I Attended My First MLB Game 40 Years Ago Today

August 30th is a day that will always stick out in my memory. Forty years ago today, I attended my very first MLB game. It was in Montreal with the Expos hosting the Atlanta Braves. My family was visiting Ottawa and I got to the game with my Dad and maternal grandfather. In those days, there were buses that went directly from Ottawa to Olympic Stadium. It took all of two hours to get there.

I was 8-years old at the time. It was a year before Dad taught me how to score the game. So at this point I was more impressed with the spectacle than the minutia of the game. That year there had been a two month strike which prompted Commissioner Bowie Kuhn to separate the seasons into the first half and the second half which would be of immense benefit to the Expos as they finished first in the NL East in the second half which prompted a playoff against the defending World Series champion Philadelphia Phillies. The Expos prevailed but fell to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS courtesy of Rick Monday (who was actually my favorite player). The Expos would never again reach the post-season until the Washington Nationals won the World Series in 2019.

But I digress. Back to that Sunday afternoon. I remember that it was a Farm Day at the ballpark and there was both an egg throwing contest and a cow milking contest which was won by Expos relief pitcher Woodie "Farmer" Fryman. Equally mesmerizing was Youppi!, the Expos mascot. He was more Le Grand Orange than even Rusty Staub himself. I reach out to touch his hand and I missed by that much.

There were six future Hall of Famers in this game. The Expos had Gary Carter, Andre Dawson, Tim Raines (then in his rookie season) and manager Dick Williams who would abruptly be fired a little over a week after this game. The Braves had starting pitcher Phil Niekro and Bobby Cox who was at this time the youngest manager in MLB. He would one day become the oldest. 

There was also a young outfielder who was a good line drive hitter who had not yet hurt his knees. He would come to mean a great deal to the people of Boston when the Red Sox won their first World Series title in 2004. This would, of course, be Terry Francona.

Then there was Bill "Spaceman" Lee who was the losing pitcher in this game which went 12 innings. Lee gave up an unearned run when Chris Chambliss reached on an error by the normally smooth fielding Rodney Scott as the Braves would win 5-4. As Casey Stengel said, "You can look it up."

Sadly, I have fallen out of love with the game. If I had watched that game today there would have been runner put on second in the 10th inning without earning his way on thereby leading to a cheap victory. 

Oh, I still follow the game and keep an eye out on the standings but I don't watch many games on TV or listen to them on radio. The broadcasters aren't paying attention to what is going on the field so why should I? Given the renewed spread of COVID I am disinclined to go to Fenway Park even if it is an outdoor facility. Even without COVID there are too many drunk people not watching the game and getting into fights. 

Maybe I'll fall in love with it again. Even if I do it won't with quite the same joy. But I have my yesterdays and a precious few are worth remembering.