TAMPA, FL – The Tampa Baseball Hall of Fame held an Opening Day viewing party for their hometown Rays, who were in St. Louis facing the Cardinals.
The gathering lacked youth as a bunch of middle aged men and women munched down on popcorn, hot dogs, beer and storytelling from its invited guests. Former Rays Manager Joe Maddon was there along with former players Joe Magrane and Roberto Hernandez to name a few. Former umpire Rich Garcia, who ruled Derek Jeter’s home run was not interfered by the hero fan, Jefferey Maier during the 1996 playoffs, also made an appearance.
Garcia was feisty as can be as he complained about the new ABS challenge. “It does nothing but embarrass the umps in front of 50,000 fans,” he griped.
I asked Maddon why he’s not working with a team, he responded, “I’m just taking it easy and enjoying life. ” I countered, “Bullshit! You know damn well you’d take a manager’s gig tomorrow if anyone calls.” Everybody laughed nervously and Maddon let out a chuckle. The chuckle got louder when I asked him how the hell did he handle those ANALytical geeks. Maddon’s body language and the look on his face basically answered his non-verbal response.
Eight-year veteran Magrane let out an honest answer when I asked him what his WHIP was. The former lefty pitcher answered, “How the f*ck would I know!” Hernandez, who pitched on ten teams in his 17-year career, got riled up about the philosophy of today’s game. “Back then all I cared about was pitching strikes.” He shared that he coaches a youth team in St. Pete, Florida and the uppercut swings that his batters take make him cringe.
While the opener was being shown on the big screen, everybody’s attention was on the stories that were being told from these men, whose knowledge is being wasted by being AWOL from this once great game.
As for the outcome of the opening game, who cares?
