ARLINGTON -- It was 1972, and the Texas Rangers were brand-spanking new, so we drove our used cars -- we were high school juniors -- to the new stadium in Arlington with exuberance. But we almost never arrived thinking of the Rangers.
We went to see Tony Oliva hit for the Twins. We went to see Yaz play left field for the Red Sox. I went, most of all, to see Oakland's Reggie Jackson muscle up on a home run ball or even twist himself into a pretzel striking out and to watch Vida Blue. Blue was just one year removed from his magical Cy Young/MVP season.