A twi-night doubleheader.

July 13, 1984 in Pittsburgh. Giants vs. Pirates. Friday the 13th. I was 14 years old, went with my Dad and brother.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/PIT/PIT198407131.shtml
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/PIT/PIT198407132.shtml

I don’t know exactly what time the whole thing started, but it was 4 pm at the earliest, and perhaps as late as 5:30. That means it ended between 2 and 3:30 am, calculating with the game times and allowing for 25 minutes or so between games.

The funny thing is that in 2004 I tried to write a 20th anniversary story of this wild night, talking to some of the principals who were still around. Dusty Baker, Dan Gladden, Mike Krukow, Bob Brenly played for the Giants and Ron Wotus played for the Pirates.

Hardly anyone remembered anything about it, so I never wrote the story. Can you believe that?

Of course, walking down the ramps after the game chanting UUUUU…. RIBE! was pretty special, too.

In 1998 I went to a game and locked my keys and tickets in the car as we were walking into Candlestick. I was amazed at how quickly AAA got to us and got the car open, and by the fact that we only missed the top of the first. Of course, that’s when the only run of the game was scored. Estes was fantastic that day but obviously it’s tough to win when your team doesn’t score. (pretty sure it was this game: http://www.baseball-almanac.com/box-scores/boxscore.php?boxid=199809200SFN)

The JT Snow home run game in 2001 was memorable because I was a freshman in college and I remember running around my dorm screaming like an idiot about a game that no one in the city of Boston cared about when he hit that home run, only to be crushed later when Benitez blew it.

You’re dead on as far as game 4 of the NLCS in 2010 goes. Any time a playoff game goes to extras it’s time to sit on the edge of your seat and with that game representing such a huge swing one way or the other it was time for sweaty palms too. Oddly enough I remember thinking the series was over when Oswalt came in because it meant Manuel had absolutely no faith in anyone in his pen, and even if the Phillies won the game there was no way Oswalt would be fresh enough to win in his next start.

Sadly I didn’t actually see NLCS game 6 because I was at a wedding in Oakland with no TV’s. During the ceremony we were all frantically refreshing our phones and seriously depressed when the Phils jumped out to that 2-0 lead early. When Uribe hit the home run to take the lead my buddy from NY called me and I went around the party screaming “JAZZ HANDS! 3-2 GIANTS!” (it should be noted that was after several cocktails). I spent the 9th inning on the phone with that friend in NY pacing outside, phone in one hand, drink in the other, practically spilling it all over myself when the game ended. I ran back inside and told the groom and his brother that they could announce that World Series Game 1 would be in San Francisco. That same NY friend sent me a picture of Howard’s face after the strike 3 call that is still the background on my phone today, as well as pics from the locker room that were passed around the party. After it wrapped up we all raced back to our rooms at the hotel to see what happened because all we had was the boxscore up until that point. We ended up watching the highlights over and over and over…