Originally Posted by FrankWakefield
Wow... the "most"...
This is the game that Rich Klein mentions above... we were at the same game! This was the last baseball game I attended with my Dad... Wife, kids and I flew to Las Vegas, stayed a couple of days, rented a car and drove to the Grand Canyon, then down to Phoenix, where we turned in the car and met up with my parents who lived in Tucson, who would take us back there for a few days. We just happened to meet in Phoenix where the Cardinals happened to be playing, and we happened to have tickets! And after years of letters and phone calls I finally met Lew Lipset at this game. I'd called him saying I was going to be at it, we told one another about our seat locations, he couldn't get up to me, I was happy to go down to him, and I now wish I'd met Rich that evening... maybe Lew gave a cursory introduction, I don't recall. (Hello, Rich!) Lew and I talked for a few minutes before the game. As I recall his seats were behind the first base dugout, near the plate end, and maybe 16 or 18 rows from the field...
I vividly recall hearing the pop of the ball as Randy Johnson warmed up in the bullpen, down and to the left of where I was sitting. He looked intense. This was a pitchers' duel. Johnson was dominant, Jimenez held on best he could. 0-0 after 8. Top of the 9th Darren Bragg draws a walk. Johnson walks McGuire. 1st and 2nd with Eric Davis up, Johnson strikes him out. Then what I recall is Thomas Howard fighting off an evil pitch with a shortened swing, the bat breaks and the ball bounces out into left field, Bragg, a good runner who was going on contact, dashes across the plate. And that was the only run of the game. Retrosheet says it was 2 hours 10 minutes, I don't doubt it... Mr. Johnson and Mr. Jimenez were pitchers that day, 2 complete games.
A few years later I finally was at a game when Colorado was at St. Louis. I'd taken this ticket stub along. Half a dozen Rockies were signing, I missed out on some autographs staying focused on Jimenez, who had walked over to sign. He saw that I held a sign with his name and asking for an autograph (in Spanish), a ticket stub, and a Sharpie. He walked over and asked me what I had, while he signed for everyone but me. Soon I figured out he wanted me to talk about how good he was that night, so everyone else could hear. I obliged him. That ticket was the last thing I saw him sign that day, and I'm grateful for it.
A memorable game, because of Dad, because of the no hitter, how we got there, meeting Mr. Lipset....
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