Okay, I’ll admit they are not quite so rare as hitting the Powerball lottery. Not even as rare as smiles at a Tulsa City Council meeting. I was in the crowd, sitting behind home plate Thursday night when Scott Beerer came to the plate for the Drillers.
I slipped out of the bookstore a little early, hoping to take advantage of a slight break in the heat for an evening at ONEOK Field. The Arkansas Naturals were in town, but the team wasn’t as important as the chance to watch a little baseball.
Sitting directly in front of me was a young couple – 19 or 20-years old at most – making goo-goo eyes at each other and occasionally giving each other too-passionate kisses. I had to look between the tops of their conjoined heads to see the batter. My tickets were for seats five rows back from the home plate backscreen.
The Drillers already had two errors by the time the first inning was over, and they seemed to have a bead on Tulsa’s pitcher, spraying hits all over the place. Finally, in the third inning, Tulsa got back-to-back home runs from Tommy Field and Ben Paulsen – and that changed the momentum.
It isn’t every day a baseball fan gets to see back-to-back home runs at the professional level. Heck, it is pretty rare at any level. It’s fun when it’s the home team hitting them.
And then, in the fifth, the bases are loaded. As far as the game is concerned, all the team wants is a base hit – a chance to drive in some runs. The fans, and – let’s face it – the team want a grand slam.
Hitting a home run is hard enough. Opportunities to hit a home run with the bases loaded come around occasionally, but are usually squandered in trying too hard.
Thursday night, ONEOK Field, fifth inning, Scott Beerer at the plate – bases loaded. Came the pitch and the solid contact. Every one of us in the stands (except the two in front of me) knew it had a chance. It went, and went. And it was over the fence.
The first time, in all my years of watching baseball games – even on television – that I had witnessed a grand slam home run.
As I said, there are things more rare. Some things considered rare, like an eclipse of the sun, can be predicted with accuracy. Even a pitcher that completes a shutout has had the chance to do it, every time he steps on the mound.
For a batter to hit a home run, the bases have to first be loaded. And then – he has to hit the ball out over the fence.
It is a rare, rare thing.
I’m glad I was there to see it.
As for the young couple, a bit of advice: there are numerous opportunities in life to steal a kiss, or to steal a base. Chances to see a slam in person shouldn’t be squandered.