LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Louisville basketball coach Pat Kelsey was back in his hometown Thursday — not just back but on the mound at Great American Ballpark, throwing out the first pitch before the Reds beat the White Sox.
And I don't care who you are or how big a job you have or how much you've done in life: When you get to step out onto a Major League Baseball field, it's special. Even more so, I'm sure, for Kelsey, who headed to the mound wearing a T-shirt with Pete Rose sliding head-first into a base and making sure fans saw it.
His pitch was a bit low and outside. But the experience was no doubt special for a guy whose Reds pedigree was on display a few days back when he posted a grade-school Mothers' Day letter to his mom paying her the ultimate compliment: "You've been the best since Pete Rose."
Getting to share that experience with his family, I'm sure, made it greater still.
Eric Crawford column from The Evansville Press, May 15, 1993.
I clearly remember the first time I set foot on a Major League field — at least, the first time I was old enough to remember. My dad says I was in the stands at Crosley Field as a baby in the early '70s while he covered games. My mother was a lifelong Reds fan. I even remember being told I was passed around by a few future members of the Big Red Machine. That may be apocryphal, but I don't think so.*
Anyway, on May 12, 1993, I went to cover the St. Louis Cardinals on my childhood field of dreams, Riverfront Stadium. I wrote my story about Evansville native Andy Benes (I was there writing for now-defunct Evansville Press). And that weekend, I wrote a first-person column about being on the field and my feelings about watching batting practice.
It was a really bad column. I won't foist it on you. It was full of first-time wonder but little else. And now here I am, 32 years later, still writing about that first-time wonder.
Throwing a first pitch is harder than it looks. The mound's higher than you think, and nobody wants to bounce it. Most of us do. Kelsey got it there — a bit low and outside, but respectable. I'm not saying he should be a situational reliever — but, depending on the Reds bullpen on given days, I'm not saying he couldn't be.
But as I watched the video of him out there, I could say I knew a little bit about what he was feeling. And it was good.
Quick sips
- I wrote a couple of pieces about Louisville center Aly Khalifa's eligibility struggles with the NCAA yesterday. If I were summing up the situation, I'd tell you that I can't fathom a scenario where he doesn't suit up for Louisville next season. But I also have covered the NCAA long enough to know that you can't quite get comfortable with that notion. If you didn't get to read it, I do think my column on the NCAA's history with a couple of big men is worth a few minutes of your time.
- Wondering why you're seeing so many European players (and pros) beginning to land on college rosters (including at Louisville and a recent addition by Kentucky)? The Athletic's CJ Moore and Brendan Marks did a nice job of explaining why that is in this story.
The Last Drop
*"When I was younger, I could remember anything, whether it had happened or not; but my faculties are decaying, now, and soon I shall be so I cannot remember any but the things that happened. It is sad to go to pieces like this, but we all have to do it."
Mark Twain: A Biography (1912)
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