Beginning with Bonus Baseball
Dad and I began our day at different airports. I had a direct flight from SFO to Charlotte, while he had a flight from PDX with a stop at Chicago O’Hare. If everything went to plan, he would arrive in Charlotte about 30 minutes after me, and we’d be on our way to dinner and Game 1 of our road trip.
Oh, plans.
My flight passed uneventfully. But Dad’s was rerouted, then delayed — ultimately, by five hours. That would wipe out the first game of the trip to see the independent Atlantic League Gastonia Honey Hunters, just 25 minutes from Charlotte-Douglas Airport. But I soon realized that we had an off day scheduled after Game 2 in Greenville, and Gastonia would be playing then as well. I could easily shift the itinerary. And I still had tickets for tonight’s game!
I drove west on I-85 toward Gastonia, giddy with my new plan and the promise of the weeks to come. But soon, a series of nearby lightning strikes illuminated the darkening skies, animating the sense of being in a new place, and drops of rain began to fall. I ignored it and pressed on towards baseball.
I arrived at a wet and subdued CaroMont Health Park, a brand new ballpark designed to be the cornerstone of redevelopment in Gastonia. The rain had picked up, and a game did not feel imminent.
Walking down the first-base side, I found three-time All-Star, 1987 World Series MVP, 1988 Cy Young Award winner, and now High Point Rockers pitching coach Frank Viola, keeping balls dry under his jersey while he watched one of his pitchers work out.
We soon entered a rain delay. I took the opportunity to acquaint myself with my first Carolina brew, a CLT IPA from Catawba Valley Brewing Co.
After about 30 minutes, the shower receding, players began to appear on the field for warm-ups and a little pepper.
Gastonia Manager Mauro “Goose” Gozzo and High Point Manager Jamie Keefe exchanged lineup cards and pleasantries. I cover Gozzo’s past as a Minor and Major League pitcher in Game 2: Gastonia Honey Hunters.
Keefe was selected in the third round by the Pittsburgh Pirates, and he made it as far as Triple-A Las Vegas (then a San Diego Padres affiliate) in 1997 but was released by the Padres later that year. The utility player shifted to the independent leagues for the next few seasons, finishing with the Chillicothe Paints of the Frontier League in 2000. He took over as manager of the Paints the following year and was in his 17th season managing independent league baseball.
Gastonia Manager Mauro “Goose” Gozzo (left) and High Point Manager Jamie Keefe
The Atlantic League is a scoring league. The starting pitchers for High Point and Gastonia finished the night with season ERAs of 7.36 and 8.10, respectively, and High Point’s starter lowered his ERA. Out of respect for the profession, I will not divulge their names.
The Rockers scored three in the second and two more in the third. The Honey Hunters answered with two in the bottom frame, and it was 5-2 High Point after three.
On-field host Josh Johnson worked the small crowd as the mist returned, taking kids through quizzes between innings. I stepped up to chat with him when he finished and learned that the Charlotte native had a long history of TV and radio work in the southeast, particularly in Atlanta. Then he stopped mid-sentence and turned his focus to the field. His son, Will Johnson, had stepped to the plate as a pinch hitter for the Honey Hunters. He slapped a grounder to right field, sparking a two-out rally for Gastonia that would tie the game 6-6.
We talked a bit more, and I mentioned that I had been in touch with a Charlotte TV news crew, and they might be meeting us at the ballpark to cover our road trip two nights from then, when Dad and I would return to Gastonia for Game 2 of our baseball odyssey.
In the top of the seventh, a Rockers runner was thrown out at second on a questionable call — the second of the night that went against the visitors — and Keefe stormed out of the dugout, genuinely livid. About 15 seconds of sharp words later, the third-base umpire (who calls plays at second in this league) tossed Keefe from the game. The Rockers manager whipped his helmet across the infield in one, final act of protest — though he had more sharp words for each of the other two umpires as he exited the field.
Things were getting lively, but I had to get to the airport to meet Dad’s flight. The Honey Hunters would take the lead in the seventh but get bombed by the Rockers for eight runs in the top of the eighth. Like two punch-drunk fighters continuing to throw haymakers, the teams added five more runs in the ninth. High Point outlasted Gastonia, 16-10.
By this time, I had hugged Dad for the first time in more than two years. We were off to Greenville.