History

The following is part of a weekly series called "Through the Eyes of..."  In each segment, I share interviews with or stories about those who I view to be the "Good Guys." The men and women who participate in and are the very fiber that make up the great game of baseball.

"Through the Eyes of..." is a part of my personal crusade to present baseball in all its beauty, splendor, and goodness, instead of through hashing and rehashing all that is broken with our national treasure. TC

He knew it was gone the moment he hit it.

It was one more in a long series of moments that have Yankee fans everywhere believing that this is one of those special teams that will go down in history. One more long shot paying off for a team that, for all its talent and gaudy statistics, for all the money it cost to put together, is building its legacy as a team that refused to lie down.

The Land of 10,000 Lakes, (really, it's closer to 15,000) has decided to declare it's top icon of all time—no, not Prince, Tiny Tim, Bob Dylan, or Jesse the "Mind" Ventura.

You might be thinking, "I know, it's Brett Favre!" Well, you're getting warmer, but no.

"A.L. post season expert, Orlando Cabrera?" Almost there.

"Wait, you're not talking about that crappy old Dome are you?"

Yeah. You got it. That crappy old Dome. After the last 48 hours, I think you can agree, with just cause.

For the last 28 years, Minnesota has called the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome it's Metro-home.

This is a continuation of my series, Assessing 2009.

We recognize as the Baltimore Sports Then and Now Vintage Athlete of the Week one of the key pitchers for the Baltimore Orioles during their championship run of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Sometimes timing is everything. After toiling away in the minors and on primarily losing teams for a decade, a seemingly insignificant trade following the 1968 season proved to be all that Mike Cuellar needed to become one of the top pitchers in baseball.

At the end of play on October 2, 1980, the Houston Astros led the Los Angeles Dodgers by three games, with three games left to play for each team.

The teams would face off at Dodger Stadium for what promised to be a dramatic series. All Houston had to do was win one game. They didn't.

It's been 19 years since the Ken Griffeys, Sr. and Jr., went back-to-back for homers off the Angels' Kirk McCaskill in Anaheim Stadium on September 14th, 1990.

This moment was the peak of the fairy tale of having two Griffeys in the Mariners' outfield for the latter part of 1990 and first part of 1991.

To recognize the anniversary of one of the real one-of-a-kind moments in baseball (and sports) history, here are some quotes from the two principals:

Yankee Stadium, Sept. 14, 1935, the Detroit Tigers came to town for a double header.  Hank Greenberg, a native New Yorker, and the first formidable Jewish baseball player did not gather a hit in either game and struck out five times.

In the 1998 film The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg, his son Stephen detailed the indescribable sadness his father felt upon returning from the host stadium of his childhood heroes and favorite team.

Sept. 11, 2009 will be a day to go down in the history books for the Yankees and the entire MLB.

This is because it is the day that Derek Jeter broke the Yankees' all-time hitting record. Jeter surpassed Yankee legend Lou Gehrig to become the Bombers' career hit king.

He tied the Iron Horse on Wednesday, Sept. 9, against the Tampa Bay Rays. After an off-day on Thursday, the Yanks began their series against the Baltimore Orioles.

The Mets are tired and numb from injuries. They're trailing the Phillies by an impossible 18 games in the NL East. They trail the Colorado Rockies by an equally insurmountable 18-1/2 games in the NL Wild Card race. It's time to put their long, miserable season to sleep.

But not before a bedtime story.

The year is 1969.

The Mets are playing in a new ballpark—playing quite terribly, too. Coming into this season, New York has gone a dismal 321-648 since the opening of their new stadium. Shea Stadium.