Foul Ball!

Pat Zachry is one of my favorite Dodgers. Ever.

The ball pictured here was a foul ball hit by Dodger Ken Landreaux on July 22, 1983, one of approximately 30 Dodgers-Cardinals games I attended at the old Busch Stadium in my formative years. Our family of Dodgers fans in southeast Iowa headed to St. Louis every summer when the Dodgers were in town.

Our seats for these games varied on the ticket deal Mom or Dad could get or the budget for that year's St. Louis trip. For this game, our seats were in the first row behind the Dodgers bullpen. The Busch Stadium configuration at that time placed the bullpens down the respective baselines, with the Dodgers' pen about halfway between third base and the left-field pole.

The relief pitchers filed down to the bullpen while Bob Forsch finished his warmups, with Zachry sitting right in front of me. Close enough I could have given him a noogie, or at least grabbed his hat (well before Chad Kreuter's hat became famous). Zachry was a friendly guy, and honest, offering up he couldn't remember who they had played the night before (it was Pittsburgh) or what the score of the game was (the Dodgers won.). For a 13-year old, it was a revealing look at the 162-game schedule and what a single game meant to a middle reliever.

Early in the game, Landreaux swung late and shot a foul ball down toward us. It ended up at Zachry's feet. He picked up the ball, turned around and gave it to me. The ball felt small compared to the Babe Ruth League baseballs I was used to; most notably the laces were less raised. But there it was, my own game-used ball from a major league game.

After a bit, I got up the nerve to ask Zachry to sign it. He said he wasn' supposed to sign during a game, but took my pen and signed anyway.

"You want the other guys to sign it?" he asked, referring to the other relief pitchers sitting around him.

I muttered something to the affirmative, so in about two minutes I had the names of Howe, Stewart and Niedenfuer along with Zachry's. Over the course of the next three days I got the signatures of most of the team, including Jerry Reuss, Burt Hooton, Fernando Valenzuela, Landreaux, Dusty Baker, Pedro Guerrero, Russell, Alejandro Pena, Bob Welch, Steve Sax, Rick Monday, Mike Marshall, Derrell Thomas, Yeager, Dave Anderson, Candy Maldonado, LaSorda, Ron Perranoski, and of course Gilberto Reyes and Rafael Landestoy. I secured them by staking out the visting players' entrance to the stadium a few hours before each game, and some others in the Marriott Hotel lobby, where the Dodgers (and our family) were staying.

I came across the ball recently for the first time in probably 15 years while going through some boxes in our basement. I was surprised at how many details of the ball and the subsequent day came back without much thought. How I didn't dare set the ball on the ground or even on my seat for fear of losing it. How I went immediately to the Cardinals' gift shop after the game to get a case for the ball. How friendly and patient Perranoski was in the hotel lobby the next day when I asked for his autograph, asking me where I was from and how an Iowan was a Dodger fan. The semi-annoyance of Guerrero and Pena with me for locating them sitting in the corner of the hotel bar.

Zachry finished his MLB career in 1985, having pitched in an All-Star Game, winning National League Rookie of the Year and being part of a trade for Tom Seaver. Later, he played in the Senior Baseball League, if you believe Wikipedia. Thanks to him for chatting up a 13-year ol Dodger fan during a game and creating a lasting memory.