Top 10 Baseball games I ever attended: #6

July 19, 1991: Brewers vs. White Sox

T1: Molitor 5-3, Hamilton 3-1, Surhoff 4-3
B1: Raines 1-3, Ventura HR, Thomas 1B, Pasqua 1B, Newson 1-3, Johnson 1B, Karkovice K
(Sox 3, Brewers 0)

This was the first of a 4-game series between the Brewers (then in the AL East) and the Sox. tbKMD and I decided we were going to watch all 4 games of the series from the same seats and pretend like we were season ticket holders. Fun to act like big shots.

T2: Vaughn K, Sheffield 2B, Stubbs P1, Bichette K
B2: Cora 1B, Guillen 4-3, Raines BB(SB), Ventura HR, Thomas K
(Sox 5, Brewers 0)

tbKMD's favorite player at the time ... maybe for all time ... was Robin Ventura. Not sure why, 'cause he was kinda homely, especially when compared to Dolberry. I think maybe she liked that early in his career (the year before) he went through an 0 for 41 slump but overcame it. Even though he was likely the best third baseman in baseball in the 1990s, he's best remembered for being on the receiving end of a noogie from Nolan Ryan when he charged the mound after a HBP.

T3: Gantner 3-1, Spiers 1B, Molitor 2-3, Hamilton F7
B3: Pasqua 2B, Newson BB, Johnson BB, Karkovice FC, Cora FC, Guillen F7.
(Sox 5, Brewers 0)

Jack McDowell was pitching for the Sox in this one. For a four-year stretch (1990-1993), he was one of the best pitchers in baseball. He was a big deal in Chicago, in part because he was in the wave of young talent (Big Hurt, Ventura, Alex Fernandez) that took the Chisox from mediocrity to an AL West pennant in 1993. Another component of his popularity was he was in an alternative rock band in the offseason and one of the early adopters of the goatee. After 4 years of throwing the split finger fastball for 250 innings a season, his career ended too quickly w/ arm trouble.

T4: Surhoff F7, Vaughn 1B(E9), Sheffield BB, Stubbs F8, Bichette 1B, Gantner F8
B4: Raines BB, Ventura 2B, Thomas P6, Pasqua K, Newson K
(Sox 6, Brewers 1)

This was the first year of the new Comiskey Park. It had been going up all 1990 season and it dwarfed the old stadium. As a fan, it was nice to have wide concourses to walk down and clean bathrooms and seats that actually faced home plate w/ no poles to look around. However, most people agreed w/ Mike Veeck that the new park "had everything but a soul". The upper deck where tbKMD and Dolberry were sitting was extremely steep. Not a good place to go if you were scared of heights. I guess it's been significantly renovated since the 90s. Dolberry will have to go back sometime.

T5: Spiers 3B, Molitor 1B, Hamilton F8, Surhoff F7, Vaughn K
B5: Johnson 1B(CS), Karkovice F9, Cora K
(Sox 6, Brewers 2)

There can't be many quieter Hall of Fame players than Paul Molitor. In 1991, at the age of 35 he led the league in hits, runs, and triples. He's 9th on the all time hits list with 3,319. It may be awhile before we see another player get 3,000 hits. It's not gonna happen in 2010 unless Griffey Jr. gets 320 hits. I doubt Junior gets to 3000 even though he's only 39. Unless he can get a cushy DH job for the Mariners or some other subpar AL team and stay reasonably healthy for 2.5 solid years. Gary Sheffield, who got one of his 2,615 hits in this game, has an outside chance to get there. The next to get to 3,000 will likely be Jeter or Pudge Rodriguez sometime in 2012.

T6: Sheffield 5-3, Stubbs P6, Bichette F9
B6: Guillen 1B, Raines BB, Ventura 2B, Thomas BB, Pasqua HR, Sosa 4-3, Johnson 4-3, Karkovice BB, Cora HBP, Guillen 1B, Raines HBP, Ventura F8
(Sox 12, Brewers 2)

So, tbKMD & I were playing the "pick to click" game, a Sox tradition started by their TV announcer Hawk Harrelson. Basically, you pick a player and whoever player has the best game wins. tbKMD's pick of Ventura won going away as by this point in the game he was 4 for 5 w/ two HRs and two doubles. Both Milwaukee's pitcher (Crim) and catcher (Surhoff) got ejected in the bottom of the 6th for the HBPs. They both got frowny faces from tbKMD in the scorebook.

T7: Gantner 1B, Spiers 1B, Molitor BB, Hamilton SF8, Dempsey 1-3, Vaughn K
B7: Thomas BB(PB), Pasqua HBP, Sosa F8, Johnson 1B, Karkovice SF8, Cora P6
(Sox 13, Brewers 3)

Sammy Sosa was in his 3rd and last year w/ the White Sox at this point. He had 33 HRs total in his first three years. In 1998 he would hit twice that many in a single season. He really got a lot better in 1998. His slugging percentage bulged over 150 points. Hmmm ... why did he get so much better. Perhaps a before and after picture would help ...

Before ...

After ...
I can only assume he picked his lawyer on the theory that, comparatively, no one would look like a slimeball when sitting right next to him. There's a segment of the baseball community (mostly younger fans) that say we shouldn't judge Bonds, Clemens, McGwire, Sosa, A-Rod, Palmeiro, ad nauseum ... for a myriad of relativist reasons. Dolberry disagrees. It may not have explicitly been against baseball's rules, but clearly taking illegal supplements is against basic rules of society and really common sense. Maybe there's a whole generation of baseball players that did it and maybe there's a whole lot of Americans now who supplement themselves w/ all sorts of pharmaceutical nonsense that they don't need ... but it's still not right. Play the game right.

T8: Sheffield 4-3, Stubbs F8, Bichette K
B8: Grebeck HR, Huff 1B, Ventura F7, Merullo BB, Pasqua P2, Sosa F9
(Sox 14, Brewers 3)

Fun game. I've only seen one better performance than that and it'll come up later in the countdown. Ventura broke his ankle in a gruesome home plate slide in Sarasota against the Reds in Spring Training. He underwent an ankle transplant a few years back & can now walk w/o a limp.

T9: Ganter 4-3, Spiers 3-1, Molitor 3B, Hamilton 6-3

Final: Sox 14, Brewers 3