Forty Years Ago, Johnny Belted His Last

Forty years ago tonight, with my Uncle Charlie and I in attendance at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati, veteran Reds catcher Johnny Bench connected for the 389th and final home run of his career, in a Reds 4-3 loss to the Astros on ‘Johnny Bench Nite’. After the game, all fans received the certificate seen below, which after forty years I finally scanned and digitally added my name and ticket stub to.

And though I didn’t play any SP78 match-ups while in Cincinnati for the big game, I did play a few at my grandparents place in Clyde, where I was staying for three weeks during my summer vacation to Ohio back in 1983. Looking back, I wish I’d taken Statis Pro with me to Cincinnati, and played my uncle in a game or two at our downtown hotel to commemorate the event…the last time I’d see my favorite player take part in a major league game.

The SP78 40th Hit List

No, I’m not talking about base hits…I’m talking about the 13 classic rock hits that played on 92.5 FM, The Fox throughout the SP78 40th Anniversary game on August 22nd. Like I’d done with the game Steve P and I played in Connecticut during our baseball trip to the New England states in 2015, I kept track of the songs that we heard on a local radio station over the course of the game, and burned them to a CD later as a reminder of the event.

Looking at both lists, I’d say I like this collection of songs a bit more than the 13 that played during that NE trip five years ago, on a classic rock station out of Hartford called 102.9 FM, The Whale. And I just now noticed: what’s with the animal kingdom theme with my choice of stations for Statis Pro games? Does that mean that for the 50th Anniversary game I might be listening to 99.7 FM, The Wombat?

Thunderstruck – AC/DC
Dust in the Wind – Kansas
Wanted Dead or Alive – Bon Jovi
Somebody to Love – Queen
Wheel in the Sky – Journey
Rainbow in the Dark – Dio
Runnin’ Down a Dream – Tom Petty
Bennie and The Jets – Elton John
I Can’t Drive 55 – Sammy Hagar
Crazy Train – Ozzy Osbourne
Born to Be Wild – Steppenwolf
Juke Box Hero – Foreigner
Live and Let Die – Paul McCartney and Wings

SP78 Replay Celebrates 40 Years Today!

On this date in 1980, the Statis Pro 1978 Replay season opened with a game between the Reds and Astros at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati, the first of four games to be played that landmark afternoon. Now, exactly forty years later, the Reds will help SP78 Replay celebrate again, with an anniversary game against the Cardinals on the actual site where Riverfront once stood, at the AC Marriott Cincinnati at The Banks hotel. The game will spotlight a pitching match-up of Cincinnati ace Tom Seaver and St Louis right-hander John Denny, and will feature the original lineups from that 1978 game.

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My friend Steve P and I arrived in Cincinnati on Thursday afternoon, the purpose of the visit twofold: to play the 40th anniversary game in the city where my replay season kicked off, and to visit the Reds Hall of Fame and Museum, conveniently located across the street from our hotel, adjacent to Great American Ball Park. The second of our goals was achieved yesterday, when he and I spent over three hours enjoying a baseball museum that, in our opinion, far surpassed that of the one located in Cooperstown. Not only was the memorabilia smartly presented and more creatively displayed, but the overall experience was a heck of a lot more fun.

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If such a thing is possible, we’re considering playing the anniversary game on the hotel’s open-air rooftop bar, called the AC Upper Deck. It opens to the public in the evening, so we’re hoping we’ll have access to it in the early afternoon, when the place is quiet and unpopulated. Of course, if wind, rain, harsh sunlight, or bugs are a factor, we’ll play the game in the safety of our hotel room. (And yes, that’s Great American Ball Park on the right).

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SP78 and the Blues

Just a photo of what I was up to recently at a hotel in Grand Rapids on a quiet Sunday evening: working on the SP78 site and watching the Blues take on the Bruins in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final, with some liquid refreshment in a West Michigan Whitecaps cup in the background.