember to pick up the dry cleaning, or how many cups are in a quart, but we remember things that happened on baseball fields long ago.
The year is 2002. The San Francisco Giants, managed by Dusty Baker, are in the World Series against the (then) Anaheim Angels. Baker thought it would be cute as all get out to have his 3-year-old son Darren serve as a batboy, and then when a play at the plate was coming up in Game 5, Darren wandered out to home plate to pick up a bat left lying there by the previous hitter. He did not appreciate the danger he was in as large men converged on the area, but Giant player J. T. Snow swooped in and scooped the tot up. Big news then, and still remembered by the millions watching.
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| 2002 |
Now the year is 2024, and Darren Baker, now 25, was just called up to the big league roster by the Washington Nationals after a stellar season at minor-league Rochester. He got a hit in his first at bat, a single as a pinch-hitter in the ninth inning the other night as the Nats lost 14-1, sort of a microcosm of the season for them. But that will be a night Baker will remember forever, no matter how his major league career turns out in future.
And that will be his biggest baseball memory for the time being, because his father insists his night in the spotlight in 2002 is something the young man "doesn't even remember. He's reminded of it constantly, but he doesn't remember. That's quite a story. At the time, it seemed kind of funny or embarrassing or whatever, but in the full circle of life, maybe it was supposed to happen."
And isn't that what life is, a lot of full circle moments?
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| 2024 |
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