“You know it’s snowing here, right?”
That was my brother, calling me on a not-delightful-at-all May morning (yes, May, the 18th to be exact), wondering if he should still meet Suzi, me and her parents for our planned trip to Yankee Stadium.
I was aware that it was snowing where he lived, but that near our hometown, up on the hill. Outside of Albany where we lived, it was cold — especially since, as I mentioned before, it was May 18 — but it was just raining.
Plus I explained to him that I had checked the forecast, and the rain was supposed to stop in New York City a little before the game was supposed to start. I assumed the field had a good drainage system, so I assured him we’d be fine.
So, I think somewhat reluctantly, he came to meet us for the 2 1/2-hour or so drive to the Bronx.
My predictions came true. The rain did stop when we were just outside the city. They did play.
And we froze.
The game recap said the temperature at the start of was 44 degrees with an 18 mph wind blowing from left to right. Or to put it another way, 44 degrees with the wind blowing directly at us.
The Yankees beat the Twins, 6-2. Alfonso Soriano hit a home run. Ted Lilly pitched.
I had to look all that stuff up, though, because I don’t remember many details about the game. I do remember my brother joining in with the fans yelling at Twins’ right fielder Dustan Mohr for nothing other than being right in front of us.
And I remember being really, really cold.
The game recap said the temperature at the start of was 44 degrees with an 18 mph wind blowing from left to right. Or to put it another way, 44 degrees with the wind blowing directly at us.
I had bundled up like it was the middle of winter, but I think my brother went to the team store to buy something to keep warm.
Apparently, there were 46,057 pinstriped popsicles in attendance (and if “Pinstriped Popsicles” ever become something the Yankees sell at the concession stand, I assume my cut for thinking of this brilliant idea will mean I never have to work again).
On the positive side, the game only lasted 2:54. Otherwise, I think we would have all gotten hypothermia.
We had woken up that morning to wintry weather, but also the great news that in the wee small hours, Jason Giambi had hit a grand slam in the 14th inning to give the Yankees a win over the Twins.
We watched the replay in a bar across the street from the stadium, where we grabbed lunch and tried to stay warm before the game. We all knew what was coming, but the moments leading up to it were still exciting.
Giambi had just signed the previous winter. It seemed perfect — the slugger in the prime of his career who idolized the Yankees and Mickey Mantle, who chose to wear 25 with the Yankees because the numbers added up to Mantle’s No. 7.
He was going to be a linchpin of a new Yankees dynasty. It didn’t quite work out that way.
I remembered Giambi’s grand slam, and what happened the next day, when I was ripping days off the Yankees desk calendar where I work from home.
The worst part? Seeing it happened May 17 … 2002.
It checks out, based on where we were living and since it was a couple months before Suzi and I got married, but still … 20 years ago?
The weird thing is that our 20th wedding anniversary is in July, and that seems perfectly reasonable as well as awesome, but going to a game during that same time frame feels like there’s no way it could have been that long ago.
This is also the season of Mount Holyoke College reunions every five years, when Suzi’s class comes around again.
It’s a time to enjoy the campus where she went to college and we got married, a time for awkwardly funny conversations and young women making me feel old.
It’s also a time for her to see friends she doesn’t get together with all that often. One of those friends brought her little boys to one of the reunions, and they started acting up when we were all eating lunch.
I wasn’t doing anything else, so I figured I’d leave them to their chat and chase the boys around. They were small enough and I mobile enough that I could keep them under control, and if need be, scoop up one child with one arm while chasing the other.
The boys seemed to have a good time, I think I got them properly exhausted and Suzi and her friends enjoyed catching up in peace.
The oldest boy is now a senior in high school. Last week his mother posted both his prom photo and the news that he was accepted at Virginia Tech.
Needless to say, I’m sure I couldn’t chase him down if I had to, and forget picking him up with one arm; I’d probably do grievous bodily harm to myself if I tried doing it with two.
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