Tomorrow night is the 20th anniversary of the first game under the lights at Wrigley Field.* Today marks the first anniversary of Barry Bonds breaking Hank Aaron's home run record.
Both events were viewed by a non-trivial amount of people as harbingers of the end of the world. Amazingly, Mother Earth still spins.
*As everyone knows, the first official game under the lights didn't occur until the following night because as God wept over the desecration of daytime baseball in Wrigley, his falling tears made the field unplayable, thus resulting in a postponement.
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I have to admit: had I lived in Chicago back in 1988 I would almost certainly have opposed the idea of lights.
And I would have been so wrong. Night baseball anywhere is a beautiful thing; night baseball at Wrigley Field is sublime. I'm going to be there to watch my Cardinals tomorrow, and I'll raise a solid cheer for the concept.
Willie Wilson hit a HR in the rain out.
Kind of a shame, because he didn't get many in his career.
Just think, Willie could have been known as the guy who hit the first HR in a night game at Wrigley.
Just shows the Baseball Gods were too pissed off to play a great practical joke on the Cubbies.
I thought it was Phil Bradley who had the 1st night-game HR?
That's the real problem with God raining down his tears, it's impossible to share a story about the early days without confusion. For instance:
As an 11 year-old I had the good fortune to attend the 2nd ever night game at Wrigley (8-22-88). At that game, I caught a foul ball off the bat of Andre Dawson on the fly, a big deal for any 11 year-old. In telling that story for the last 20 years, it's always difficult to explain that the 8-8-88 rainout made the 8-9-88 game the first and my game the 2nd and not the third. Arghhh.
Aside: Astros pitcher that night was Mike Scott. I no longer have the ball as proof, but there were three clear parallel scuff marks on the ball I caught. Scott was cheatin' a bit methinks...
I went back and did some research. You're right, it was Bradley.
Damn the internet!!!!
I know Wilson hit one also, and it was unsual for him. I guess that's why it stood out.
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