Jose Canseco gave us all a memory none of us have forgotten since. My grandfather cursed legendary drummer John Adams for years, as his ears were ringing for days, due to our proximity to Adams that evening.
The opening of Day Two of the 2022 College World Series brought back all of those memories after one pitch.
For those who do not remember, Carlos Martinez was credited with a home run after Canseco misplayed a ball hit to deep right field in the bottom of the fourth inning, which bounced off the top of his head and over the wall. Texas center fielder David Hulse could not contain his laughter once jogging over to talk to Canseco while Martinez rounded the bases.
There were only 14,305 as the announced attendance that night, which the Indians emerged victorious 7-6. The rarity of what occurred with Canseco paled in comparison to my father, brother and I actually being in attendance for a victory at a Tribe game, as we were on about a 3-4 year losing streak at that point.
With the first pitch of Stanford’s opening game in Omaha against the Arkansas Razorbacks, Brayden Webb had to be crushed when the ball stayed in the park. On Alex Williams’ very first pitch of the game, Webb hit a deep fly that backed Braden Montgomery all the way to the wall. Montgomery ran out of room, which jarred his body to where his glove was not in position. The ball hit Montgomery near the back half of the crown of his head, caroming to his right. Webb, who hits .282 with 15 home runs and 10 steals, was able to stretch a double into a triple.
It was Webb’s first triple of the 2022 season.
Brady Slavens hit a sacrifice fly as the next batter, giving Arkansas the early 1-0 lead. Stanford answered with a solo homer in the bottom half of the inning off the bat of Brock Jones.
Second-ranked Stanford (47-16) comes into Omaha the favorite to win it all, after number one Tennessee was upset by Notre Dame in the Knoxville Super Regional. Arkansas (43-19) was one of five SEC teams to reach Omaha, a feat in and of itself. In fact, Stanford is the only team in the bottom half of the bracket not to be from the SEC, with Auburn and Ole Miss being the other matchup.
Say what you want about aluminum bats, the College World Series is another reason for how the NCAA always seems to get their playoff scenarios right, no matter how much we want to complain that they need to be changed.
Stanford and Oklahoma are looking for their third College World Series title, while Texas goes for their seventh, which would move the Longhorns into sole-possession of second all-time, behind USC’s 12. No other team in the field has hoisted the trophy. The SEC is also looking for their third consecutive National Champion, after Mississippi State won last year and Vanderbilt in 2019. We all remember that all spring and summer championships were canceled by the NCAA in 2020.
We tried to have security get us into the bleachers to retrieve the ball, but the bleachers were kept locked during baseball season. At old Cleveland Municipal Stadium, the bleachers were only open for Cleveland Browns football (as the bleachers were the “Dawg Pound”) and for concerts.
Two years later, Canseco was in Boston, the Indians moved into Jacobs Field and Municipal Stadium was vacated with the Browns’ move to Baltimore. However, the memories of that day, along with getting your own host of vendors (popcorn, hotdog, beverage) with the lack of attendance will last forever.
-JC24