Wednesday June 15th, 2011 - St. Joseph, MI When I was a kid, June 15th had two meanings. First, it was the Major League Baseball trading deadline. That meant teams had to make whatever deals they were going to make to patch their roster holes to hopefully make the playoffs and go on to the World Series. My hometown Milwaukee Brewers were terrible then, but I always held out hope they’d pull off some miraculous swindle on June 15th that would turn their fortunes around. They did get Hank Aaron for Dave May, but I was too stupid to realize that was just a courtesy move so Hank could play his last years in Milwaukee. Dave May was the odd man out. One year, I think it was 1975 or ‘76, the Brewers landed Bobby Darwin from the Twins for Johnny Briggs on or right near the trading deadline and I was really excited. He was a slugger from another team, and even though I really liked Johnny Briggs I thought it was a brilliant move. This would be what it took to turn my mediocre Brewers into a dynasty. I thought for sure he’d light a fire under the rest of the team and go on a one man tear like there’d never been in the history of baseball. He’d get to Milwaukee and realize how loyal to the end the fans were and how good bratwurst tasted and he’d be our new hero. What actually happened is he showed up and collected a check for a while, but the team was still bad and not much had changed. Then, he was traded to the Boston Red Sox with my all time favorite pitcher Tom Murphy for the journeyman talents of one Bernie Carbo. I’m amazed I can still recall useless details like this, but it’s very vivid in my brain even now. I couldn’t tell you in detail what I had for lunch yesterday, but the Bobby Darwin for Johnny Briggs trade at the deadline in the ‘70s is still there clear as day. I think I’m senile. Trades in sports have always fascinated me. It’s the only profession where someone can be shipped to another company and has no control over it. What if the district manager of Red Lobster came to work one day and was told he’d been traded to Applebee’s for a bus boy, two waitresses and a dishwasher to be named later? It would keep him on his toes. The other significance of June 15th is that it’s my sister Tammy’s birthday. As a kid, she was the oldest so her age would always be impressive. She’s four years older than me and she got to reach the big teen years first. Now, it’s totally opposite. Funny how that works. It’s not funny how Tammy and I never really got along. I can’t help thinking about how it’s been over 18 years since she’s spoken to me, and how useless it all is. Whatever kind of sibling bond there may have been has long been erased. I don’t think I’d know what to say if I saw her now. She’s apparently got a bug up her ass that has no time to talk to me. I’ve never claimed to be the perfect brother or anything else, but whatever I did to cause this didn’t deserve a solid 18 year sentence of total silence in my opinion. Too bad I can’t get traded to another family. I’d go in a second. I could use a swim in a fresh gene pool.
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