American pastime

The Yankees just lost a close game to the Oakland A’s in the bottom of the ninth (sigh.) It’s 11:10pm here in San Francisco but it’s 2:10am back in New York. Watching them game tonight reminded me of how, when still in NY, I would call West Coast series “late” games because they wouldn’t start until around 10, 10:35 in the evening.

I have fond memories from middle school and high school of listening to the Yankee games on the radio late at night. On school nights, I would lay in bed tucked in under the covers, my room dark and quiet except for the light on the stereo and WABC 770’s baseball broadcast playing at a low volume. I would doze off to sleep during slow games to the sound of the crowd in the background and steady play calling of John Sterling (I was a big user of the Sleep option, otherwise the radio would be on all night); during close games, I’d be wide-awake, eyes open, awaiting the go-ahead run or shut-em-down save. Extra innings games were special: I’d reset the Sleep option to make sure the stereo didn’t turn off in the middle of a crucial 11th inning at-bat and accept the fact that I was probably going to be very tired in the morning when it was time to get up. Of course, the next morning was always much better if the Yankees won the game.