Amazing what you can find when you dig. On retrosheet.org you can find box scores for lots of games. Pretty cool. For instance, I dug up the box score from an interesting game I attended.

The date was Sept 5, 2001. I was anxious to go to this Wednesday game because this would be the final appearance of Cal Ripken Jr. at the Oakland Coliseum. Cal would go 0 for 4 that day, but that’s not why I remember the game. The A’s would win 12-6, but that’s also not what I remember.

I remember this game because I was seated in the second deck (section 215 if memory serves), in one of the seats that just begins to have an unobstructed view of home plate. For whatever reason, the A’s left handers were fouling balls off into our section pretty continuously. I didn’t have a glove, but nonetheless I considered the possibility that I could come away with a ball.

If my memory serves, Jeremy Giambi came up to bat against Maduro in the fifth. Jeremy takes a swing at a pitch that was low and outside, and the instant it touches the bat, I realize it’s going to come straight at me. I’m going to get a ball! I could totally make the play! I leap up from my seat…

And get clocked dead center of the forehead with the ball. My hands were still at my side.

Now I know why I don’t play professional baseball. The pity is that a little old lady two rows behind me ended up with the ball, and I had to answer questions for the next two innings like “Did that really hit you in the head?”.

Yes, it really hit me in the head.

Someday I’d like to go back and see if that got recorded. It would be amusing to see myself getting clocked dead center of the A on my hat.