What made this day so unbelievably awesome wasnt what happened, it was that my mom predicted it. The year was 1985 and I was 11 years old. I had yet to stumble on the foolish teenage notion that my parents were uncool and should be a source of embarrassment. In fact, there were two things of which I was quite certain, one was that my dad was stronger than anyone elses dad. The other was that my mom was the biggest Pete Rose fan in the whole world. And in the summer of 1985, the predominate conversation in Cincinnati and in the Skimerton household was as to when Pete Rose would break Ty Cobbs long held MLB record of 4,191 career hits. Early on, my mother predicted that Pete would get his hit on her birthday, September 11, and as September approached, it became clear that it would be a possibility. September 10th arrived with much fanfare. Pete Rose had tied the hit record on the road, but now that he was home he would insert himself back into the lineup and attempt to break the record for the hometown faithful. The day ended with disappointment everywhere except for our family. Mom had predicted that Pete would go hitless and save the hit for her big day. It was probably the only time that she ever was happy to see Pete return to the dugout unsuccessful. Well, 9/11/85 followed and on a cool September evening at Riverfront Stadium, Pete Rose provided a woman who deserved so many more than she received, a moment of unbridled joy. Those of us who are old enough to remember will never forget Pete crying and looking up to heaven where his father was or his son giving him that hug. Id like to think my mother cried tears of joy and hugged me, but I can not remember. Time and memory can be cruel like that. What I do remember is that my mother couldnt wait to go to work because she had told everyone and she was right. 1985 and all of these events happened many years ago. It was before I learned that millions of people have birthdays on 9/11 and probably thousands of them thought the hit would be on their birthday. A few years later, Pete would be banned from baseball and seven short years after 1985 my mom would leave me with only memories and more love than I deserved. On 9/11/1985, had you asked me, I might have thought that I knew the meaning of true evil, but on that same date 26 years later, I would learn that I did not. All of it seemed so magical and mystical as a kid, my mother of all mothers, the biggest Pete Rose fan of them all predicting that Pete would get his historic hit on none other than her birthday, of all the days in the year and she was right??? Good grief, I thought it was the coolest thing in the whole world. As I got a little older, I started to think that it was all just a bunch of coincidence and stopped telling people about it. As I get a little more older, I realize again that it wasnt just coincidence. Eleven year old me was right. It really was the coolest thing in the whole world. Happy Birthday, mom. You were right!
Posted on: Thu, 11 Sep 2014 17:17:27 +0000
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