Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

THE OPENING LINE:

Lessons from Big Leagues, and Little League

I thought I’d blown the job interview.

Fifteen minutes in, my interviewer suggested lunch.

“Do you like hot dogs?”

(Hot dogs are not a good sign, I thought.)

“Sure.”

“I know a great place to get a dog.”

We talked as he drove — and drove.

(Too bad I’ll never get to work for this guy.)

Forty-five minutes later, we pulled into the parking lot at the Oakland Coliseum.

“We’re here.”

There was no game that Monday, only the goofy “day before the all-star game” festivities. But they were serving hot dogs.

He bought us each two and we settled into the stands to watch the Boys of the Summer of 1987 prance and joke on the fresh mowed grass — Cal Ripken, Darryl Strawberry, Mike Schmidt, Rickey Henderson, Gary Carter, Dave Winfield.

I wiped mustard from my chin as we watched a “what does this have to do with baseball?” competition. Hitters were taking batting practice and trying to hit targets scattered around the field. Even Tony Gwynn couldn’t make sense of this “game.”

But Wade Boggs stepped in and looked like he was playing pinball. He hit every target.

I have no memory of the home run derby. Maybe it was because it was back in the weird days when it was AL vs. NL. (I looked it up, the Nationals hit six; the Americans two.) Maybe it was because Ozzie Virgil was one of the featured sluggers. Maybe it was because the guy who would become my boss had to go back to work.

Over the next four years, he and I would work our tails off all week then sneak out early — 50 or 60 times — to catch games. I distinctly recall Giants fans wanted to beat him senseless the first time he wore his Dodgers cap to Candlestick Park.

Sometimes we talked about baseball. Sometimes about life. Never about work.

I enjoyed those talks as much as the games.

He moved to Wyoming and then Texas, where he’s writing books. His latest, a true murder story called “The Darkest Night,” is next on my reading list.

He also wrote one of my favorite essays — a take off on Robert Fulghum’s musings on kindergarten.

Here are some of the life lessons from Ron Franscell’s “Everything I needed to know, I learned in Little League”:

“Being safe at home is the overall objective ... Two hands work better than one ... It sometimes takes every kid in the neighborhood to make something possible ... Persistence can turn even a bunt into a home run … Errors are inevitable ... every season the fences get a little closer.”

THIS WEEK’S BEST BET

NBA Summer League, today-Sunday, Cox Pavilion and Thomas & Mack Center

Catch tomorrow’s NBA Stars — and a bunch of guys who will wind up playing pro ball in Turkey — today.

TICKETS: Daily passes start at $20

ON THE WEB: www.unlvtickets.com

ALSO WORTH A LOOK

UFC: Silva vs. Irvin, 4:10 p.m. Saturday (first bell), Pearl Concert Theatre at the Palms

Anderson Silva may be the best MMA fighter in the world. James Irvin may be a credible opponent. Or not.

TICKETS: $200-$450

ON THE WEB: www.ticketmaster.com

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