So, yesterday I failed to post this. Nolan Ryan pitched for the last time in Seattle.

[Bevo&Pevo 5387]

Enjoy some Ryan Express moments and share you own.

Nolan Ryan - Wikipedia

[Beau Vine 54843]

I wuz their, sitting right down by the bullpen. 

Dann Howitt, whom I had made fun of for years playing for AAA Tacoma, hit a salami off of him.

My least favorite sporting event I've ever attended.  

[Bevo&Pevo 5387]

Rep for being there.  I got watch him during his time at Houston.  Didn't really see any one memorable moment or game.  Lots of strikeouts which was good enough. 

[BillyGoatHill 4331]

6 hours ago, Beau Vine said:

I wuz their, sitting right down by the bullpen. 

Dann Howitt, whom I had made fun of for years playing for AAA Tacoma, hit a salami off of him.

My least favorite sporting event I've ever attended.  

Funny...a buddy and myself were sitting by the Rangers bullpen that night also. 

Spent many a cold night in Cheney Stadium also, living only 10 minutes from the ballpark there in T town.

[Beau Vine 54843]

3 hours ago, BillyGoatHill said:

Funny...a buddy and myself were sitting by the Rangers bullpen that night also. 

Spent many a cold night in Cheney Stadium also, living only 10 minutes from the ballpark there in T town.

I loved Cheney so much.  Went to waaaaay more games there than the Kingdome when I was at UDub.  Pretty much the cheapest beer in the whole area, too.  

[Scraps 13598]

This the thread for the olds i see

[Beau Vine 54843]

[BillyGoatHill 4331]

1 hour ago, Scraps said:

This the thread for the olds i see

[BillyGoatHill 4331]

1 hour ago, Beau Vine said:

I loved Cheney so much.  Went to waaaaay more games there than the Kingdome when I was at UDub.  Pretty much the cheapest beer in the whole area, too.  

They used to have $1 dollar beer nights there.... They were pretty much solo cup size but you could buy up to 10 at a time....Me and a buddy stood in line while she ( the vendor) was filling them up, my buddy was chugging them. We took turns throughout the night doing that. Pretty sure each time through the line , we got at least 15 beers instead of the 10. CSB 😜

 

Oh, and back in the day when they had the used car give-a way- nights.....I won a car. ('nother story though)

Edited September 24, 2023 by BillyGoatHill

[Beau Vine 54843]

14 hours ago, BillyGoatHill said:

Oh, and back in the day when they had the used car give-a way- nights.....I won a car. ('nother story though)

HOLY SHIT -- we used to go to that every year.  What sort of beater did you win?

[BillyGoatHill 4331]

22 hours ago, Beau Vine said:

HOLY SHIT -- we used to go to that every year.  What sort of beater did you win?

1984 Mustang II fastback 😝 (It was 5 yrs old so one of the better/newer cars there that night in 1989)

Poop brown color. 

TLDR....won a car at Cheney Stadium/Tacoma Tigers Car Give-Away-Night

Detailed version follows if interested...

If you followed Tacoma Baseball, which my girlfriend (soon to be wife ....2 yrs later ex 🤷‍♂️) did by her growing up in T Town, you knew to not miss Used Car Give Away night at Cheney Stadium.  I had only lived there a few years but had been to a couple of those nights. Myself, the girlfriend/fiancee, plus a new co-worker and some softball buddies and their girlfriends all went. About 10 of us total. I had gotten the tickets plus the raffle ones and passed them out pregame.  This year, cars would be driven or pushed onto the field between innings, a ticket number called out and the winner scrambled up to the press box for confirmation. 

The game went into an extra innings and even though it was a mid June night, many fans had left due to the temp dropping into the 50's after the sun went down. So the odds of winning went up just a bit if you stayed late.  I and my friends were totally shit-faced by then from numerous beers throughout the game and we had moved down by the first base dugout to pitch more poop/heckle the opposing team, especially the first base coach. Tacoma won with a walk off base hit , the 1st base coach made the mistake of coming  over to us after the game and we all laughed at him, then the last 3 cars were brought/pushed onto the field. One was put at each base. 

 

 First ticket number for the 3 remaining cars is called , and nobody shouts out. Winning ticket holder had left the ballpark. That number was only 2 numbers away from our group of ten that we had. Bummer, but you got to be present to win so they re-draw another ticket. All ten of us are now jumping up and down cuz we all know the ticket number called is in our group....I am the last to look and yep, it's my number... So all of us are yelling and laughing and I start up to the press box, but instead they are screaming on the mic to come to home plate to confirm and pick the next ticket.

The guy now running the show on the field is none other than Mr Tacoma hisself (he saved minor league baseball in Tacoma) and the Tigers GM Stan Naccarato. I made a scene like from the Price Is Right, jumped onto the dugout, then the field,  and then proceeded to slide into home plate from the first base side. Crowd loved it but Stan was not amused. None of us could believe that one of us had won and it made for a great story at work later that week.

While it was an ugly color, it started and ran fine and it at least had 4 brand new tires on it.  I was able to drive it home ( a few cars that night literally had to be pushed off the field by the grounds crew and remained in the parking lot overnight).  A good friend of mine to this day and I drove my winning hunk of steel the 5 blocks home. At that time , I was renting a house in the neighborhood behind the Fred Meyer that was basically across the street from Foss High School and Cheney Stadium. While waiting at the one light at Stevens and S. 19th, there was another Winner 😂 next to me that had won a Pinto hatchback complete with the faux wood grain panels on the sides. He gave us a thumbs up at the light ( he was seriously ecstatic) , and my friend and I thought we would have to rescue him ( both newly off-probation firefighters) from his car, as it was smoking so bad it looked as if it was on fire!

My car I won wasn't registered or licensed however , nor did it have the title and other paperwork so it did cost me like just $50 bucks to get all that plus the bullshit time it took having to go to the South Tacoma Way dealership to get ALL the paperwork needed to sell it. My future ex and I were just weeks away from getting married (paying for everything ourselves) and I didn't really have the time or money to do that but I needed to sell/get rid of the car. 

Got all the paperwork just before the wedding, put an ad in the paper for the chance to own a Cheney Stadium Special and sold it for $400. A total of + $Tree Fiddy profit (just realized that amount now, laughing).....So,.... THANKS to Stan Naccarato  and the Tacoma Tigers for another baseball story.

Edit:  Almost 20 yrs later, sometime around 2007-2008 after becoming a Firefighter/Paramedic in '04, I went on a call to this high rise condo penthouse that overlooks Tacoma's Commencement Bay. The guy that was having a mild heart attack that me and my partner took to Tacoma General Hospital that night was none other than Stan Naccarato... Luckily, he didn't remember me. 😜

 

[Beau Vine 54843]

That is awesome!   I don't remember any 5-yo cars given away -- seems like a lot of the cars had trouble even driving off the field.

My favorite Cheney memory:   1991, I had taken a qualifying exam in my PhD program that afternoon and I knew I failed it, and so did everyone else who took it.  I talked one guy who failed into going to the game because "We need to get really drunk and Cheney has the cheapest beer in the whole area."   (IIRC, it was $3 for a 24oz Rainier.) He had never been to a baseball game before, but was ready to drink heavily.  So I dragged this motherfucker to Tacoma and we pounded tons of Vitamin R, and some no-name aggy threw a no-hitter: https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/?date=19910611&slug=1288351

Still the only no-hitter I've ever seen in person.  

[BillyGoatHill 4331]

3 hours ago, Beau Vine said:

That is awesome!   I don't remember any 5-yo cars given away -- seems like a lot of the cars had trouble even driving off the field.

My favorite Cheney memory:   1991, I had taken a qualifying exam in my PhD program that afternoon and I knew I failed it, and so did everyone else who took it.  I talked one guy who failed into going to the game because "We need to get really drunk and Cheney has the cheapest beer in the whole area."   (IIRC, it was $3 for a 24oz Rainier.) He had never been to a baseball game before, but was ready to drink heavily.  So I dragged this motherfucker to Tacoma and we pounded tons of Vitamin R, and some no-name aggy threw a no-hitter: https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/?date=19910611&slug=1288351

Still the only no-hitter I've ever seen in person.  

I thought it was an '84 , but you are right it was older than than that.

Looks like the one I "won" was made from 73-78, so I bet it was a '74 year model which would make more since for used car night. 

 I also remember Wernig's No-hitter reading about it the next day in the Tribune. I was mad about not going cuz I had meant to. 

Closest I have witnessed are some one and two hitters, both for the home team and visitor's.

Was there for the gem in the 09 Regionals though.

I  missed the first 3 innings due to not getting off work that night until 7pm, and instead of buying a ticket I just hung around the tailgaters (Occupy LeftField ) out by the foul pole drinking beer.  I was there 'til 1AM , Austin Wood threw his masterpiece against Boston College in the 2009 Regionals, winning 3-2 in 25 innings, with him throwing 12.1 innings of no-hit ball before giving up his 1st hit.