The 2016 World Series started yesterday.
In case you don't know who's playing this year,
I'll let these guys tell you:
(Today's post is reworked from two old posts & is presented in two parts. The first was run in February of this year & the second in April of 2013.)
Part One--The scary stuff (at least for me):
In 1989 the San Francisco Giants were playing the Oakland A’s in the World Series. My son was assistant Travel Secretary for the Giants & had 4 tickets for us to go to all the games. Bud couldn’t take that much time off work so I took my friend Bonnie, my other son, Blake (then a teenager) & his friend. We stayed in the Presidio at the home of a friend who was a Colonel in the Army. He & his wife were off somewhere on vacation. We used his car & I drove to Candlestick Park, less than a half hour away.
It was just about time for the first game to start, the fans were in their seats & the players on the field--& THE LOMA PRIETA EARTHQUAKE HIT!! There was a lot of fear, but not too much panic in the stadium. We found our car & I started driving home.
Driving in San Francisco is not the easiest thing to do in the best of times--& this was NOT the best of times! The street signs seemed to be placed at random. This was before the GPS or the cell phone were invented. Blake was in the back seat reading a road map by the overhead light as I drove a strange car through dark San Francisco.
As we passed one corner we heard someone yell, “Shoot ‘em now!” We didn’t know if they meant looters or US! We couldn’t go to a hotel—many streets were closed & the city was essentially shut down. It took us almost 4 hours to get back to the Presidio where we were met by an armed guard who told us that it was closed & that only residents could get in. I did the only logical, adult thing I could do. I cried. Then I remembered that my friend had a bird (full) Colonel’s decal on the car window. I pointed it out to the guard & he let us in.
We spent 5 days in a dark, cold house before we could get a flight home. Thank heavens the phones still worked. Our only source of information about the earthquake damage & fires was by phone to our family or a few minutes at a time on the car radio. We were afraid to kill the car battery.
Part Two--The funny stuff:
Yogi Berra,
who was with the New York Yankees for about 20 years, must have been a genius. He apparently invented his own language, which seems to be some form of
English. Here are some examples:
"This is like deja vu all over
again."
"You can observe a lot just by
watching."
"He must have made that before
he died." -- Referring to a Steve McQueen movie.
"I want to thank you for making
this day necessary." -- On Yogi Berra Appreciation Day in St.
Louis in 1947.
"I'd find the fellow who lost
it, and, if he was poor, I'd return it." -- When asked what
he would do if he found a million dollars.
"You've got to be very careful
if you don't know where you're going, because you might not get there."
"I knew I was going to take the
wrong train, so I left early."
"If you don't know where you
are going, you will wind up somewhere else."
"You better cut the pizza in
four pieces because I'm not hungry enough to eat six."
"Baseball is 90% mental -- the
other half is physical."
"It was impossible to get a
conversation going; everybody was talking too much."
"Slump? I ain't in no slump. I
just ain't hitting."
"A nickel isn't worth a dime
today."
"Nobody goes there anymore;
it's too crowded."—Referring to a restaurant.
"It gets late early out there." -- Referring
to the bad sun conditions in left field at the stadium.
"Do you mean now?" -- When
asked for the time.
"I take a two hour nap, from
one o'clock to four."
"When you come to a fork in the
road, take it."—When asked for directions to his home.
"You give 100 percent in the
first half of the game, and if that isn't enough in the second half you give
what's left."
"90% of the putts that are
short don't go in."
"Texas has a lot of electrical
votes." -- During an election campaign, after George Bush
stated that Texas was important to the election.
"Thanks, you don't look so hot
yourself." -- After being told he looked cool.
"I always thought that record
would stand until it was broken."
"Yeah, but we're making great
time!" -- In reply to "Hey Yogi, I think we're lost."
"If the fans don't come out to
the ball park, you can't stop them."
"Why buy good luggage? You only
use it when you travel."
"The other teams could make
trouble for us if they win."
“It ain’t the heat, it’s the
humility.”
"You should always go to other
people's funerals; otherwise, they won't come to yours."
"You know, I didn't really say everything I said."----Yogi Berra (& fishducky)
