Monday, July 30, 2018

Adrian Beltre's 3,000th Hit Part VI: The Aftermath

The passage of time is an unrelenting thing. It has been almost 10 years since I sat in Nationals Park on a rainy day in Washington DC to watch Randy Johnson win his 300th game. And of course it has been a year since I sat in the brutally hot Texas sun in Arlington, Texas to watch Adrian Beltre get his 3,000th hit. And like what I did with the Randy Johnson milestone, I will take this opportunity to take a look back at what had happened in the past year, new perspectives of the events of July 30, 2017 now that a year has passed, and the future of the 3,000 hit milestone.


Or the Complete Story About How I Got to See Another One of the Greatest Milestones in the History of Baseball
Part I: The Introduction
Part II: The Player
Part III: The Set-Up
Part IV: The Letdown
Part V: The Moment
Part VI: The Aftermath (July 30)




Monday, June 04, 2018

Randy Johnson's 300th Win - 9th Anniversary


It's that time of year again. It's the day that I get together and celebrate a pitching milestone that I'm perhaps the only person to care about. It is the ninth anniversary of Randy Johnson's 300th win. Last year I didn't prepare anything because I didn't want to rehash what I had posted in the past, and I was traveling to New York anyways. However, after the anniversary last year I had stumbled upon a fascinating relic. Somebody on YouTube had posted the full Comcast SportsNet Bay Area broadcast of the 300th win game, and that includes both the pre-game and the post-game show that was truncated when the broadcast made it onto the iTunes Store. I quickly saved the videos (and thankfully I did, because the account was shut down due to copyright violations) and I decided to transcribe the pre-game and the post-game, very much what I did four years ago for the fifth anniversary. And it will be presented to you after the break.

And frankly it's kind of scary that we are at the 9th anniversary of the amazing milestone. It means that next year will be the 10th anniversary. And I do have something special for the 10th anniversary, but that will come next year. Meanwhile, have the pre-game and post-game, with Duane "Kuip" Kuiper, Mike "Kruk" Krukow, Scott Reiss, Bip Roberts, and the man himself: Randy Johnson.

Tuesday, January 30, 2018

Adrian Beltre's 3,000th Hit Part V: The Moment

Well here it is...July 30, 2017. The date of the biggest milestone of Adrian Beltre's career, and the moment we have been working up to over the past few days. Of course, unlike with Randy Johnson's 300th win which had to encompass the entire game, the hit is only a small moment of a much longer game. Would this include a play by play of the game up to and maybe after that point? You betcha. Would it have the stuff I did up to the start of the game? Of course. But clearly the 3,000th Hit will be the highlight.


Or the Complete Story About How I Got to See Another One of the Greatest Milestones in the History of Baseball

Part I: The Introduction
Part II: The Player
Part III: The Set-Up
Part IV: The Letdown
Part V: The Moment (you are here)
Part VI: The Aftermath (July 30)



Monday, January 29, 2018

Adrian Beltre's 3,000th Hit Part IV: The Letdown

We've gone through almost 28,000 words in the past three days and has gone through three different types of history. When we left off, Adrian Beltre is at 2,998 hits, and I had just gotten the day off for Saturday and was preparing to go watch him make a chance at history on July 29, 2017. Can he do it? Find out next, on...



Or the Complete Story About How I Got to See Another One of the Greatest Milestones in the History of Baseball

Part I: The Introduction
Part II: The Player
Part III: The Set-Up
Part IV: The Letdown (you are here)
Part V: The Moment (January 30)
Part VI: The Aftermath (July 30)



Sunday, January 28, 2018

Adrian Beltre's 3,000th Hit Part III: The Set-Up

Welcome to Part III of my incredibly insane six-part series on a baseball milestone y'all probably don't care about. I've already submitted you to 20,000 words worth of stuff over the past two days, and we still have four more parts to go. After two days of mostly haphazardly-researched material, I am going to focus this time on my personal experiences. This time it's going to be about my personal history with the 3,000 hit club, my own personal memories on Adrian Beltre as well as his chase for 3,000 hits, up through July 28, 2017. Why specifically that date? Well you'll find out soon.


Or the Complete Story About How I Got to See Another One of the Greatest Milestones in the History of Baseball

Part I: The Introduction
Part II: The Player
Part III: The Set-Up (you are here)
Part IV: The Letdown (January 29)
Part V: The Moment (January 30)
Part VI: The Aftermath (July 30)



Saturday, January 27, 2018

Adrian Beltre's 3,000th Hit Part II: The Player

Welcome to Part II of my crazy and insane project to document seeing one of the greatest milestones of my lifetime. Part I had already taken me more than 12 hours and a couple of freak-outs, and several sleepless nights. there are five more parts to go. This one will be about the life and career of Adrian Beltre, and I’m sure it will run on too long and make me miserable. But hey, Adrian Beltre!


Or the Complete Story About How I Got to See Another One of the Greatest Milestones in the History of Baseball

Part I: The Introduction
Part II: The Player (you are here)
Part III: The Set-up (January 28)
Part IV: The Letdown (January 29)
Part V: The Moment (January 30)
Part VI: The Aftermath (July 30)



Friday, January 26, 2018

Adrian Beltre's 3,000th Hit Part I: The Introduction

Eight and a half years ago, on June 4, 2009, I had witnessed Randy Johnson winning his 300th game. It was a transformative moment for me, and every year on June 4, I celebrate the anniversary milestone as though it was an actual holiday. I also wrote over 25,000 words on the milestone in a six-part series posted on the six month and the one year anniversary of that 300th win. I put all that work in because I thought it would be my only opportunity to witness a key milestone moment, but as it turns out I was wrong. Almost six months ago I got a chance to watch another milestone moment, and it was (almost) as awesome as the Big Unit's 300th win. And just because I want to be fair, I figured I should give this milestone the same treatment. So sit back and enjoy (because I know none of you is going to read this so I'm sure you're sitting back and enjoying whatever you're doing), and prepare to learn more than you ever wanted to know about

Or the Complete Story About How I Got to See Another One of the Greatest Milestones in the History of Baseball

Like for the Randy Johnson's 300th win series, this one is going to be six parts

Part I: The Introduction (you are here)
Part II: The Player (January 27)
Part III: The Set-up (January 28)
Part IV: The Letdown (January 29)
Part V: The Moment (January 30)
Part VI: The Aftermath (July 30)