The happiest moment of my life occurred 20 years ago today. I know the politically correct thing to say is that the happiest moments of my life were when my two children were born, but I must confess that really isn’t true. Yes, of course, I was blissfully happy when Madeleine and Christian were born, but I was terrified, too. They were both C-section babies and C-sections are scary.
No, the happiest moment of my life was when Kirk Gibson hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth inning for the Los Angeles Dodgers, giving them a victory in Game One of the 1988 World Series against the Oakland Athletics. Gibson didn’t start the game; he could barely walk due to a knee injury that had hobbled him toward the end of the season. But in the bottom of the ninth, Dodger Manager Tommy Lasorda asked Gibson if he thought he could swing the bat and Gibson said yes.
I’ve been a Dodger fan all my life, for no apparent reason. I was born in New York, raised in Connecticut, and today I live in New Jersey. But ever since I can remember, I have bled Dodger blue. I was watching the game in the TV Room of my dormitory, which had wooden benches to sit on. Not very comfortable. Since it was Oakland against L.A., there weren’t a ton of people watching. Gibson limped up to the plate to bat against Oakland reliever Dennis Eckersley, who had been lights out all year long. It was a long at bat. Gibson kept fouling off pitches. And then BOOM he hits a home run into the right-field stands.
I went absolutely apeshit. I remember leaping up and bear-hugging a fellow Dodger fan, who was also going insane. (His name escapes me at the moment, but I saw him at a wedding a few years ago. He looked just like Bill Clinton.) Gibson could barely run around the bases. He did this “arm pump” thing as he rounded second base. They showed Lasorda jumping around, celebrating. It was so unexpected, so purely GOOD, I could barely stand it.
It was the happiest moment of my life. And it happened 20 years ago today.
