Rockin' it with the Giants

 Janice, JoElyn (with Buster Posey bobblehead doll) and George

Today is the annual Major League Baseball All-Star Game and because I have a work-related meeting to attend this evening, chances are I'll miss seeing all or most of the action. But that's OK because it feels like I've just come from my own All-Star Game.

On Sunday, after making a hurried exit from the first annual Flores Family Reunion (more to come on that later this week), I drove up to Fremont, dropped off my mom and sister, and headed for the BART station to take the light-rail train into San Francisco for a nationally televised 5 p.m. game between the New York Mets and the Giants.

Make that the 2010 World Series Champion Giants because that's all you see anywhere and everywhere on merchandise sold in the stadium and on nearby streets leading to AT&T Park. But, hey, the fans deserve their extended celebration after 55 years of waiting for a championship.

I attended the game with two high school classmates, JoElyn and Janice. Though we knew of each other in high school, we didn't hang out together. So it was a happy coincidence that we just happened to sit at the same table at our 40th class reunion last fall and discovered that we all love baseball. (See previous post "The Big Cuarenta.")

"Baseball" shoes

Janice favors the Oakland A's, as do I, and JoElyn is a hard-core Giants fan, as evidenced by her Giants jacket, game jersey, orange rally towel and baseball-themed socks and shoes. We had a great view from the third base line and I sat between them with a big honkin' pile of Gilroy garlic fries on my lap.

Between bites, we talked about baseball and travel and life in our respective hometowns. I was impressed with their knowledge of the game and its history and their familiarity with the players and their current statistics. They move easily between conversations about the all-time greats (Mays, McCovey, Marichal and Cepeda) and the current cluster of All-Stars (Lincecum, Cain, Wilson and Sandoval).

If their travels ever bring them up this way, it would be nice to attend a Mariners game. Speaking of the Mariners, I'm due to go up to Seattle next weekend to see them play the Texas Rangers. Ironically, they're the team that the Giants defeated to win the World Series.

As for Sunday's game, I nearly forgot to mention...the Giants beat the Mets, 4 to 2, before a sellout crowd of more than 42,000 fans. During the seventh-inning stretch, the crowd sang "God Bless America" and that old chestnut "Take Me Out To The Ball Game." During the eighth inning, the fans tore it up singing "Lights" by Journey, the '80s band from San Francisco that wrote a song about the city by the bay. I include a YouTube clip here for your viewing pleasure so you can relive the magic of last year's World Series.



Following each home victory, it's also a tradition to play Tony Bennett's "I Left My Heart in San Francisco." I'll let you sing that one on your own.

***
 
A quick note about the All-Star game. Since it marks the halfway point of the season, I'm happy to note my favorite team, the Detroit Tigers, are back in first place in the Central Division of the American League. Would love to see them make it to the World Series.

The punchless A's have lost four games in a row and are mired in last place in the American League West.

And my latest adopted team, the Pittsburgh Pirates, are just one game behind the co-leaders, Milwaukee and St. Louis, in the National League Central. Nice to see that franchise turn it around after18 consecutive losing seasons. Hope to see them next year at PNC Park.

The Big Cuarenta

Forty. As in 40 frickin' years! How in the world did it get to be four decades since I graduated from high school?? And what, exactly, did I think I'd get from the experience of attending my 40-year high school reunion??

Even now, days after the gathering at a cookie-cutter hotel in the suburbs of San Francisco, I'm still trying to tease out what I took away from last Saturday's event.

After a fair amount of puzzling over the question, this may seem like a lame answer but it seems to make sense: I think I reverted to my high school self. And what does that mean? Bear with me as I strive to find the right words to recreate the feelings I had before, during and after the event for members of Washington High School's Class of 1970 in Fremont, California.

Q. Why did I want to attend? After all, I keep in touch with exactly two persons from high school.
A. I think I was curious, more than anything. I wasn't there to relive great old memories because, frankly, I missed out on a lot of the socializing and partying, owing to the fact that as a junior and senior I was working Friday and Saturday nights as a reporter for my hometown newspaper, covering prep and community college sports. I recall attending maybe five school dances at most, including the senior prom, and there was no ex-girlfriend even in the picture.

Home of the Huskies

Q. So what was I curious about?
A. Part of it was wondering who'd attend. In a class of 500, I figured there'd be 100 people or so and that estimate turned out to be about right. To be honest, I was wondering how people would react to me. Would they even remember who I was? Would we, as 50-somethings, get past whatever teenage barriers we threw up between us and have some interesting, egoless conversations? I wasn't out to impress; I went with an open mind, not knowing with whom I might connect.

Mary

Q. So how was it?
A. I was nervous at first. I was in line at the bar, waiting to order a beer when someone with her back to me stepped on my ankle. Turned out to be an ice-breaker. It was Mary, the ex-girlfriend of my best friend Al. We greeted each other warmly and fell into a nice conversation that quickly expanded to include a couple of other classmates. From that point on, I relaxed. I wound up talking to a mailman; a scientist; a professional musician; a foreign exchange student from Iran; a juvenile probation counselor; a psychologist, a couple of grade-school teachers, a railroad train enthusiast; a couple of athletes; the homecoming queen; my date to the senior prom; and two brainiacs. Plus, two girls I remembered as good friends: One, Evelyn, an engineer who worked with me on the high school newspaper; the other, Connie, an artist/teacher who worked on the yearbook staff.

Q. Any awkward moments?
A. You bet. Calling one guy by the wrong name. And, enthusiastically greeting another dude who responded with a glazed look of non-recognition. As a sports reporter, I wrote about him as a key member of the football team so he was certainly familiar to me. But then it dawned on me that we didn't have any classes together and probably never said more than "hi" a few times, so why would he know me?

JoElyn and Evelyn

Q. Any surprises?
A. Yep. My conversation with Charmaine, the homecoming queen, who is so friendly and down-to-earth she defies the stereotype. Turns out that she has two boys and a girl, just like me, and the oldest is an Army Ranger who's previously been stationed at two bases where my youngest son (who's tried out for the Rangers) also has served as an Army private. Also, Janice and JoElyn, the two brainiacs (and I use the term here with affection and admiration) who I sat next to at dinner and whose company I thoroughly enjoyed.

Q. How so?
A. You know, I don't think I spoke to either one during the four years we inhabited the same classrooms and hallways, and I realize now that was my big loss. I told Janice straight up that she intimidated me with her intelligence. She rolled her eyes with embarrassment but conceded that she's got a Ph.D and does biomedical research for a Bay Area firm. JoElyn is a retired financial systems analyst who I remembered as a musician with a flip hairdo. She still plays the clarinet and, much to my surprise, she and Janice are avid baseball fans with deep knowledge of the game and its players, past and present. They even attended a Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Cooperstown, N.Y., for Dennis Eckersley, the former Oakland A's star who was in the WHS Class of '72. Who would have known?

Q. So what's next?
A. Who knows? I'll send an iPhone photo or two to a couple of folks, probably exchange an email or two and carry around some pleasant memories, along with the realization that I'm still basically the same person I was in high school. Shy, reserved, more comfortable on the periphery than in the spotlight. Appreciative of one-on-one conversations, not one to boast or brag, and pretty adept at getting other people to talk about themselves. Are those the traits that led me to become a professional observer (aka a journalist)? Probably. Are those the traits that no doubt caused me to miss out on even more surprises and pleasant conversations? Oh, sure. Would I attend another reunion? Maybe. Let's just say I wouldn't rule it out.