My Dad (and probably my Mom) were at a semi-historical game in Angels history back in 1993.
I know this because I have the two ticket stubs my dad wrote on.
Angels great Chuck Finley reached a milestone for pitchers in notching his 1000th career strikeout.
Finley had 8 K's in this game, would pitch another 6 years for the Angels and go on to be number 2 on the Angels All-Time Strikeout list with 2,151.
Reading the box on retrosheet my folks witnessed Finley pitch a complete game against the Orioles, but ended up losing 4-3.
After giving up a two-run home run to Mike Devereaux in the top of the first and one strikeout, Finley settled in for 7 more K's but gave up two more runs in the fourth.
The Angels mounted a comeback in the 6th but fell a run short, and didn't pose a threat again.
Tim Salmon hit his 30th HR of his Rookie of the Year season.
Finley finished giving up a massive 13 hits, but the Orioles ended up stranding 12 runners, so the outcome could have been much worse. Sounds like it would have been an exciting game to be at.
My folks both passed several years ago, so it's nice to picture them sitting in the Big A taking in this Chuck Finley milestone. And pretty cool to have this keepsake from it.
Very nice piece to hang onto. Since that was an early September game, I wonder if any prominent players made their MLB debut that night?
ReplyDeleteManny Ramirez's first game was Sept. 2nd, 1993 - but he was in Minnesota playing for Cleveland.
DeleteJim Edmonds debuted for California a week later on Sept, 9th.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/MLB/1993-debuts.shtml