Last night Torii Hunter homered three times as the Los Angeles Angles pummeled the San Diego Padres, 9-1.  Hunter, who went 3-for-4 with three RBI, raised his overall average to .321.  When you work in the business of sport, you have the privilege of working with amazing people and often times witnessing history.  For example, during my tenure in the National and American Leagues, I saw a perfect game, several no-hitters, a 300th career win, a 3,000th hit and so much more.  When you have a passion for the business, it is something special to see.

Hunter’s three home run extravaganza reminded me of the one of my first memories while working behind the scenes in baseball.  As an intern with the (then) California Angels, I was interning in the in the public relations department my junior year of college.  Before the game, we had typical intern duties like copying game day notes for the press box, typing up lineups type (yes, it was the time of the typewriter not the computer, officially making me old) and assisting with pre-game interview requests.  During the 1985 season, my first in baseball, I had the unusual honor of working the speed gun during home games.  You could say I was the Mike Brito of the speed gun that year and I had the best seat in the house.  I was first row behind home plate and would track the speed of all pitchers, type of pitches and relay them back to pitching coach Marcel Lachemann during the game.

On August 26, in a home game vs. the Baltimore Orioles, I witnessed one of the best offensive exhibitions by a player that I can remember.  Eddie Murray, the future Hall-of-Famer, came up and drilled three home runs in his first three at bats.  Murray came up late in the game and was trying for his fourth dinger in a nine inning game.  He drove the ball deep to the outfield and I remember the ball reaching the warning track but just missed. Opposing players are almost never cheered buy the hometown fans but on this special night, fans in the lower bowl of Anaheim Stadium gave Murray a standing ovation.

This was the third time in his career that Eddie Murray had hit three home runs in a single game.  He also recorded the trifecta on August 29, 1979 and again on September 14, 1980, both as a Baltimore Oriole.

Three home runs in a game is more common that tyou think.  In 1985, when I saw Murray do it, several other players recorded the same feat including the Mariners’ Gorman Thomas (April 11), the Texas Rangers’ Larry Parrish (April 29), The Mets’ Darryl Strawberry (August 5) and Cary Carter (September 3), as well as Andre Dawson with Montreal (September 24).

Murray did this pre-steroids which makes the multi-home run feat that much more special.  Years later, Murray, Strawberry and Carter would all play for the Dodgers while I was apart of their management team.

For Hunter and the Angels, three home runs in a game anytime is something to celebrate.  Congratulations.

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Previous Off the Path Stories About My Time in Sports

The Trip That Almost Ended My Sports Career 

Can I have Your AutoGraph

ADDITIONAL SPORTS NOTES FOR A SUNDAY

Tonight is game five of the NBA finals between the Los Angeles Lakers ansd the Orlando Magic.  Best stat of the series:  Since the Lakers acquired Pau Gasol last year, the team has never lost three consecutive games.  The last time it happened was January 23-27, 2008

Tuesday at http://www.sportsinfo101.com, we are back to our 10 questions with a sports executive, this week we will feature Minnesota Wild Vice President of Communications Bill Robertson.