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Sports

Technology's a Great Tool to Validate Childhood Sports Memory

Lucky find of misplaced memorabilia also helps

Going to my first Cleveland Indians baseball game as a child was a great sports memory for me. I always told everyone it was in 1970 and I remembered the Chicago White Sox were the opponent, and Don Gutteridge was their manager.

Hall-Of-Famer Luis Aparicio played shortstop for Chicago that night and I even recall the White Sox wearing blue sanitary socks with white stirrups. I recall it being a small crowd at old Municipal Stadium.

The problem is the things I just listed above could have occurred in either 1969 or 1970. I did not have any pictures, ticket stub, program or newspaper clipping to clarify which game it actually was. It was just one of those things personally important to find out.

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Thank heaven for the Internet! The first clue surfaced when I was searching for old Cleveland Indians media guides. I saw a picture of one from 197o (pinstripes with a picture of Chief Wahoo). I knew that was the cover design of the game program I had somewhere buried in my basement from my first game.

Now that I had the year nailed down, I wanted to go after the exact game. The publication Baseball Almanac has a website that lists the entire 1970 Cleveland Indians schedule along with results and box scores.

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By memory of it being a summer month and a weeknight since my dad came home early from work that night to take us, I narrowed it down to one of two games — July 22, 1970, or July 23, 1970.

I reviewed both box scores carefully. Both games had enough similarity to make it impossible based on memory alone to determine my actual first game. The Indians won both those games, Aparicio played shortstop both nights and of course both crowds were small.

In the big scope of things, I guess finding the exact answer to this question was not a big deal. But to me, filling in the details of a precious sports memory for me was priceless. Technology got me close, I just needed some luck to get me the rest of the way.

Luck came in the form of my youngest son, Joey, who found the game program from that ballgame in the basement buried deep in a pile of boxes of "stuff" you know you have but lost track of — especially after three moves.

More luck would follow. Programs back then were set up for the entire series being played between the two teams. Unless you kept score in it, you couldn't tell which game it was.

Fortunately, my dad had carefully listed the Indians' starting lineup — Vada Pinson, Graig Nettles, Roy Foster, Ray Fosse, Duke Sims, Ted Uhlaender, Eddie Leon, Jack Heidemann and "Sudden" Sam McDowell pitching. I followed up with a primitive attempt at keeping score.

My first game was officially verified as Thursday, July 23, 1970. Leon and Pinson both hit home runs and McDowell won his 15th game of the season. There were only 7,368 other witnesses in attendance that night.

I also located another website that even had the entire play-by-play of the game to print out. A website in Florida offers for $10 to locate the actual newspaper box score off microfilm of any game you want and print it out and send it to you.

Thank goodness for technology and some luck. I will now keep close track of my newfound treasures and information. Now I have to find my ticket stub from that game. Where could it be?

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