PenguinREPORT

We’re back to work with several interesting items coming up in this week’s Penguin Shell issues. I hope your weekend was good. Mine was quiet, but a bit melancholy. I wanted to spend a bit of time in the Report today to talk about something completely unrelated to technology.

As you’re aware, I’m a huge baseball fan. Specifically, I’ve been a lifelong St. Louis Cardinal fan. I understand that all not techies like ourselves are sports fans, so you may be unaware of the goings-on in the world of baseball in the past week, and specifically unaware of the happenings with the Cardinals.

In short, it was a devastating week for my boys of summer. First, they lost the longtime broadcaster Jack Buck after a long illness. A member of the Broadcaster’s Hall of Fame, the Radio Hall of Fame and the National Baseball Hall of Fame, Jack was, quite simply, the best way to experience a Cardinal game if you couldn’t be at Busch Stadium. Forget TV. Having lived in Iowa for most of my younger life, it was Buck’s voice that painted the colors of the game and defined the excitement of what was then America’s pasttime. From KMOX, his voice channelled through ever-shrinking transistor radios secreted under my pillow at night. I could close my eyes, see the action and nearly taste the hot dogs. He brought the games to life in a down-to-earth way that never questioned, criticized or apologized for the integrity of the game or its players. He clearly loved the game and, by his broadcasts, so did I.

I had the chance to meet Jack in 1991, while managing a Musicland store at West County Center in St. Louis. He was as down-to-earth in person as on the radio, with virtually no star ego whatsoever. He joked, while looking for Steve Lawrence and Edie Gourmet CDs that, ” … they tell me Jack Buck got soaked at home plate …” during a rainout of the previous night’s Opening Day game with the Phillies. His eyes twinkled as he sized up my reaction to the statement and a broad grin crossed his face when I didn’t know quite how to react. After all, he could have come into my store with a bag over his head and I’d have known who he was as soon as he spoke. He knew it, I knew it, and we tacitly agreed to let it go at that. I treated him with the respect with which I tried to treat any customer, and, I’m sure, he appreciated the anonymity. I’ll remember that encounter as much as I’ll remember his famous calls of “Go crazy, folks! Go crazy!”, or, on Mark McGwire’s 61st homerun, “Pardon me while I stand and applaud.”

But, unfortunately, that wasn’t the lone Cardinal sorrow of the week. Cardinal ace Darryl Kile passed on Friday night from an apparent coronary artery blockage. At 33, how could anyone have expected it? From all stories, he was, like Buck, a real person. Kind to fans, conscientious about his work habits and influence on younger players, a good husband and father. And so young. He never went on the disabled list or missed a start in eleven seasons. During his time with the Colorado Rockies, he even discussed giving back some of his to the team because of poor performance. In a day when most professional sports figures are “over” everything - paid, pampered and ego’ed - both Kile and Buck represented everything I’ve always loved about baseball. It has been, after all, a people’s game, playable and enjoyable by anyone, regardless of physical stature. Anyone, that is, willing to dedicate themselves to being the best. Buck and Kile epitomized that dedication. My Cardinals and my summers just won’t be the same without them.

Tony
Steidler-Dennison