Pops at 81

Hey Pops, how are you doing today?

Well, they finally finished that 50 mile stretch of I-75 south of Toledo. That took them forever; better than three years I'm sure. But it's nice being able to tool along at 70 MPH there now. Okay, 75 with the cruise on. But now they've gone and closed the Rouge bridge in south Detroit for the next two years starting February 4. So we have to take 94 out to 275 or US 23 and down to Toledo going to the plant. If ain't one thing it's another, eh? Ah, we're on the road though. That's where we Cosgriffs belong.

Pitchers and catchers report to Lakeland in two weeks. Yep, we're coming up on baseball season. I wish I still had that little black and white transistor radio you had when I was a kid, the one I borrowed so often to listen to Ernie and Ray call Tigers games. Baseball on the radio. Sometimes I think it's better than actually being at the game. I've been listening a lot up North in Hessel, in the garage. It brings memories back for sure. Remember us listening in the Shop when Fister struck out nine in a row to set the AL record? On Charlie's old radio? We laughed at each strikeout after about the fifth one as the streak played on. That was a good day.

Mom's doing real good with that pacemaker. It's been over two years now, and she's fretting about everything like always. Did you hear what she told the doctor right after she got it? He told her it had a ten year battery; she said she needed twenty. That's so Mom, right?

The Pumper's show is coming up in a few weeks. We're going to take a lot of the equipment over and then work it. But it's not the Pumper Show anymore. It's the WWETT Show. Water and Wastewater Equipment, Treatment and Transport Show. I don't recall for sure whether they had changed it before your last show. People and their acronyms; I suppose they wanted something easily remembered, but I always remembered the Pumper show. That's what you always called it, so I imagine it stuck in your memory too. Ah well.

Okay, I gotta get up to the Shop. Gotta meet a couple guys and get a couple repairs done on a Saturday to get a head start on next week. That really is a great old barn. A lot of good memories there. The daily bread calls.

Happy Birthday Dad. Until Next Time,

Marty.

The old ballgame at work

Hey Pops,

Well, I had the ballgame on the radio at work yesterday, for the first time in almost three years. I had been avoiding it since then, even though the Tigers play their share of afternoon games these days. It just didn't seem right. But today, well, it felt like the time.

Listening to Detroit beat Oakland sure brought back the memories. All the times that we would be in conversation only to stop talking when Ernie or Dan's voice would rise a decibel or gain excitement. We'd then forget what we were discussing to give quick cheers for the home run or great defensive play.

One of the runs we scored yesterday involved a runner on third who couldn't score because V-Mart's fly to left was too shallow. Yet Miggy was on first, and tagged to run to second. The cutoff man took the throw from left and threw to second without checking Martinez back to third. He streaked home to score on that toss to second, and Miggy ended up safe himself. You would have gotten a kick out of that unusual play.

A particular memory which came to mind was that game where Fister was pitching against the Royals and struck out nine in a row. I think even Phil got into it, though he's not the baseball fan we are. We laughed and cheered more impressively at each whiff, and were almost stonily silent between pitches, our anticipation growing, only to laugh harder when the announcer described Fister's confusion at the boos which greeted the tenth batter's ground out. He hadn't realized the record he'd just set.

Anyway, I think I'll have that old radio on again every time the Tigers have a weekday afternoon game. It's been silly that I've avoided listening for so long.

Until the next game, we'll see ya Pops.