Last night shortly before 9 PM PT, I was sitting with Janet and my cousin Jonah’s parents (a close relation in my family) at a dessert store called True Confections at the corner of Alma Street and Broadway in Vancouver. While we were getting ready to pay the check, Barry Bonds hit his 756th home run, breaking Hank Aaron’s record. I hold tickets to two Giants games this week: tonight and tomorrow. Barry Bonds will be looking for his 757th home run. I’m only now sitting in Vancouver International Airport waiting for my San Francisco-bound Air Canada flight, where the current time is 10:44 AM PT on Wednesday, August 8.
This is not the first time I’ve just missed seeing a baseball milestone, although most of what I’ve missed has pertained to Cal Ripken. I was at Cal Ripken’s 2128th consecutive game. The 2131st game broke Lou Gherig’s consecutive game streak. I had tickets to what was originally going to be Cal Ripken’s last game before retiring, but a week’s worth of games were rescheduled for the next week after the attacks of September 11, 2001. I was at Cal Ripken’s Hall of Fame Sendoff at Camden Yards in Baltimore on July 24; had I been in Central New York as I frequently am the weekend of his induction, I probably would have made an effort to be in Cooperstown. Then, there were some lesser “milestones” of a sort, which aren’t exactly the types of events one wants to be at. I have the scorecard from the Orioles last game before trading away a number of favorite players, including BJ Surhoff, as part of a rebuilding. I was at Rafael Palmerio’s first game back after serving his suspension for testing positive for steroids.
That said, I am looking forward to seeing tonight’s Nationals-Giants game at AT&T Park, said to be one of the nicest baseball stadiums constructed. And I am looking forward to having more time in San Francisco, a city that I enjoyed visiting about 19 months ago and am excited to exploring more.
I will now sign off, try downloading pictures from yesterday before my plane boards, and will write about my last day in Vancouver and tonight’s baseball game later this evening.
