A baseball card I would like to have

There are all kinds of towns – Greek, Italian, and so on with China town probably being the most popular. I’ve never heard of Irish or Sweden town so I guess no one leaves those countries. Anyway, alcoholic is a town too, but alcoholics go to meetings and preach the 12 step higher power where as drunks follow the bible and do like Ecclesiastes and drink and are merry. Can i buy you a drink? What’s your poison or excuse me what’s your pleasure? You wanna dance?

I’ve hid a flask under my pillow on my bed and reached for it and it responded so we were married in a great sense, in that wild kind of love of, singing out loud in the rain all by oneself and when a lonely straggler neared he or she was welcomed in for a swig. That bottle sang to us all like a Christmas Carol or a John Cooper Clarke punk blast and then another sip and gulp and all that mattered was the world, our place, our home and all the vintage 8-pane windows that Walter Johnson played with, throwing balls through, to perfect his aim and….

I worked at the old County Stadium in Milwaukee, as caretaker for the carnival like game called Speed Pitch. It offered fans an opportunity to see how fast they could throw a baseball. We started work three hours before first pitch outside the stadium and it was Milwaukee where tailgating in the parking lot and beer drinking were the euphoric norm so there were a lot of drunks eager to try out their best fastball. My mom always told me that my job at the stadium was a turning point, that it opened me up to others and I think she was right, it opened me up to the joy of drink and camaraderie. And after three hours outside the stadium we moved the contraption to the bleachers and it was a blast and I got paid to boot and even better, we finished our jobs after the fifth inning was completed and so since we were already inside the stadium, we got to watch the last four innings or more and that was the mid to late 1980’s when Teddy Higuera was perhaps the most underrated pitcher in all of baseball and he threw complete games, 15 in 1986 (10 at home) and 14 the following year (8 at home) so I had a chance to see Higuera work, real hard work, and he quickly became one of my favorite pitchers, painting corners with an electric fastball and a big curve ball and plenty of K’s and wins and infectious smile and this card I’ve posted here, a card I would love to get is from where? I wasn’t sure until I asked Mark at RetroSimba and he let me know that …..”Steve, the 2 American League ballparks that had opposing team logos on its outfield walls in that time period were Anaheim Stadium and Toronto’s SkyDome. Because of the grass field, I think the Teddy Higuera card is from Anaheim Stadium, home of the Angels.”

Thanks Mark as I raise up a a flask and make a toast with a drunk sigh.