A fair number of Oakland A's have been featured on my Cardboard Appreciation posts. There has been Paul Lindblad, Herb Washington, Billy Martin and now Dennis Eckersley. And there are more on the way.
I'm not sure why that is. I think one of the reasons is the A's have been one of the most colorful organizations in baseball for the last 40 years. And Dennis Eckersley was certainly part of that colorful past.
I've always liked Eck. Even in 1988, against the Dodgers, I liked Eck. (And after Gibson's home run, I liked Eck like heck). He always had that great presence on the mound and that great look, as you can see on the Score card.
Eckersley also was my personal indicator that I was still a young man.
Let me explain. Each year I would review the rosters before the season. As long as there was someone playing baseball who had been playing since before I started following the game, then, according to my definition, I was still young.
Well, it got to be that Eckersley was the only player left who had played in the majors before I started watching ball. Then Eck retired in 1998, and I was a little bit crushed. I had to find a new way to keep myself young.
The new way is still in effect. It involves reviewing whether there are any active major league players who are older than I am.
And that may cause you to wonder: how old is Night Owl? Well, look at the jersey number that Eckersley is wearing on the Score card.
There's your answer.
So now you know why I want Jamie Moyer and Randy Johnson to hang around for a couple more years.
Hang in there guys. Maybe I'll feature you on Cardboard Appreciation, too. Because not only are you playing to keep yourself young. You're playing to keep others young, too.
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