June 2- Detroit Tigers

In all the years that I ever worked at Just Sports (@JustSportsPDX) I never really understood why so many people came in and bought this cap. Nothing personal against it, I think it’s an awesome hat. My beef lies more heavily upon the fact that Portland, Oregon never struck me as a Detroit Tigers fan hotbed. But then again, back in my old Just Sports days I was thinking more heavily on the baseball aspect of things, not the style.

Portland has changed quite a bit since I moved to the area from California, and so have I. In the old days I was an ardent hater of anything involving custom style. I have since grown up and looked at things more deeply, rather than just taking the aesthetic elements into consideration. I wish ore people saw the game the way that I do. For starters, it would make in-game conversations way more interesting, as opposed to me just feeling like a school teacher. I suppose that’s one of the things that I love about doing these posts every day. I can let out all the information that I have rolling around in my melon and hopefully trigger or engage other folk who have a story or two on the same subject.

Of all the stories that come to mind immediately about this hat is how and where I bought it. There are other stories, but I’ll get to those in a moment. I was venturing southward on I-5, going from Eugene, Oregon to Portland to go visit my parent for the weekend. Around mile marker 269 I realized I hadn’t been to the outlet mall in Woodburn in quite some time so I took the exit at 271 and parked in the back. For two-and-a-half years I ran the Just Sports at Woodburn and had a lot of success doing it. My biggest accomplishment was taking it from a $300,000 a year in volume store to $500,000 in roughly a year. What can I say? I set my standards pretty high. I waltzed around to the back-right corridor and walked in. The overall merchandising of the store was different, but all the familiar smells and concrete floor were still there. I took to the hat wall, rummaging through to find something I liked. I all ready had a few Oakland Athletics caps, so it was on to something else. It was late May of 2010 and the Tigers had been playing decently, so I figured, “what the hell.” I paid my $35, took the stickers off immediately, jumped back in the car and continued my quest.

I realize that there’s nothing really “special” to that story, but for me it was more nostalgic. In all the time I worked at Just Sports previous to then I never really wore New Era Caps. I owned a few, but I never wore them to work. I think most of what I remember in the moment was how much I love, and truly appreciate every aspect of baseball. During my time as the manager I made it a point to stock my store with as much Major League Baseball gear as possible. I made sure to have at least one team, style of every hat, jersey and shirt. The outlet mall was set up for travelers, and I always made sure to prepare for the time that a random Pittsburgh Pirates fan, or Colorado Rockies fan or Tigers fan came walking into the store and leaving with something they didn’t expect. And if they didn’t buy anything, we both walked away with some solid baseball conversation under our belts. It’s not my goal to work retail for the rest of my life; however, if and when I find myself in that situation, I might as well do it in a place that will make me happy.

This hat has been a number of years in the Majors, and it still stands the test of time as one of the best-selling caps to date. The Tigers started wearing it in 1922; however, it was had a few differences in the overall appearance. The concept of the Old English “D” was there, it’s just that over time the graphic has become sleeker. This particular variation first hit the heads of ball players and in gift shops in 1934 where it was used as the team’s game cap until 1946. From 1947 until 1951 it served as the team’s road cap. It took a backseat until 1958 when the Tigers started using it as their game cap until the end of the 1971 season. In 1972 the Tigers introduced a new road cap, making this their primary home cap, which it still is today. All of great teams and Hall of Famers played under this cap, so I feel it would be a disservice to all of you if I didn’t talk about some great moment or player. After scouring through stat sheets, history books and almanacs I could only think of one moment replaying over and over in my head. Based on the historical value and the events that came to pass, there really isn’t a better choice.

6/2/2010- It was a Wednesday afternoon. I had worked at Max’s Tavern the night before and stayed there late after we had wrapped up another edition of our Max’s Tuesday Knight Trivia. There was an English class that I was enrolled in on 19^th century American literature, and I had to finish reading the book and write a three to four page paper based on any array of topic we wished to write about. The book at that time was Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and I decided to base my paper on the character of Uncle Tom himself. I had been sitting in the library for a solid hour after class reading the last few chapters when I decided I needed a beer. It was about 2:30 PM PST and I hadn’t eaten anything so I stopped for a burrito at Qdoba before making the three block trek to Max’s where I could work and drink cheaply. My favorite table was open, and by favorite I mean the only one not next to a window that was also equipped with a power outlet. I ordered a beer, a frosty glass of Pabst Blue Ribbon, set up my computer and read for the next 45 minutes until that night’s baseball games started up.

I think I’m going on year six of having MLB.tv. Then, and now, it’s been my saving grace anytime I just need to tune out and relax once in a while. On this day, relaxing went right out the window. For some incredibly stupid reason Eugene falls within the Bay Area territory; therefore, I am not allowed to watch Athletics or San Francisco Giants games through MLB.tv. If I were to go 13 miles north to Brownsville, I’d be in the clear. But no, despite being 540 miles away all of the games I want to watch (only A’s games really) are blacked out. As a result of this gaffe I had to find a new team to follow, if only for the sake of developing a relationship with the play-by-play guys. After a solid month of searching I found that Mario Impemba and Rod Allen of Fox Sports Detroit were my go-to guys.

Finally, 4:07 PM PST, Armando Galarraga takes the hill for the Tigers. Prior to that game Galarraga was 1-1 on the season with a 4.50 ERA having started two and reliving one. Prior to the start of the season Galarraga had gone 19-17 with a 5.20 ERA in 54 games started and eight additional appearances. In fact, Galarraga had gone 13-7 with a 3.73 ERA in 2008, which gave him a fourth place finish for the American League Rookie of the Year award. Even Longoria of the Tampa Bay Rays won it that year. Today; however, Galarraga was facing a rough-starting Cleveland Indians team at Comerica Park in Detroit. Call it fate, call it pure luck, call it whatever you want, but for some reason I felt compelled to wear my home Tigers cap that day.

If you get the chance, take a look at the boxscore and play-by-play sheet I highly recommend it. It’s interesting to see a game only on paper and then try to recreate it in your head. Galarraga made short work of the first three batters (Trevor Crowe, Shin-Soo Choo and Austin Kearns) while Indians’ pitcher Roberto Hernandez gave up a single against Detroit’s first batter Austin Jackson. Hernandez, otherwise know as Fausto Carmona at the time, then forced a double play and a ground out to end the inning. In the second, Galarraga took down all three (Travis Hafner, Jhonny Peralta, and Russell Branyan) with ease. In the bottom half Miguel Cabrera blasted a line drive over the bullpen in left field to give the Tigers the early 1-0 lead. To be honest, I had my headphones plugged in and the game on screen, but I was too busy finishing reading the book to really notice anything that was going on. When I heard the ball go off of Cabrera’s bat for the home run I definitely looked up. There is definitely a distinctive sound that rattles off the bat when Cabrera makes contact. I knew it was gone before I even looked up.

In the third inning Galarraga got Mark Grudzielanek to fly out, Mike Redmond to ground out and Jason Donald to do the same. This is the way things would go; over and over and over again through the top of the eighth inning. Galarraga had only struck out three batters (Kearns, Grudzielanek and Peralta) through the first 24 batters. Hernandez, on the other hand, had really only made the one mistake of giving Miggy a hanger to park over the left field wall. Until the bottom of the eighth he had been hanging in there pretty well. Alex Avila and Ramon Santiago were easy first two out, but then Jackson went and had himself a little three-hit day with his third single on the night. Next up, Johnny Damon, who singled weakly to the second baseman. With two runners on Magglio Ordonez blooped a ball into right field which gave Jackson more than enough time to score from second. Damon moved to third on a throwing error which gave Galarraga some insurance runs and two on for Cabrera… who struck out. But either way, insurance runs are good.

Around the sixth inning I started to take a more vested interest in the game. I could tell from what I was hearing that Galarraga was dealing and moving very quickly through the lineup. Anytime a no-hitter is in progress I generally don’t give much thought to it unless I’m actually watching the game. This was one of those games. There was a gentleman in the bar who had noticed my cap when he came in but he didn’t come over to talk to me until he had a beer in his hand. He could tell I was busy so he mostly wanted some small talk about the Tigers since he was originally from Michigan. I told him I was watching the game, he smiled, and he told me to let him “know if anything interesting happens.” Well… this is that interesting thing.

By the time the eighth inning had ended we had every TV in the bar with the game on as every sports network was doing a live look-in. I could feel my heart racing. I had never witnessed a no-hitter, let alone a perfect game from start to finish. Merely a few weeks before this game Roy Halladay had thrown a perfect game against the Florida Marlins. I ended up missing it on account of “not giving a f--- about the Marlins and Phillies game.” And then a few weeks before that, on Mother’s Day, Athletics pitcher Dallas Braden had himself a perfect day… which happened at the most imperfect time of me driving from Portland back to Eugene. I was pissed. But now, redemption.

First up, Grudzielanek. Grudzielanek took a cut at the first pitch and sent a shot to centerfield, but definitely not far enough. Jackson got under it and recorded the first out. Next up, Redmond. Galarraga had worked himself a pretty nice count (1-2). On the fourth pitch Redmond poked a slow roller to Santiago at shortstop. Santiago had to move quickly as Redmond had “turned on the jets,” but there were able to get the second out. By this time everyone, and I mean everyone in the bar was glued to the TV. Most people didn’t even know what the hell was going on, but they knew it was something special. Next up, Donald. For a cat who was about to make history, Galarraga looked incredibly calm. His first two pitches went in for a ball and a strike, and on the third… contact. The ball trickled slowly between first and second base, but Cabrera had an easy beat on it. Galarraga took off to first base to cover and receive the relay. Cabrera tossed, Galarraga caught it, made sure his foot was on the bag and everyone in the stadium, including Impemba calling the game rejoiced.

Their joy quickly soured as soon as first base umpire Jim Joyce threw both of his arms up and called Donald safe. At first Cabrera and Galarraga thought it was a joke, but sure enough it wasn’t. Cabrera and Tigers manager Jim Leyland gave Joyce an earful, but he stuck to his guns. The Tigers ended up recording the final out, but nobody was happy about the result. Even Donald couldn’t believe the call was blown as he knew the out was made before he touched the bag.

In the moments to follow the game Joyce had the tape cued up on the play and within a fraction of a second he knew he “kicked the play.” Joyce, filled with guilt, sought Galarraga to admit his mistake. Joyce also spoke to the media after the game to admit his error. The next day Galarraga took out the Tigers’ lineup card to the mound where Joyce was working behind the dish. A remorseful Joyce thanked Galarraga and gave him a pat on the back in front of a sold out Comerica Park crowd who gave Joyce and Galarraga a standing ovation. Only in baseball can a mistake so historical be turned into a positive for everyone. No one was hurt or injured. The only thing that changed is a little mark in a record book. The people who witnessed it know it was a perfect game. The people who watched the highlights know it was a perfect game. Even the Hall of Fame knows it was a perfect game. Perhaps that is all which is truly good enough.

In the midst of everything that had happened all I could do was order another beer and go back to my table in solitude. Nothing felt right for the rest of the day. I can only imagine how awful real Tigers fans felt about it.

I had pretty much gotten over by the next day. It still sucked to think about, but there were clearly worse tragedies in life to dwell on than this. A few days later my friend Tony Feltz came into the bar and we each grabbed a beer and enjoyed some good baseball convo. About 45 seconds into our discussion on blown perfect game he interrupted and said, “Dude! I have a great story for you. A great story.” Tony then went on to tell me about an incident that happened at work which pertained to the perfect game. At the time Tony was a manager of a 7-11 a block from campus, working the morning shift. Two girls came in to buy coffee and whatever else when one of the friends notices the paper. The girl who notices the paper says to the other girl, “Hey, did you hear about this? The umpire that missed that call?” To which the other girl said, “Yah. That’s my father.” The conversation immediately got awkward and ended and the two girls paid ad left. Needless to say, I was blown away.

Time has since moved on since that depressing end of spring day. I went to a ton of University of Oregon football games that fall, in which we almost won the National Championship against Josh Donaldson’s Auburn Tigers.

I did my MLB Fan Cave thing, I went to a ton of baseball games, watched all three perfect games in 2012 on TV and so on. Galarraga on the other hand, is playing in AAA with the Louisville Bats in the Cincinnati Reds organization. His career was never the same after that game.

Tragic.

April 6- Montreal Expos

If there’s one thing I learned today, it’s that it is incredibly difficult to write and research during an 18-hour train ride from the Bay Area to Portland, Oregon when you are sitting in the aisle seat next to a high school-aged kid who constantly gets up to go to the bathroom. I mean, I’m no big city urologist, but I think that kid should get checked out for early onset prostate complications, if such a thing exists. The biggest problem in my travel fiasco is that my train left from Richmond, California around 9:47 PM PST and I didn’t have a speck of internet until I reached my final destination of Union Station in downtown Portland. This posed a few problems as

1. I couldn’t research any of the players I’m writing about.

2. I wasn’t able to post my story.

But even at that, as I mentioned above, trying to type in such a rickety area because an incredible nuisance for me. Thus, the biggest lesson I learned is to get my ass writing way before I get into any kind of a moving vehicle when I have deadlines (even personal ones) to meet!

I first came across this cap in March of 2012 after my friend, and fellow MLB Fan Cave Dweller hopefully Bryan Mapes (@IamMapes) sent me photo from the local Lids in Brookfield, Connecticut. I had seen this hat before, but not since Andres Galarraga sported it in this photo from Olympic Stadium in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. 

This Montreal Expos hat was only used for one season in 2002 as part of the first line of mesh batting practice caps which New Era introduced during spring training. Unlike the batting practice caps of the last eight years or so, these were 5950 style; in that they had a higher, stiffer crown, unlike the low profile 3950s. The one that I’m wearing in the photo above, as well as the one that Mapes had shown me was a replica wool style, which I much prefer. I was never the biggest fan of the mesh style caps; however, I did enjoy the color patterns as well as the original logo choices that New Era decided to produce for the vast majority of them. Obviously in the case of the Expos the logo is the same one they’ve used since their debut season in 1969 through their final year in 2004.

I’ve only worn this cap a handful of times; mostly because I’m honestly not a big fan of the way the color red looks on me. This is something you may notice if you ever shuffle through my photos of Facebook or Instagram (@shakabrodie). I always prefer wearing darker colors because they’re easier to match. Plus I have dark hair, a dark beard, green/blue eyes and very pasty skin. All those years of living in the Pacific Northwest have turned me into a bit of a cast member from “Twilight” reject to say the least. Wearing red makes this way more apparent. The one thing that I do love about this cap is the personal history it shares between my best friend Sam Spencer and myself.

Back in 2005 Sam served as my assistant manager at the Woodburn, Oregon Just Sports (@JustSportspdx) location where I served as store manager for two-and-a-half years. I lived about 15 miles north of Woodburn in the heavily Mormon populated town of Woodburn, a suburb of Portland. Sam unfortunately was still living with his parents up in Vancouver, Washington at the time and crashed at my house most nights since The Couve was an hour away from the store. On the nights in which he crashed we always made sure to get buy a 12-pack of Pabst Blue Ribbon, something for dinner and end the night with two to three games of All-Star Baseball 2003 for my old school XBOX. While I could have upgraded to later versions, I always found that the 2003 edition was the most fun for the sake of nostalgic lineups. Case in point: the Montreal Expos.

For those of you who have never scoured for hours playing any sports-related video games, the one thing you need to know is that whatever year was tagged on the game you’re playing, the company always used the rosters from the last date of the previous year. Therefore, in the 2003 version of All-Star Baseball, we rocked hard with the 2002 Expos squad. Both of us were especially miffed at how the 1994 Expos got the shaft on account of the players strike, so we figured we’d do the next best thing and make sure the Spos got themselves a well-deserved trophy to the tune of going 158-4 on the regular season and only losing one game in the playoffs; Game 2 of the ALDS versus the Houston Astros. Those jerks! It took us three nights a week for four months (plus several simulated games) to pull it off, at which all we got, was a congratulatory message and a weak-ass celebration from the computer-generated players on the field. We both looked at each other with disgusted looks on our faces, as if we could have done way more important things with our lives.

I finally picked this cap up at one of the Lids locations near Times Square in downtown Manhattan. It was kind of funny because Mapes had promised to buy it for me, but I ended up getting this and like six other hats in the process. Mapes saw what I was doing and gave me a wicked, “What the hell!?” Since I had all ready paid there wasn’t much I could do, so he offered to buy me another cap on the rack which I didn’t all ready won. Luckily they had a mid-1990s Milwaukee Brewers cap I didn’t own, but that post will come at a later date. When I got back to the apartment that MLB had hooked us up with in SOHO I couldn’t help but laugh when I thought back on Sam and my four month quest. With that, I knew exactly which numbers to throw on this cap.

#14- As I mentioned above, Andres Galarraga is the one person I remember most to wear this cap, but more important, Galarraga was the National League MVP throughout the season that Sam and I had played with the Expos. Sam and I had a foolproof system every time we played. I took care of the pitching, and he handled all of the guys in the field. When it came to batting, I took all of the odd batters and he took all of the even ones. Galarraga was a consistent pinch hitter for the Expos that season; however, in OUR season, Galarraga was the starting first baseman over Lee Stevens. Don’t get me wrong, as a loyal Expos fan, I love Lee Stevens, but in the video game world Lee Stevens can suck it. We needed the clutch power hitting; which Galarraga did to the tune of a .654 batting average with 74 home runs and 167 runs batted in. Yah! We were setting all sorts of records which unfortunately were not recognized by Major League Baseball. Damn shame too. In reality, Galarraga had only gone .260/9/40 that season, so in a way, Sam and I truly improved history.

#23- Javier Vazquez is one of those weird pitchers in MLB history who had moments of absolute brilliance and moments of absolute horror throughout his career. He was originally drafted in the fifth round of the 1994 draft out of Puerto Rico by the Expos and hung with the team from his debut in 1998 through the end of the 2003 season. During his six-year run he posted a 64-68 record with a 4.16 ERA and 1076 strikeouts, the largest chunk with one team for his career. He never won a single award, nor was he ever really in the running for one during his time in Montreal. For his career Vazquez only made one All-Star appearance in 2004 with the New York Yankees and finished in fourth place for the NL Cy Young in 2009 with the Atlanta Braves, the only finish he had for the award. While Vazquez can at best be viewed as a mediocre pitcher, the one thing that people tend to forget about is that he was one hell of a hitter (for a pitcher). Vazquez is a career .204 hitter with one home run and 29 RBI to his name. However, in the video game world, it was his start against the Cleveland Indians on June 21 at the Big O that Vazquez made history.

The thing about batting in All-Star Baseball 2003 is that the hitting zone for each player fluxuates in two ways: the contact zone is in the form of an isosceles triangle and ranges in size based on one’s batting average. The power zone is in the form of an equilateral triangle inside the contact zone and you can use the option of only using that in order to crush more home runs. The other thing is that you can tilt the angle of the contact zone to direct the ball wherever you want it to go after contact. In the case of Vazquez, he had a huge contact zone and little power; rightfully so. CC Sabathia was pitching for the Indians in the contest and I had control of Vazquez on the mound and at the plate. Because Sabathia pitches lefty and Vazquez bats righty I tilted my contact point toward the left field wall every time. And, every time I made contact, I was rewarded with bases. I got a double in the first at-bat and a single in the second. I really had no intentions of getting fancy with the bat, but on the third at-bat I decided to tilt the cursor toward right field and put it on the outside of the strike zone in case the computer decided to throw me some outside sliders. Sure enough, it did. And sure enough I hit the hardest low-flying home run in the history of pitchers at the Big O. By the time Vazquez’s fourth at-bat came around Sabathia had been pulled for Jerrod Riggan, but all I kept thinking about was going for the triple. I tilted my cursor in the same manner as the home run, but laid it flatter as to only get a chalk-scrapping punch to the right field corner. I fouled off the first two pitches and took the following two for balls. With a 2-2 count I got a little ahead of the pitch but chopped it perfectly to where I wanted. Matt Lawton was playing right field for the Indians at the time and I did my best to test his arm as I booked Vazquez around the bases. Vazquez was only a third of the way around second by the time Lawton threw the ball from the corner. By some miracle the defensive instincts for the computer kicked on and Omar Vizquel cut the ball off. Thus, allowing Vazquez to ring in the cycle with ease. Oh Javier!!!

#24- This player will ring a bell for a few of you, and be a completely afterthought for others. On April 23 the Expos played host to the Brewers as a free agent pickup by the Boston Red Sox from 1999 took the mound for the Spos. From 2001-2003 this Japanese national pitcher wore #24 for the Expos in which his 13-8 record with a 3.18 ERA in 2002 proved to be the bests of his career. On this date; however, Tomo Ohka had a day of destiny in the video game world.

Ben Sheets took the mound for the Brewers, a team whose only offensive threats came in the form of Richie Sexson, Eric Young, Geoff Jenkins and Ronnie Belliard. Ohka, for some reason, was feeling it. The first three innings went by fairly quick: three strikeouts and a lot of grounders and pop pouts. Innings four through seven were riddles with at least two strikeouts per inning and a lot of brilliant catches by Sam on the field defense. It was at this moment that I paused the game and noticed what was going on. We had built an 8-0 lead and Sheets had all ready been replaced by Mike Buddie in the fifth. But then we both took a look at the Brewers’ offensive numbers: zero hit and zero walks. With six outs to go I got a little nervous. I’ve always been prone to throw strikes as I hate playing games that last more than an hour; however, in this case I became a bit more daring and started painting corners a little bit harder as Ohka’s fatigue level hadn’t really registered yet. Sexson went down to strikes, Jenkins took on to the right field warning track where a patient Vladimir Guerrero was waiting to make out number two and Alex Ochoa grounded out for the final out. With the heart of the lineup gone, all I had left was Jose Hernandez, Raul Casanova and whomever was going to be pinch hitting.

I think the computer sensed what was about to happen and opted to bunt with Hernandez… but I was ready for it; a real jerk move on its part. One down. Casanova battled, taking Ohka’s total pitch count over 110; thus making it harder to control. With the eighth pitch of the at-bat Casanova bounced a dribbler up the middle, but slow enough for Jose Vidro to do a quick scoop and throw. Two down. Finally, it was time for the final test: Mark Loretta. I’d like to say it was more exciting of a finish, but Loretta popped it up to the first base side for an easy out by Galarraga. Sam and I went crazy despite the pathetic fireworks display I got; however, I did get a slew of baseball card points which ultimately unlocked retro jerseys. So that was awesome.

Yup! This hat will always have a special place in my heart to remind me of the day when my best friend and I did good by the fine people of Montreal… even if it was in the video game world.