I can thank David Justice for my love of baseball.
Yes, that David Justice, former Atlanta Braves great who once married Halle Berry (?) is one of the most important links to my childhood baseball memory bank.
I was never a Justice or Atlanta Braves fan, although his homer in Game 6 was clutch in the '95 series against Cleveland.
It was a different Justice Game 6 homer; it was hit by my brother Jeff.
We played every sport, depending on the season, which meant the summer days of sitting at home until the parents got home from work went by quicker with a classic game of whiffle/tennis backyard baseball.
Without the luxury of 18 friends or a field to play on, our backyard became Morton Park, a righty's paradise with the gray monster (the actual two-story house) running from left to left center, which accounted for a lot of doubles (since it hit off the wall it couldn't have been caught).
We'd pick our teams by scanning the box scores in the Sports page and using their lineups. We "became" these players for the sake of reality, which meant you had to hit lefty if he was a lefty. This is how we got better at hitting left-handed.
We started with a whiffle ball, but graduated to the tennis ball which made for more realistic pitches at the expense of some hard-hit balls slamming the glass screen door. Somehow it never broke, though.
The game was played on the honor system. If we hit a groundball towards where shortstop would be, it was up to the pitcher to make the call. Would it get through the hole or was it just a routine grab? This was the way to play, it just made sense to us.
Well, I usually had a tough time beating Jeff because I was nearly three years younger than him. Occasionally, I'd get a win here and there, but I sported a sub-.350 win percentage. I was the Nationals of Morton Park.
But come World Series time, the stakes were higher and I had one more game to clinch it, up 3-2.
Sam - Cleveland Indians
Albert Belle was a stud and along with a young Manny Ramirez and Jim Thome, the Indians had had a potent middle of the order to go with the speedy Kenny Lofton atop the lineup. My personal favorite lineup to use at the time. Dennis Martinez was on the hill for the second time in the Series.
Jeff - Atlanta Braves
Marquis Grissom, Chipper Jones, Jermaine Dye and Mr. Justice all served a dangerous threat, but getting through Greg Maddux and John Smoltz was never easy. (I usually killed Tom Glavine though, not sure why)
Game 6
In the 5th, Albert Belle had a three-run shot and Thome added a two-run shot to put us ahead 8-3, chasing Maddux from the game. Martinez was efficient, if not spectacular through seven.
But he inched back with a couple of homers, and I headed into the ninth clinging to an 8-7 lead. Carlos Baerga led off the ninth with a double and my Paul Sorrento brought him home with an RBI single to give me a little breathing room.
Crazy old Jose Mesa came in to seal the deal. He was lights-out for me all series long, and I was so confident that I started to get a little antsy.
That antsyness didn't bode well for me as I lost control of my curveball. I walked the first two batters before getting a double play. With a runner on third, I walked Fred McGriff and David Justice came to the plate.
Yes, he hit a home run on a 2-2 pitch. But this was no ordinary home run. This one was absolutely smashed to dead centerfield, and my brother ran his victory lap. When we went out front to find it, it was four houses down and across the street, a monster shot.
He would easily ride the momentum of that home run and coast the next day in Game 7.
It doesn't matter now that I lost that game, in fact, nobody else in the world but us two know about it.
It destroyed me to lose that game. I'm convinced it's why I'm obsessed with old stats, obscure players and many other facets of baseball nerddom.
Thanks, Mr. Justice. Thanks.
Here's a cool video of the Expendables. Great band you missed on Tuesday.
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