Sunday, December 26, 2004

Relics

I am taking a week off for vacation, so I get to do things I normally wouldn't do. Today I was going through my boxes of old memorabilia from my youth. I came across some cool pieces of Mariners and other Seattle sports history. I'd like to list them here, just for the sake of history, (which is one of the emphases in my Humanities major).

• 1 6"x6" embroidery circle. Handstitched on it (by me) are a football, Seahawks logo, and Seahawks helmet. Circa 1988.

• 1 Sonics "We're #1" foam hand with extended index finger. Yellow with green screen printing. Circa 1989.

• 1 Mariners scorecard, unused, with the Rangers listed as the visitors. Autographed by Dave Fleming. Circa 1993.

• 1 Dairy Queen promotional Mariners pin and baseball card. Featuring Edgar Martinez, 1992 A.L. Batting Champ, (first in M's history). Perfect condition. It's #2 in a series of four, the other three being Randy Johnson, Ken Griffey, Jr., and Chris Bosio. Circa 1993.

• Newspaper photos of:
- Griffey, Mike Felder and Henry Cotto slapping gloves after beating KC 10-7. It was Lou Piniella's 500th career victory. Circa 1993.
- Shawn Kemp dunking over Larry Krystowiak of the Jazz. Circa 1993.
- Lou Piniella modeling the new M's uniform (and looking comically chipper.) Circa 1993.
- Griffey greeted by Rich Amaral and Omar Vizquel after Griffey hit a 3-run homer in the 8th. M's beat Detroit 9-5. Circa 1993.
- Eddie Johnson and Shawn Kemp defending a grimacing Charles Barkley, in game 4 of the Western Conference finals. Circa 1993.
- Eddie Johnson driving on Tom Chambers in the 1993 playoffs.
- Brad Holman just after being nailed in the forehead by a batted ball from Texas' Mario Diaz. Circa 1993. I listened to that game in Forks, Washington, while on vacation with my family.
- Griffey greeted by Henry Cotto, Edgar, and Harold Reynolds after Griffey hit a grand slam, the first of his career, in New York. The M's won, 6-1. Johnson got the win. Circa 1991.
- Shawn Kemp dunking over Robert Horry. Circa 1994.
- (2) Ken Griffey Jr. in AA.
- Ken Griffeys Jr., Sr., and mom Birdie.
- Ken Griffeys Jr. and Sr. at press conference announcing Sr.'s joining of the Mariners
- Ken Griffeys Jr. and Sr. in the dugout before their first game together. I remember staying up to listen to that game on the radio.

• 2 Drew Bledsoe autographs. Circa 1992.

• 1 Kingdome napkin, near mint condition. Seahawk helmet, M's logo, and Kingdome logo. Circa 1992.

• 3 photos - a panorama - of the Kingdome's field. Circa June 16, 1991.

• 1 ticket stub, Sonics vs. Blazers. Kingdome. Circa March 23, 1993. (Blazers crushed the Supes. Horrible game. More Portland fans than Seattle...)

I have more somwhere else, but that's just what I saw today.

-Munchausen

1 Comments:

At 12/27/2004 10:17 AM, Blogger PositivePaul said...

I wish I had vacation leave. I do, but not a ton, so I'm stuck here at work...

I've got the DQ Bosio and the Griffey pins/cards. I think I may also have the RJ.

It's amazing, too, what you find when you move. In sorting through the old boxes from my youth, I dug up the following:

--The remains of a Ken Griffey Jr chocolate bar that was discovered by a mouse not too long after I bought a stack of them. In spite of the mice gnaws, I kept one wrapper.

--A well-wrinkled Sonics pennant from the early 1970s that I'm sure my G'ma got at one of her many garage sale adventures in Bellevue.

--Ticket stubs from various M's games: 1989-1995. Includes the stub from a fan appreciation night game where my buddy and I stood outside the 'dome with a cardboard sign we got from someone else right after he got some tickets. We ended up with two tickets just below the rafters. But we got 'em for free! And this was 1990, way before the Lou years...

--Mariners Magazine from 1991 or 1992 (can't remember right now at work) with Edgar on the cover. Dude has a 'stache and the good ol' "S" logo from that era (see http://seattle.mariners.mlb.com/sea/photo/ph_uniform3c.jpg) for an example). My favorite unis (though I do like the current ones -- especially the midnight blue or black ones they occasionally use at home) have to be the ones from 81-86 (and the Trident/star logo: http://seattle.mariners.mlb.com/sea/images/logo2.gif)

--A snapshot of the bigscreen in the Kingdome with my picture on it. Wearing a Seahawks hat and a big cheesy third-grade grin. I was Mascot of the Week in third grade, and got to go in the locker room, press box, and on the field. It was a dream come true, especially after meeting my idols Jim Zorn and Steve Largent. Meeting Pete Gross was pretty cool, too, though I appreciate it moreso now than I did then. That barely, ok GREATLY, edges out my least-favorite Seahawks memory. My parents took us to the open house right after they opened up the training facilities in Kirkland. They gave away free hot dogs and pop, and lets just say I lost count at 14. Considering how fast they were crankin' 'em out, at least one or two of them were "slightly" undercooked. I was sick for two weeks, and still have hesitancy before ordering a hot dog at the ball park.

Okay, I, too, could go on. Nevermind the fun I have digging through the piles of my baseball cards. Something about the joy of pulling a Kal Daniels, Sam Horn, Carlos Quintana, Dante Bichette, Ricky Jordan or a Kevin Maas rookie card, and the agony it brings today when I look at those things. I can't tell you how tired I am of seeing Rance Mulliniks, Bryn Smith, Kent Tekulve and Joaquin Andujar cards. But it doesn't amount to the anguish I have when suffering through the memory of trading my 1985 Topps Mark McGwire rookie card for the supposedly-rare high-numbered 1989 Upper Deck rookie cards of Jerome Walton, Dwight Smith, and Gregg Olson (but, hey, he threw in a Greg Briley!).

Brings you back to the day of disappointment when the M's traded away Spike Owens for Rey Quinones (Hendu was also traded away). They followed that one up a few months later when they traded away Danny Tartabull. That year (1986) had to be the year I really started getting into M's baseball, and being upset at the M's front office. It's fun, too, reliving those memories through Baseball-Reference.com (I see that in 1992, Danny T was the highest paid player in baseball - http://www.baseball-reference.com/t/tartada01.shtml)

 

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