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Top Eight Riverfront Stadium Memories (Part 2)

January 30th, 2006 | Thaq Diesel

Top Eight Riverfront Stadium Memories (Part 2)
By Thaq Diesel

4. I remember sitting the left field bleachers to watch Hideo Nomo and the Dodgers get beat by the Reds in 1995 NLDS. In fact, it was the last time the Reds won a post-season series. What I remember most about this game, however, was my friend Avi handing me binoculars he brought. I scanned the pressbox to find Marty and Joe. I remember actually being shocked to see Nuxhall drinking a beer in the booth. Ah, to be young and naive again.

3. It’s strange, but one of my favorite memories was the low-tech scoreboard advertisement that took place in the early innings. The umpire trying to make the call, “Yer a Big Red Smokie!!!! Yer a hot dog!!!!” with organ music playing during this sequence. It was total cheese, but these are the kinds of things that capture and hold your attention when you’re a kid. It set, I don’t know, an ATMOSPHERE of baseball. I looked forward to this sequence every time I attended a Reds home game. (Honorable mention - the lame ghost that warned “Walks will haunt” when the opposing pitcher walked the leadoff batter.)

2. I snuck down for a weeknight game. It was cold and windy and the Reds were losing in the early innings. A young Reggie Sanders smacks a pitch opposite field down the right field line. He gets a great jump and is closing on second base. The right fielder is trying to chase down the pinballing baseball. I realize as he passes second that Reggie is going for an inside the park HR try. I got goosebumps and I simply found this to be one of the most exciting sports moments I could recall. I yelled and cheered like crazy. The right fielder (who I believe was none other than Reds killer Mark Whiten) threw a rope to the cutoff man. Reggie slid headfirst into the catcher and was called out on a close play at the plate, though I think the catcher blocked the plate and Sanders never actually touched it. As exciting as this potential inside-the-park try was, the aftermath was equally as depressing. Reggie was down at home for a few minutes before slowly getting up and walking off. He was handed his glove and headed out to left field, but spent most of the time with his hands on his knees. Larkin spent the whole inning looking at Reggie between pitches. Luck would have it that no balls were hit to left, which was fortunate since Reggie left the game after that half inning to be admitted to the hospital with a collapsed lung. That ten seconds of excitement for me, though, were only exceeded in Riverfront by one other event.

1. Eric Davis was in his tobacco-chewing prime. His defense and power had won over the city who were just getting used to this new talent. Whoever was pitching for the Reds that game had already given up a run in the first inning and had a runner on third with no outs. The hitter smacks a long fly ball to deep left center. The crowd exudes that slowly rising nervous roar it makes when an opposing team hits a potential homerun. Davis tracks the ball and at the last minute skys upward and puts his glove over the wall. The entire stadium is silent for a full second. Davis comes down with the ball and throws it into the infield. Riverfront explodes with a roar unlike any I’ve ever heard. It was an amazing play by a talented player in his prime and I had goosebumps. Of course, the runner tagged from third and scored, but the stadium didn’t care and cheered Davis for the next two innings straight, every person saying to the stranger next to them, “Did you see THAT?” I don’t even remember if the Reds won that game and it didn’t matter. Moments like Davis’ over-the-wall catch are the things you see once in a lifetime, if you’re lucky.