Seth's 50 Centers

I’ve seen a lot of folks putting together lists on Facebook about themselves. The idea is they put down 25 things about themselves so their friends can learn or remember more about them. I spent a few weeks wondering what I’d possibly say about myself. How could I come up with 25 things?

Then I saw another blogger, C. Trent Rosecrans, put one together just about baseball.

Ironically, I felt I’d have no problem putting one together about me and baseball, but I couldn’t do it about my entire life…

1. For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved the Cincinnati Reds.

2. My first favorite player was Eric Davis. He was an amazing combination of speed, power and defensive ability that nearly became the first player to reach the 40-40 club in 1987 – he missed the mark by a measly three home runs, which he could’ve taken the entire month of Sept. to accomplish, but didn’t.

3. When I was first learning to play the game I refused to bat right handed. I threw right handed, wrote right handed, did everything right handed, but I had to bat lefty. It always felt smoother that way, but it could be one of many reasons why I never developed a power stroke.

4. I attended my first big league game in 1988 at Riverfront Stadium. As someone who didn’t have cable, meaning the screen on my TV was fuzzy, the sight of the reddest red and greenest green (astroturf’s only redeemable quality as it turns out) I had ever seen was breathtaking. Rookie Chris Sabo hit a homer and a triple that he turned into a run when Giants third baseman Kevin Mitchell couldn’t handle the throw to third. I had a second favorite player in “Spuds” Sabo, your rookie of the year in the National League. Forty doubles for a rookie ain’t half bad.

5. My dad and grandpa “built” a baseball field for me. My great grandma owned the land surrounding our home, and a good portion of it was flat enough to mark out a field. We used a lot of dirt to form a pitcher’s mound and Grandpa even set up an elaborate structure of wood and tarps with a strike-zone hole cut out so I could practice my pitching even when they were at work.

6. The 1990 team was as memorable as any for me, even though I was only 11 years old. The Reds won their division by being in first place every day of the season. My grandparents and I took a two-week trip out west and the Reds’ lead kept dwindling while we were gone. I seriously thought we had to get back to Ohio ASAP in order to preserve the lead.

7. When the Reds beat the Pittsburgh Pirates in six games in the NLCS, I jumped up and down on my grandparents’ hide-a-bed, causing my Grandma to scold me about it. My answer? “I’ve never seen the Reds make it to the World Series!”

8. For some reason my friend Jeremiah rooted for the Oakland A’s in the World Series – his favorite player was a much leaner Mark McGwire, but still, the A’s? Anyway, when Eric Davis hit a home run off Dave Stewart in the first inning of Game 1, I called Jeremiah to let him know about it. Quite possibly the youngest trash talker in the history of trash talk, to that point.

9. The Reds won the series in a four-game sweep, but it had its downside. Eric Davis lacerated a kidney trying to make a diving catch in left field in the fourth game. I drew a picture of him and sent him a letter in the hospital. I hope he got it.

10. My grandpa spent a lot of time playing baseball with me, which included getting me used to standing in the batter’s box with a hard ball flying toward me. I had gotten hit in a game, I believe, and he was trying to soothe the pain/fear by telling me “it won’t hurt forever.” At one point he was pitching to me and hit me. He got me to stiffen that upper lip, jump back in the box and take another swing, but I couldn’t. The next pitch hit me, too. It didn’t hurt forever.

11. I collected baseball cards beginning in 1987. One of my favorite cards was a 1975 Topps Pete Rose, but that one was stolen when I left a binder full of cards in a restaurant. My parents doubled back to get them, but the waiter or someone else had claimed it as a finder’s fee.

12. My personal best baseball moment came as center fielder of a pretty bad little league team. We led the best team in the league in the last game of the year – they had already gotten first-place trophies – in the bottom of the final inning, but they put together a rally. With two outs, us still up a run, and a runner on second, a line drive was hit to left-center for a base hit. I charged to my right scooped up the ball and threw a seed to our catcher, who tagged out the runner to end the game. You don’t forget a play like that.

13. By 1995 I reached driving age and the Reds had another solid team. I went to the first of my opening days and even attended an NLCS game against the Braves – I think Reggie Sanders just struck out again. In between those two outings I attended a game in May with my mom, my sister and my step dad. With the Reds trailing 11-3 after seven innings, it was decided we were going to hit the road. Following a trip to the restroom for the ladies we made our way to the parking garage. We got into the car and heard some fireworks that signaled a Reds homer. By the time we were north of Kings Island the Reds had beaten the New York Mets 13-11. To my future college roommate Randy’s chagrin, I will NEVER leave early again. (That paid off a bit later, but we’ll save that, well, for later.)

14. My grandpa hit fly balls to me during and after my playing “career”. Even in college, and after for that matter, he’d hit fly balls in a field near his home. I’d run left, right, forward and back to track those balls down. When I was younger and he’d hit an especially high one, he’d shout out, “50-center”, meaning he’d give me 50 cents if I could pull it in — this explains the name of my web site. I’m sure those high ones were tougher for me when I was just starting to play, but I never let on that the really hard ones were the ones I had to run really far to track down, not the high ones. But I caught all the high ones, putting more 50-cent pieces in my pocket!

15. I didn’t go to opening day in 1996. For some reason I didn’t even try, but it turned out OK that I wasn’t there, as the home-plate umpire, John McSherry, collapsed and died just after the start of the game. I’ve been to every opening day since, all but one with my grandpa.

16. I regret not playing high school baseball. I did play Babe Ruth ball as a 13-and 15-year old. At 15, I was amazed at the difference in strength I had when it came to my bat’s length and weight as compared to two years earlier, and it was a real chance to play the game I loved after not playing the season before.

17. The 2000 opener was both the most momentous and anticlimactic game all in one. Ken Griffey Jr. made his debut, but rain and cold caused the end of the game in a tie after six innings, meaning the stats of the contest would count, but there was no result, allowing for a “replay” the next day. In ’03, we got to see the opening of a new ballpark, which was exciting, and the most exciting opener I’ve attended was in ’05, when Adam Dunn and Joe Randa hit back-to-back homers to defeat the Mets in the ninth inning.

18. I picked up my first souvenir baseball in 1999, when Greg Vaughn caught the final out of an inning in left field and threw the ball to me in the seats along the foul line. It was one of several balls I’d get in the coming seasons, but one of only two from during a game – the rest came during batting practice. In ’02, my dad and I went to PNC Park in Pittsburgh and sat in the first row of the center field stands, and Juan Encarnacion tossed me the ball after catching the final out of an inning.

19. I met Reds play-by-play man Marty Brennaman at the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament in 1999. He was doing the national radio broadcast, and I was there with Ohio State student radio. He was very kind to me and offered to host me in the press box if I found my way to a Reds game that summer. I talked my way into the press box and sat down with Marty as he prepared for his broadcast. It was a valuable experience.

20. The 1999 season was my favorite. I was between my sophomore and junior years of college, I lived in Columbus, just 100 miles away from the ballpark, and Randy and I went to several games. That season saw an upstart Reds team win 96 games en route to a one-game playoff with the Mets to decide the NL Wild Card. I saw a combined one-hitter, unbelievable defensive plays by second baseman Pokey Reese and a 12th-inning game winning blast by Reese in mid-September that sent the CPA and I dancing in the aisles. Unfortunately, I also saw the one-game playoff, a loss that ended the dream.

21. I don’t have many autographs, but I do have signed baseballs from Barry Larkin, Sean Casey, Aaron Boone and little-known Reggie Taylor. I also have signed pictures of Casey, Johnny Bench and George Foster, along with signed baseball cards of Rob Dibble and Pete Rose Jr., yes Jr.

22. Just days before marrying the CPA, I went to a Reds game in hopes of seeing Griffey belt his 500th home run. He hit one to the wall, but didn’t knock one out of the park. That Friday, during our rehearsal dinner, I had spies (OK, it was the waiter) keeping an eye on the game on TV. Then, during our reception, one my ushers, Matt, kept abreast of the situation with the help of an ear bud in his ear. Luckily for me, during a brunch held at the CPA’s parents’ house June 20, 2004, I passed through the house at the exact time he came to bat, and hit his homer.

23. On June, 30, 2006, staying until the end of the game paid off. Down 7-0 in the game, the Reds began a comeback that resulted in a 9-8 win over the Cleveland Indians. The winning runs were scored thanks to a ninth-inning grand slam by Adam Dunn. My grandparents and I were sitting in the left field bleachers. It was the biggest comeback since, wait for it, that day in May, 1995 when I left early.

24. I’ve been to 17 big league stadiums, but I didn’t see baseball at Tropicana Field (Final Four), Chase Field (ate at the restaurant overlooking the field in January) or Petco Park (I took a tour, but there wasn’t a game that day). I’ve been to multiple stadiums in three cities – Cincinnati, Cleveland and Pittsburgh.

25. I tend to gear up for baseball season by watching baseball movies, including the documentary Ken Burns Baseball. I’ll likely watch Eight Men Out this spring, which is coming up, so let’s play ball!

What’s on your baseball list? Can’t come up with 25, list five or 10 by making a comment on the site.