A Grip on Sports: It doesn’t take much to trigger a fond memory from the college days, even if the event was traumatic then (and now) for some involved
A GRIP ON SPORTS • Memories can hit anytime. And hit hard. Especially memories about hard hits, even if the person doing the reminiscing isn’t involved in the collision. I did, however, benefit from the one I was reminded of yesterday.
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• A typical Friday night in the Grippi household. Watching the Mariners with one eye, doom scrolling with the other. All while waiting for the chocolate chip cookies to finish baking. As I said, typical.
Until I landed on a video from a random college baseball game. Ole Miss playing Arkansas in the SEC tournament. It doesn’t get more random than that.
Why did I stop? Because the X post promised the most violent outfield collision you would ever see. And I scoffed. I’ve seen worse. And that scoff held up, even after watching Mississippi centerfielder Isaac Humphrey and rightfielder Ryan Moerman crash into each other while chasing Cam Kozeal’s fly ball to the right-field gap.
Both outfielders went down in a heap. Kozeal circled the bases at full speed, ending up with an inside-the-park home run. And I experienced a flashback.
Back to 1978. The second-worst baseball season of my life.
The only reason it wasn’t the worst was because I knew it would be the final one – I was a senior at UC Irvine – playing for quite possibly the worst Division I college baseball coach ever. That’s not important however. What is? What happened that day in a 13-8 loss to Southern California College. At least as it relates to the flashback.
We had played a league doubleheader in Santa Barbara the day before (as I recall, those games were played on Sunday due to rain). Lost both. Made the trip back to Irvine, where we had a Monday afternoon nonconference matchup scheduled with our NAIA neighbors.
Everyone was exhausted. And we were en route to a could-have-been-worse 17-28-1 record.
I started behind the plate that Monday, I think only my second start that season. Again, not that important. What was? A late at-bat. Bases empty, as I recall. A fastball out over the plate that I hit hard to right-center. A possibly gapper, so I ran hard from the box. The centerfielder dove for it. So did the rightfielder. The ball arrived in the rightfielder’s glove at about the same time as the centerfielder’s body did. The collision was loud. It left both writhing on the outfield grass as the rightfielder’s glove was dislodged midair and came to rest under the injured players.
Was it a catch? I didn’t know, so I slowed at second base as every SCC player began moving toward their fallen teammates. Then, at the urging of the third-base coach, I picked up my speed – what of it there was – and continued to third, slowed once more and then made a left turn, sprinting all the way to home plate.
The umpire watched me touch, then called time out. Players, coaches, umpires headed out to right-center.
The centerfielder was moving. Seemed OK. The rightfielder was not. Funny thing. He was a high school teammate of one of my UCI teammates. We had partied together a few times – SCC is now called Vanguard and is only a couple miles from the Irvine campus, so parties in Newport Beach drew players from both and also included such UC Irvine luminaries as Jon Lovitz. Anyhow, the SCC rightfielder and I had gotten to know each other well.
Which is why I know he suffered a broken collarbone and somehow bruised a kidney in the collision. An ambulance arrived and he headed off to Hoag Hospital where I visited him that evening. He made a full recovery, though his season was over.
Anyhow, the two head coaches and the umpires conferred. The ball was in the glove, sure, but the glove was on the ground and the rightfielder hadn’t completed the process of a catch as defined by the rulebook. The plate umpire raised his right hand, pointed his finger to the sky and made a circle.
It was my first, and only, collegiate home run.
And, for the next couple months, the subject of much humor for my teammates. The crud they threw my way over my “bomb” was unending. Heck, the first time I made it back for an alumni game, two of them bumped into each, fell down and started writhing on the ground. Called it my home run trot or something.
Not to brag, but I do believe I may hold the UC Irvine career record for home runs per at-bat. Which tells you more about how often I played than my power.
As for yesterday’s collision, the one that started a bunch of neurons colliding in my neocortex? Once again, the centerfielder was OK. Ole Miss’ rightfielder, Moerman, wasn’t. He left the game with an injured knee and a possible concussion.
Kozeal? He has a story he can tell forever. Though no one will believe him in 50 years.
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WSU: Cedric Coward and former Gonzaga guard Hunter Sallis were mentioned in this Athletic story that ran on the S-R site this morning. They were asked which NBA player they resemble. … Elsewhere in the (current, old and future) Pac-12 and the nation, the money Oregon and Washington earn from the Big Ten is more than you might think. That fact leads off Jon Wilner’s usual Friday mailbag in the Mercury News. … Wilner also passes along a football recruiting update in the Mercury News, with Washington State mentioned this week. … John Canzano has some thoughts on working in the world of sports. … A Washington recruit has an interesting sports background. … Arizona State’s Kenny Dillingham had a highly praised first season. … A recruit is joining USC a year early. … An Arizona alum is happy to be back on the Wildcat’s coaching staff. … Utah State added to its athletic administration. … Oregon’s second Big Ten tournament baseball game was postponed last night. The Ducks, who put an emphasis on baseball, are playing this morning. … Washington was eliminated Friday. … Arizona is in the Big 12 title game. … In the NCAA softball super regionals, host Oregon walked off Liberty 3-2 in the opener behind Dez Patmon’s second game-winning home run in a week. … UCLA fell 9-8 in the opener at South Carolina and must win twice to make it to Oklahoma City.
Gonzaga: The baseball team’s season ended Friday morning with a 16-7 loss to top-seed San Diego. The Toreros went on to eliminate Loyola Marymount and will face red-hot Saint Mary’s today with the WCC’s NCAA bid on the line. USD has to win twice to move on. … Andrew Nembhard’s Indiana Pacers made it two games in New York, two wins over the Knicks in the NBA Eastern Conference finals.
EWU and Idaho: Around the Big Sky, just because a player enters the transfer portal, it doesn’t mean 100% they are leaving.
Preps: The District 6 track and field meet finished up Friday in Hermiston. Mt. Spokane’s boys and girls each won 3A titles. … The State softball tournaments began Friday, with Freeman still alive for the 2B title and Mt. Spokane, which suffered its first defeat of the season in its opener, trying to finish third.
Indians: Spokane cut a six-run deficit in half in the bottom of the ninth at Avista on Friday, but finally succumbed to Tri-City 10-7. Dave Nichols has the story.
Mariners: Speaking of comebacks, the M’s came through with one in Houston thanks to their stars. Julio Rodriguez roped a double into the right-field corner, scoring J.P. Crawford and tying the game in the seventh. Cal Raleigh followed that by jumping on the first pitch he saw and driving into the right-field foul pole. The M’s went on to win 5-3. … We linked this story on Gonzaga’s Casey Legumina when it ran in the Times. It is on the S-R site today. … Logan Gilbert and Bryce Miller threw simulated games Friday in Texas. … What have we learned about Dan Wilson as a manager?
Reign: Seattle fell 2-1 at home against the Washington Spirit.
Seahawks: We also linked this story when it was on The Athletic site. It’s about the best games to watch for each team and it ran on the S-R site today. … I thought the Seahawks voted to ban the Tush Push? Wait, they did. Which puts them on the right side of the issue.
Sounders: Dallas is in town for an MLS match tonight.
Storm: Seattle lost its opener at Phoenix by 22 points. In a rematch with the Mercury last night in Climate Pledge Arena – the team’s home opener – the Storm tightened the defense and defeated Phoenix 79-70.
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• How bad did my college baseball coach make my experience those last two seasons? It’s not just that Eddie Allen had a 47-51-1 record. And it’s not just that our team missed out on at-large NCAA playoff berth in 1977 in part due to recruiting issues. It was also his track record of skipping practices and games, his inability to tell his players the truth and, most importantly, his lack of interest in his players as people, not commodities. But those two years helped form my coaching philosophy as much as any coach I ever interacted with. I learned what not to do and how not to treat your players. Those are a tough but important lessons. Until later …