Baseball memories: Father saves spirit of baseball after son learns of McGwire’s tainted past
May 20, 2016, 6:06 AM | Updated: 8:47 am
Former Oakland A's star Mark McGwire was Justin Myers' first baseball hero. (AP)
(AP)
With the Mariners sitting in first place AL West, we are asking 710 ESPN Seattle and KIRO Radio hosts about their favorite baseball memories. Leave your own unforgettable moment in the comments.
It was Justin Myers’ first time attending a live major league, well, anything.
The future 710 ESPN Seattle host was 9 years old and had made the road trip from a tiny town in Southern Oregon to the Oakland Coliseum. The venue was huge! And while watching the A’s play on TV was one thing, seeing Mark McGwire in person was something else entirely.
As McGwire did so often, he blasted a home run and just like that, McGwire and his fellow Bash Brother, Jose Conseco, had a new fan.
They held onto it for a while, too.
“Until I found McGwire was a cheater and on steroids,” Myers said.
But the on-field cheating didn’t wreck Myers’ love for the game. Because although McGwire had held his heart on the baseball diamond, it was Justin’s dad who was always his hero. On that same day at the Coliseum, Justin clearly recalls his father buying him a batting glove – which he cherished and never dirtied – as well as his dad’s eagle eye in the stands.
“I vividly remember my dad upgrading our seats because my dad was a seat-hawk,” he said. “Every time we went to a stadium he would always find us better seats to sit in.”
From then on, he and his dad spent summers in the Bay Area for A’s and Giants games or watching Ken Griffey Jr. smash bombs at the Kingdome.
“There was not a game that we went to where my dad – before the first inning, before the first pitch – did not start looking down to see who wasn’t showing up in their seats,” Myers said. “To see if he couldn’t find five somewhere closer.”
Other baseball memories: ‘C’mon, son. Rock and fire’ | Why grandpa’s are the best | It all started with an 11-year-old named ‘Boogie’ | A backyard diamond made of pillows | A great reason to yell during a Mariners’ game | Career in baseball started with dad’s lefty glove | Griffey and a legendary home run call
