A personal reflection of the highs and lows from the past 20 years at the Toronto SkyDome, now the Rogers Centre.
I felt old today for the first time in years. All the talk this week, on sports radio, on websites and in the newspapers got me thinking about all the great times I've had in the somewhat maligned SkyDome/Rogers Centre.
Twenty years since I first walked into the place, as a cock-sure with a swagger of a 26-year-old, on June 5, 1989 to see the Blue Jays play their first game in their new, retractable roof palace on the waterfront. Say goodbye to the brutal elements that we all had to endure to get our baseball fix at 'The Ex'. Say hello to optimum conditions for both the player and fan.
Went with my English friend Kay, a real nut from Beckenham, Kent, who picked up on baseball early and enjoyed it. My season tickets at the time were in the first full row in foul territory down the left field of the 200 level. The place had a real buzz to it. Fred McGriff went the other way for the first home run, but the Jays lost. It didn't matter; I liked the surroundings. The next night, they lost again.
But on the third night, they won, with our dear friend John Cerutti getting the W. Then we all took a day off so that the city and team could catch their collective breaths, break off into dyads of four and discuss the new ballpark. Nothing but positive, and then our biggest rival - the Detroit Tigers, then still in the East - arrived. The Jays took three of four, and the team went on to win 30 out of 48 home games the rest of the way. They went from sixth place, eight games back of the Orioles, beating Baltimore on the final Saturday of the season for the second East Division flag in franchise history. I was there for that one. Only time I ever bought a scalper's ticket. I sat in the upper deck down the first base line for the first and only time. Game was never in doubt, the 'Terminator' Tom Henke closed it, and I high-fived the whole section.
The Jays second trip to the playoffs wasn't worth remembering. Rickey Henderson ran wild, while Jose Canseco juiced the first home run into the 500 level. My parents were at that game, glad I wasn't. I didn't take the losing too well at that point in my life. Not after the '85 ALCS collapse to the Royals. And certainly not after my job at the time with TSN had me in the press box for each and every game of their 7-game losing streak to end the '87 season. Luckily, I was at Oktoberfest in Kitchener-Waterloo drinking everything put in front of me and don't remember the five-game washout to the Athletics.
After a forgettable 1990 season - except for the acquisition of Duane Ward - they were back in the post-season in 1992, only to flame out again, this time to the Twins. But the season, with four million-plus fans going wild and the introduction of Devon White, Robbie Alomar and Joe Carter to the scene, was the first of three-straight trips to the playoffs and was the perfect set-up for back-to-back World Series titles. Being at all of those LCS and World Series games was a trip.
1993 was my first year as the TV stats guy for all the networks, 11 years after Doug Kelcher, my high school football coach, first brought me into the booth back in May of 1982. 'Kelch' was the original TV stats man. So I was along for the ultimate ride, culminated when Joe Carter 'touched 'em all' and the city went bananas.
Unfortunately, that's been it, so a generation-and-a-half, no nothing about how great this place used to be. Sure, there's been moments: Roger Clemens' 4,000th strikeout, Carlos Delgado's four home run game, just about every time Roy Halladay takes the hill (78-29 career at home), Aaron Hill stealing home against the Yankees, when the place roared like in the past. The World Baseball Classic game between Canada and the U.S. this March had that vibe as did Halladay besting A.J. Burnett on May 12th. Sure would be nice if it happened more often.
Major League Baseball wasn't the only sport that I enjoyed under the retractable big top. I stood on the sidelines beside the Toronto Argonauts' bench the night that Brian Diesbourg kicked a 50-yard field goal to win $1 million. And I was also on the field when the University of Toronto beat Calgary on a last second field goal by Glenn McCausland. I was also at the SkyDome in 1990 for WrestleMania VI when Jim Hellwig pinned Terry Bollea to win the WWF Championship; Moto-cross with Damon Bradshaw stealing the show and USAC midgets with me and my brother Greg standing in the pits.
And then there's been the music. Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, The Rolling Stones, The Scorpions, and Willie Nelson. But my number two SkyDome moment - next to the Carter home run - was working on the camera crew as a cable puller for the 'Night of 1,000 Guitars', starring Stevie Ray Vaughn, Jeff Beck and Jeff Healey in November 0f 1989. In fact, I almost got run over by SRV and Beck as they flew around the bowels of the stadium on a golf cart. My fondest memory was standing just off the stage as Vaughn did his sound check in the late afternoon. Watching the virtuoso guitarist from that close a vantage point is something I will always remember. I was very saddened to hear month later that Stevie Ray died in a helicopter crash following a performance in last August the following summer.
All of us around the team and broadcast crew were also deeply saddened when John Cerutti died in his sleep in his room at the SkyDome Hotel on the final day of the 2004 season. And it was also at SkyDome that I last spoke with Tom Cheek before his passing in 2005. Both are missed by many.
So it's with a lot of emotions that I think about the concrete convertible down by the lake, now surrounded by condos. It's still a marvel of modern technology, the ability to turn an indoor game into an outdoor one in 22 minutes. My memories, though, take a lot longer than that.
