Memory of a Banquet III

1988.  I still remember it like it was yesterday.  This banquet, or at least the highlights, stand out in my memory.  The Bald Eagles offered to host the banquet at their home in Brookfield.  We were there to celebrate the 1988 season and crown the, oh here's a shocker, Copperfields champion.

The evening started off on a typical note.  Bob, as host, went about offering his guests something to drink.  Interestingly he didn't ask me what I would like to drink.  After a few minutes he emerged from his kitchen with a strange looking glass of water.  He handed it to me and when I looked at the glass like "what the hell?" he explained that his pipes were kind of rusty.

Well I didn't play along with his little ruse and I came to find out that he loaded my glass of water with tobasco sauce.  Oh Bob, such a kidder.

I can actually, maybe for the only time other than this year's banquet, tell you the specific date of the banquet.  It was Saturday, October 15, 1988.  How do I know?  We were watching the World Series.  Game 1 of the World Series.

I know the Copperfields and Eagles were in attendance.  I think the Six Packs and Ruffins were there as well and it wouldn't surprise me if the Aces and Crocketts were there since Bob was their boss.  The Picks were most likely there as well because, well, what else would they have to do?  So it's possible we had the entire league in attendance.

I am most certain that in that house that night I was the only Oakland A fan.  Everyone else wanted the Dodgers to win.  I was riding high until the ninth inning when, as we all know, Kirk Gibson swung with one arm and somehow deposited Eckersley's backdoor slider halfway up the stands behind the right field wall.

I was crushed.  Looking back I'm embarrassed to say I was sucked in to the phenomena of the Bash Brothers.  But there still was The Eck, Welch, Stewart, Lansford, Parker, Henderson, Steinbach . . .

When Gibson homered the entire room erupted in joy and many fingers were pointed in my direction.  Monroe especially enjoyed pointing out that the A's had lost.  He was such a meanie.

The other part of the evening I recall was Bob trying to coerce a few other owners to douse the champion  Copperfields (this was their THIRD title IN A ROW) with Yoo-Hoo.  I can't remember if he was successful, but I do recall being out in the front yard running around for a while.

More pictures from this year's banquet:

Commissioner Bentel trying unsuccessfully to organize the award certificates.

The Revenge cautiously accepting their certificate for 7th place.  No doubt they wanted to finish in the money for a third straight year.  Notice the patrons in the background completely oblivious to the historical nature of this 30th consecutive gathering.

 "Really Mr. Coulter?  CFCL Champion last year?  That's amazing!"  Actually the Clowns and The Swing were most likely rehashing the specifics of the blockbuster trade they  made a few days earlier.  The first one of 2014 had the Clowns sending Adrian Gonzalez, Cole Hamel and Didi Gregorius to The Swing in exchange for Carlos Gonzalez.