I was nine-years-old in the summer of 1984, “The Summer of Mattingly and Winfield.” Like most nine-year-olds, I was just starting to understand the game with the Yankees becoming a real focus. The “famous” players like Winfield, Randolph, Guidry, and Righetti were the ones we talked about and tried to emulate in the neighborhood games. You see, kids don’t study prospect sheets and we certainly didn’t back then. So, I was the kid with the Dave Winfield T-shirt with number 31 on my back.
There was a moment that summer that I clearly remember all of these years later.