Dad, Me, and the ’82 World Series…….

The World Series for this year is over, and the Cubs have won. I’m thinking about my nieces and how they must feel as forever die-hard Cub fans. You remember this stuff over a lifetime, especially something like game 7 of this series. You think of fans/family/people in the past. And you remember things that were going on in your life at the time of the Series. I’m sure they will all be telling this story for years to come.

As a Cardinal fan, we’ve had many memorable series over the years – both wins and losses. I remember the win in 2006 and the great 2011 series. As a kid, ’64 and ’67 cemented me as a Cardinal fan for life. And I remember the losses as well – Lolich and the Tigers in ’68, and the “tarp incident” in ’85 among others. But the Series I remember the most, is probably the one I know the least about – 1982. This is a story about my Dad, me, and the ’82 World Series.

In 1982, I was a Captain in the Army, and stationed in Germany. I was a Company Commander in VII Corps. At the time the Cold War was very much alive, and having alerts and deploying to the West German/Czech border was a monthly occurrence. And this was also the post-Viet Nam Army, with prevalent drug and alcohol abuse problems. 

The Cardinals were in the Series with the Brewers. In Germany, we were six hours ahead of StL time, which meant a 7PM start was 1AM in Germany. You couldn’t get it on TV, and the morning paper, The Stars and Stripes, was a day behind. You would get the scores on Armed Forces Network (AFN) radio, but no details.

In any case, on October 20th, 1982, Cath and I went to bed. Around 4AM on Oct 21st, the phone range. Now in 1982, if you were a Company Commander in the Army in Germany, a 4AM call meant one of three things. Number 1, you were going on alert and maybe heading for the border; number 2, one of your troops had been arrested somewhere, and you had to go pick him up; or number 3, a family member in the United States had died, or had something serious happen.

I ran to the phone. 

     “Captain Hall, sir”…..

     “THEYWONTHEYWONTHECARDINALSWON!”

     “Hello? What? Say again?”

     “THEYWON!THECARDINALSWONTHEWORLDSERIES!” 

     “THE  CARDINALS  WON  THE  WORLD  SERIES!” …shouted Dad.

And that’s how I found out the Cards won the ’82 Series, 6-3 in game 7. We talked another 5 minutes or so, said our goodbyes and said we loved each other. I went back to bed for about an hour, before getting up to go in to work.

I’ve thought about that call over the years…. Baseball as something that binds us….The love between a father and a son….A memory I will never forget. 

With the Cubs win, I’ve been watching the posts on Facebook, and not surprisingly, many referred to a father, or mother, or brother, or friend who had passed away, and they were sure that special someone was celebrating in heaven. I know all the Cub fans will celebrate, remember and cherish the win this year, just as much as I’ve remembered that call in October, 1982.