Opening night - the smell of hot dogs and peanuts and crackerjacks, the beer vendors hawking in the stands...wait that was another time, another place, another era.
This was opening night Coneheads in Orinda 2012, the inaugural game at the new turf field at Wilder Crossroad. The bathrooms were blocked off with a temporary fence from our field, the water fountains didn't work, and the lights won't come on, so the second game was already cancelled. The warm Contra Costa afternoon giving way to the cold foggy breeze coming over the hills from Oakland, and the sun in the first basemens' eyes making every throw from third a danger and a challenge, but I wouldn't change a thing. And the usual result over an overmatched Usual Suspects team to the tune of 32-9 or thereabouts, and it wasn't even that close.
Chuck got the first walk on turf to lead off, Sting moved him along with a liner, and Greg brought him home with a fly ball, and we never looked back. We poured on eight more runs in the first for nine altogether, not quite what I consider a Conehead inning (I think of those as ten or more), but enough to remind the Suspects who is the boss of our games with them. The highlights included a bases loaded two run single by Ol' G, and a three run turf home run by Chopper. Gene finished it with another screamer through the outfield for three also, and when you split the outfielders on the new field we know what the result will be from now on.
In the bottom of the first to further announce the arrival of the new season, Chuck put on his usual display with an all out dive in the 5-6 hole and a force out at third. He came up and there was no dirt on his uniform! Just think he may get rug burn playing at Wilder, but far fewer ripped knee holes from his dives!
We scored every inning, everybody had at least two hits and at least one run scored. Chuck and Derek also went yard, Chuck on a twisting fly curving beyond the reach of the right fielder, and Derek with a blast that split two outfielders, and made it almost all the to the fence, which must be 400 feet there. Gene led the team with six RBIs as he also had a triple, and Lefty, Gerry and Sting failed to make an out between them, five, four, and three hits respectively.
The defensive highlight of the game was in the last inning when everyone had gone to positions other than their normal ones. Gerry ranged far into deep right field to snag the first out. He had a grin a mile wide as he told me that he never even knew the ball was in his glove until he realized it was nowhere else. Like a kid that just discovered he had an extra cache of candy.
First of many great nights in the shadow of the Caldecott Tunnel is my guess.
Extra credit for whoever fesses up that they had the first Conehead hit on the new Wilder field...I want to mark it in the records.
Milestones:
Chuck 900 h (#1)
Chopper 100 h (#20)
Lefty 100 ab (#26)
Lefty 10 2b (#26)
This was opening night Coneheads in Orinda 2012, the inaugural game at the new turf field at Wilder Crossroad. The bathrooms were blocked off with a temporary fence from our field, the water fountains didn't work, and the lights won't come on, so the second game was already cancelled. The warm Contra Costa afternoon giving way to the cold foggy breeze coming over the hills from Oakland, and the sun in the first basemens' eyes making every throw from third a danger and a challenge, but I wouldn't change a thing. And the usual result over an overmatched Usual Suspects team to the tune of 32-9 or thereabouts, and it wasn't even that close.
Chuck got the first walk on turf to lead off, Sting moved him along with a liner, and Greg brought him home with a fly ball, and we never looked back. We poured on eight more runs in the first for nine altogether, not quite what I consider a Conehead inning (I think of those as ten or more), but enough to remind the Suspects who is the boss of our games with them. The highlights included a bases loaded two run single by Ol' G, and a three run turf home run by Chopper. Gene finished it with another screamer through the outfield for three also, and when you split the outfielders on the new field we know what the result will be from now on.
In the bottom of the first to further announce the arrival of the new season, Chuck put on his usual display with an all out dive in the 5-6 hole and a force out at third. He came up and there was no dirt on his uniform! Just think he may get rug burn playing at Wilder, but far fewer ripped knee holes from his dives!
We scored every inning, everybody had at least two hits and at least one run scored. Chuck and Derek also went yard, Chuck on a twisting fly curving beyond the reach of the right fielder, and Derek with a blast that split two outfielders, and made it almost all the to the fence, which must be 400 feet there. Gene led the team with six RBIs as he also had a triple, and Lefty, Gerry and Sting failed to make an out between them, five, four, and three hits respectively.
The defensive highlight of the game was in the last inning when everyone had gone to positions other than their normal ones. Gerry ranged far into deep right field to snag the first out. He had a grin a mile wide as he told me that he never even knew the ball was in his glove until he realized it was nowhere else. Like a kid that just discovered he had an extra cache of candy.
First of many great nights in the shadow of the Caldecott Tunnel is my guess.
Extra credit for whoever fesses up that they had the first Conehead hit on the new Wilder field...I want to mark it in the records.
Milestones:
Chuck 900 h (#1)
Chopper 100 h (#20)
Lefty 100 ab (#26)
Lefty 10 2b (#26)
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