It’s Why You Watch

 

When there’s 162 baseball games a year, why do you watch every one of them? When your team has lost 192 games in the last two years, why do you watch every single game the next season? When your wife isn’t a fan, why do you sit and watch the game with the dog?

Because you never know when someone will do something you or any other living soul has never seen before.

This story begins 22 years ago in southern Ohio. A young boy named Ryan gets in the car and refuses to put on his seatbelt. Mom takes him to a nearby police station. Scared that he’s going to be arrested, when an officer asks him his name he blurts out the name of his favorite Muppet Baby. And he never wants to be called Ryan again just in case the cops are looking for him.

As he gets going in Little League Ryan shows promise on the diamond and his folks decide to move from Cincinnati to Sarasota, FL so the boy can play baseball year ’round. He’s drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers out of high school in the 16th Round of the 2009 June Draft but at 5’10” and being slight of build he’s a long shot to make it to the majors. But make it he does, working his way through the minor leagues and finally breaking into The Show in 2013.

Last season he had his best year ever in terms of power and RBI. But the Brewers are rebuilding and they have another kid they want to play second base. Ryan is a team player and says he’ll play anywhere the club wants, he’ll be their super sub. But they weren’t interested in a bench player with a $2.525 million salary so they put him on waivers hoping someone else would foot the bill.

That someone else turned out to be Cincinnati, the team he rooted for as a youngster. They were in a rebuild, too, but decided they’d take a flyer on a hometown boy.

Monday night he stepped into the box mired in an 0-for-19 slump. Playing in right field only because the regular at that position had injured himself the day before, Ryan laced a double down the line to plate two runs and give the Reds a win. On Tuesday night he was given the start in left and he drove in the Reds first run with a bloop single. From then on, Ryan, known to everybody else as “Scooter,” went on to make history:

He’s now only the 17th player in Major League history to hit four home runs in a game, joining a list that includes Mike Schmidt, Willie Mays and Lou Gehrig. He’s also the only Red on the list and this is a franchise older than the league itself and one that has boasted tremendous power hitters like Johnny Bench, George Foster, Ted Kluszewski and Frank Robinson.

And now he’s the only one in MLB history with 5 hits, 4 HR and 10 RBI in a single game. Ever.

An electric Scooter. Man, that’s why you watch the game. Every. Single. One.

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  1. DocJay Inactive
    DocJay
    @DocJay

    Nice slugging percentage there baby.  Cool story.

    • #1
  2. Gary McVey Contributor
    Gary McVey
    @GaryMcVey

    When DocJay says you’ve got a good story, damn: Of course he’s right. It’s like Sinatra saying you really know how to sing.

    Another EJ line drive, right over the Right field fence, right into Ricochet River, just beyond the most distant parking lot.

     

    • #2
  3. Mike Rapkoch Member
    Mike Rapkoch
    @MikeRapkoch

    You’re right EJ. This is why I watch every Giants game even now when the team is at the bottom and has no clear route back to the top this year. But when a 21 year old rookie gets his first major league hit off of Clayton Kershaw, well that’s something you want to see. And you want to see your favorites succeed. There’s nothing quite like seeing Buster Posey gun down a guy trying to steal second. Plus, even if you’re a die hard fan of one team, it’s still thrills to see the other team do something spectacular. As I say to my wife, baseball is life.

    • #3
  4. Mike Rapkoch Member
    Mike Rapkoch
    @MikeRapkoch

    I think we need to start an all baseball all the time group. So much better than the real world.

    • #4
  5. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    So, someone in Milwaukee is now thinking, “Why did we let him go?”

    • #5
  6. Columbo Inactive
    Columbo
    @Columbo

    Here’s Scooter ….

    http://www.cincinnati.com/story/sports/mlb/reds/2017/06/07/scooter-gennett-had-night-ages/376368001/

    • #6
  7. Percival Thatcher
    Percival
    @Percival

    Way to break a slump! Thanks, EJ.

    Why do I go? It’s in the family.

    • #7
  8. Casey Inactive
    Casey
    @Casey

    I just want to cut right to the heart of this story and compliment the Reds on their ability to consistently assemble a lineup of fantastic baseball names.

    • #8
  9. Columbo Inactive
    Columbo
    @Columbo

    Casey (View Comment):
    I just want to cut right to the heart of this story and compliment the Reds on their ability to consistently assemble a lineup of fantastic baseball names.

    I forget … which team is in the cellar in the National League Central this year?

    • #9
  10. JustmeinAZ Member
    JustmeinAZ
    @JustmeinAZ

    Mike Rapkoch (View Comment):
    As I say to my wife, baseball is life.

    Yep.

    https://www.amazon.com/Why-Time-Begins-Opening-Hardcover/dp/B010EVPEC8/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1496842109&sr=8-5&keywords=why+time+begins+on+opening+day

     

     

    • #10
  11. Sleepywhiner Inactive
    Sleepywhiner
    @Sleepywhiner

    “When your team has lost 192 games in the last 2 years, why do you watch every single game the next season?”

    Because I can.

    • #11
  12. Percival Thatcher
    Percival
    @Percival

    [Willie Mays] was something like zero for twenty-one the first time I saw him. His first major league hit was a home run off me and I’ll never forgive myself. We might have gotten rid of Willie forever if I’d only struck him out.

    — Braves Pitcher Warren Spahn (1951)

    • #12
  13. JustmeinAZ Member
    JustmeinAZ
    @JustmeinAZ

    I have always loved this story about Bob Gibson pitching in Game 7 of the 1964 World Series between the Cardinals and the Yankees.

    The Cardinals hitters, led by Hall of Famer Lou Brock and All-Stars Curt Flood and Ken Boyer, did their best to support Gibson. The Redbirds had ran early and often throughout the series, taking advantage of a hobbled Mantle in right field, and in Game 7 they raced out to a 6-0 lead. Now it was up to Gibson and his big right arm to finish the series.

    The Yankees, however, would not go down quietly. Mantle jacked a three-run homer – his record-setting 18th career World Series home run – in the top of the sixth. After Boyer’s solo shot in the bottom of the seventh, the Cardinals held a 7-3 lead going into the top of the ninth.

    Gibson, who always worked quickly, pitched at an even faster pace in Game 7 so that the Yankees wouldn’t notice his fatigue. His teammates said they could hear Gibson grunting with every pitch from the seventh inning on.

    “Don’t be cute and don’t go for the corners,” Keane told Gibson before the final inning. “Just get it over. They’re not going to hit four home runs off you.”

    Gibson struck out Yankees outfielder Tom Tresh to start the inning before third baseman Clete Boyer launched a homer to left field. With two outs, shortstop Phil Linz homered again to make the score 7-5.

    Gibson appeared to be out of gas when Yankees second baseman Bobby Richardson stepped to the plate. Richardson had already set a Fall Classic record with 13 base hits in the series, but Gibson induced him to fly out to second, sealing the championship for the Cardinals.

    When asked why he left Gibson on the mound in the top of the ninth, Keane tearfully replied, “I had a commitment to his heart.”

    • #13
  14. skipsul Inactive
    skipsul
    @skipsul

    Wow, helluva story!

    • #14
  15. MarciN Member
    MarciN
    @MarciN

    I don’t watch sports or go to games, but I really love good sports writing. @ejhill is to writing about sports what great hitters are to baseball. What a wonderful story. Thank you.

    • #15
  16. JimGoneWild Coolidge
    JimGoneWild
    @JimGoneWild

    Sweet! 4Dingers in one game!

    • #16
  17. thelonious Member
    thelonious
    @thelonious

    I’ve had one moment in my extremely unathletic life where I had an out of body experience.  I scored 32 points in one half of an intramural basketball game.  The whole half I was draining 3’s and gobbling up every offensive rebound for easy putbacks.  I don’t think I missed a shot or was even capable of missing.  I recall one time I stole the ball looked down at my feet to make sure they were behind the 3 point line and shot the ball.  Nothing but net.  Didn’t even look at the basket.  I could have had Dennis Rodman, Scottie Pippen or Micheal Jordan guarding me and I would have lit them up.  I quickly came back down to earth and only scored 4 points in the second half and we blew a 20 point lead to lose the game.  I’m sure Scooter had a very similar experience to what I had.

     

    BTW Scooter is the nickname of a light hitting middle infielder not a power hitter.  He’s going to have to change his name.  “Tank” perhaps.

    • #17
  18. Casey Inactive
    Casey
    @Casey

    Columbo (View Comment):

    Casey (View Comment):
    I just want to cut right to the heart of this story and compliment the Reds on their ability to consistently assemble a lineup of fantastic baseball names.

    I forget … which team is in the cellar in the National League Central this year?

    I don’t have time to look that up.  Just keep looking at the Reds.

    • #18
  19. EJHill Podcaster
    EJHill
    @EJHill

    theloniousI’ve had one moment in my extremely unathletic life where I had an out of body experience

    Want to confuse your wife? Tell her sex is almost as good as hitting the sweet spot of the bat.

    It’s really amazing, actually, to swing the stick and to hear the crack of wood against leather and yet to never feel it. Sometimes when you hit and you just foul it off it feels like someone put a hornet’s nest in your batting gloves. But the sweet spot is just a sound and the sight of the sphere in a long graceful arc to God knows where. The more inept you are as a ballplayer the more you appreciate the sensation when you achieve it.

    • #19
  20. Judge Mental Member
    Judge Mental
    @JudgeMental

    EJHill (View Comment):

    thelonious: I’ve had one moment in my extremely unathletic life where I had an out of body experience

    Want to confuse your wife? Tell her sex is almost as good as hitting the sweet spot of the bat.

    It’s really amazing, actually, to swing the stick and to hear the crack of wood against leather and yet to never feel it. Sometimes when you hit and you just foul it off it feels like someone put a hornet’s nest in your batting gloves. But the sweet spot is just a sound and the sight of the sphere in a long graceful arc to God knows where. The more inept you are as a ballplayer the more you appreciate the sensation when you achieve it.

    It just feels right.

    • #20
  21. EJHill Podcaster
    EJHill
    @EJHill

    Just because @casey is too busy this morning we will take the time to be his research assistant:

    • #21
  22. Miffed White Male Member
    Miffed White Male
    @MiffedWhiteMale

    Longtime Brewer season ticket holder here.  Scooter was one of my favorite players on the team the last couple years.  Was sorry when we let him go, couldn’t be more thrilled for him today.

     

    And now he’s the only one in MLB history with 5 hits, 4 HR and 10 RBI in a single game. Ever.

    I was at the game in  Milwaukee in 2002 when Shawn Green hit 4 HRs.  He went 6-for-6, but only had 7 RBI.

    • #22
  23. Miffed White Male Member
    Miffed White Male
    @MiffedWhiteMale

    EJHill (View Comment):
    Just because @casey is too busy this morning we will take the time to be his research assistant:

     

     

     

     

     

     

    BTW, everyone who before the season started predicted the Brewers would be in first place (or tied) in  June, please raise your hands.

    <pause, looks around>

    Thanks.  I just wanted to see who the liars were.

     

    • #23
  24. Columbo Inactive
    Columbo
    @Columbo

    Miffed White Male (View Comment):

    EJHill (View Comment):
    Just because @casey is too busy this morning we will take the time to be his research assistant:

    BTW, everyone who before the season started predicted the Brewers would be in first place (or tied) in June, please raise your hands.

    <pause, looks around>

    Thanks. I just wanted to see who the liars were.

    Probably the only MLB division where every team will be in first or last at some point during the year … except for the Pirates that is.

    • #24
  25. Ontheleftcoast Inactive
    Ontheleftcoast
    @Ontheleftcoast

    EJHill:

    An electric Scooter. Man, that’s why you watch the game. Every. Single. One.

     When I was in college, a bunch of us were watching a football game. Somebody made a mistake, there was lots of derision of somebody’s playing ability. One guy (in hindsight, I’m certain that this was something he’d heard from his father) says “Did anybody ever task you to play in the NFL?”

    In any big time pro sport there are players on every team who are capable of breathtaking feats. I still have a mental picture of a shortstop who made a midair diving catch, rolled over while still in the air and made a perfect throw to first to put the returning baserunner out.

    At my best I couldn’t have come close to making a split second accurate throw that distance with my feet on the ground.

    • #25
  26. Miffed White Male Member
    Miffed White Male
    @MiffedWhiteMale

    Columbo (View Comment):

    Miffed White Male (View Comment):

    EJHill (View Comment):
    Just because @casey is too busy this morning we will take the time to be his research assistant:

    BTW, everyone who before the season started predicted the Brewers would be in first place (or tied) in June, please raise your hands.

    <pause, looks around>

    Thanks. I just wanted to see who the liars were.

    Probably the only MLB division where every team will be in first or last at some point during the year … except for the Pirates that is.

    Yeah, but the Brewers were supposed to be about 15-20 games under .500 by now.

     

    • #26
  27. Miffed White Male Member
    Miffed White Male
    @MiffedWhiteMale

    Ontheleftcoast (View Comment):

    EJHill:

    An electric Scooter. Man, that’s why you watch the game. Every. Single. One.

    When I was in college, a bunch of us were watching a football game. Somebody made a mistake, there was lots of derision of somebody’s playing ability. One guy (in hindsight, I’m certain that this was something he’d heard from his father) says “Did anybody ever task you to play in the NFL?”

    In any big time pro sport there are players on every team who are capable of breathtaking feats. I still have a mental picture of a shortstop who made a midair diving catch, rolled over while still in the air and made a perfect throw to first to put the returning baserunner out.

    At my best I couldn’t have come close to making a split second accurate throw that distance with my feet on the ground.

    Even the worst MLB baseball player is still amazingly good.

    Heard a story a couple years ago about a sportswriter who’d been riding a player for being so slow.  Player challenged sportswriter to a foot race – as I recall the story, sportswriter started at 3rd base, player at second, player handily beat sportswriter to home plate.

     

    • #27
  28. EJHill Podcaster
    EJHill
    @EJHill

    In an additional quirk to the story, since it’s a feat done only 17 times, what are the odds one man would be in the dugout for two of them. When Mike Cameron did it for Seattle in 2002 the Mariners’ pitching coach was Bryan Price, the man who wrote Gennett’s name into the lineup last night as the Reds’ manager.

    • #28
  29. iWe Coolidge
    iWe
    @iWe

    Though I do not watch, I love a good tale.  Thank you for sharing it!

    • #29
  30. Casey Inactive
    Casey
    @Casey

    FLAG FLAG FLAG!  Personal attacks!

    • #30
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