Boys of Summer book Entry #30

June 18, 2004 - Dan

Las Vegas, NV

I had a good night sleep and woke up with no pain in my back – a good thing.  We’re going to see a AAA game between the Las Vegas “51’s” and Edmonton Trappers tonight.

Park Number 0* (of 30): Cashman Field

*It’s park “number 0” as it’s not a Major League park. It is, however, a beautiful night. About midway through the game, I turn the camera on my dad.

Bob Cochrane: What do you think about baseball tonight, Dad?

Dan Cochrane: This is a night for it -- the perfect night. Hot, dry summer night...very comfortable. A beer in my stomach and a sub sandwich in there with it. Not bad.

BC: Not bad at all.

DC: All I need is four aces and a couple hundred dollars on a poker table. But that ain’t gonna happen.

The familiar crack of the bat pulls him away from our conversation. The crowd begins to scream: “Get out of here!” “Get gone!” “Go!” Dad watches the high arcing ball sail toward the fence.

DC: We may have an Anderson Dairy. Home run.

The crowd cheers, applauding the home town dinger as well as the free ice cream since the ball hit the Anderson Dairy cow sign on the way out.

After the game we had a chance to catch up with our longtime friends and baseball zealots Andy (father) & Tom (son) Pagano. I asked them about their first baseball game together.

AP:

The first one we ever went to together was a game at Yankee Stadium. Reggie Jackson was out in right field. And one of the attendants said to us -- I really wanted to get Tom an autograph because, you know, we loved Reggie, we loved the Yankees and it was 1977, the first year he came there and Reggie said, “I’m the straw that stirs the drink.” And, anyway, the attendant told us Reggie’s not signing any autographs today. And I know Reggie had a little bit of an ego, so I said to Tom, we’re going to get his signature. So then I yelled out, “Tom, there’s the greatest Yankee, Reggie Jackson!” And he heard it. And I said, “Reggie, will you sign this?” And he came right over and he signed it. And that’s the first game we went to.

TP:

That’s right. The only thing was we didn’t have anything for him to sign it on, you know, so--

AP:

We had a scorecard.

TP:

Yeah, we had a scorecard, so --

AP:

We used the scorecard. Now we have to look for that scorecard.