cincyforever
07-30-2011, 11:38 PM
I am going be quick about this -- I live in Lima but am staying in Rhode Island as I visit my girlfriend for the summer.
So, today, I go to the Providence Place Mall and am wandering about wasting time and stuff and I decide to go into Lids. As I walk in, I'm greeted by an employee who asks me if I am from Cincinnati (because I had a Reds hat on and the Homage "Cincy" tee shirt). I proceeded to say no but that I was 2 and a half hours north of it. After that, an older gentlement entered the conversation and said "Oh, so you are from Lima?" and then I was like "yeah.. unfortunately.. blah blah" and then he told me he knew of Lima because he was from Cincinnati. So after that small talk I left the store.
As I was riding down the escalator, this man caught up to me to ask me what brought me to Rhode Island and so I told him that I'm just visiting or whatever and then I asked him what he was doing here from Cincy and well, I'll just give you some dialogue here..
Me: "What brings you here from Cincinnati?"
TB: "I'm the pitching coach for the Reds AAA team."
Me: "Oh so you are like, the Bryan Price of the Louisville Bats?"
TB: "Yeah.. that's me."
Me: "Pleasure to meet you. I'm Ryan.. I'll actually be at the game on Monday 3 rows behind the Bats dugout."
TB: "(chuckling) I'll be there as well! Nice to meet you Ryan. Tom Browning is my name."
Me: "Nice to meet you too!"
And then we departed. After we had departed, his name was ringing one thousand bells in my head but I could not recollect a "Tom Browning". I knew I had heard it numerous times.. it seemed as if I heard his name every day and I couldn't put a finger on it.
So, I whipped out my Droid X and google'd "Tom Browning" and my jaw dropped, heart stopped and I had a smile about 50x the size of Rhode Island. I could not believe I couldn't remember who this man was. I was born in 1990 so I don't remember watching him play since I didn't start following baseball until about 2003-2004, but I knew this guy. I heard his name on Reds Live. I heard his name being tossed about in conversations about the Reds and their win in 1991. I started reading about him... 20-8, 3.55 ERA as a rookie. 12th pitcher ever to throw a perfect game, almost had one more in 1989 but lost it in the top on the 9th against Philadelphia, World Series Champion in '91, etc.
I could not believe it. I was shellshocked.. I really was. He was so humble. He mentioned nothing about being a ballplayer let alone what he accomplished in his career, and he was just chilling in Lids trying on random hats.
I'm still smiling about it. It was awesome!
So, today, I go to the Providence Place Mall and am wandering about wasting time and stuff and I decide to go into Lids. As I walk in, I'm greeted by an employee who asks me if I am from Cincinnati (because I had a Reds hat on and the Homage "Cincy" tee shirt). I proceeded to say no but that I was 2 and a half hours north of it. After that, an older gentlement entered the conversation and said "Oh, so you are from Lima?" and then I was like "yeah.. unfortunately.. blah blah" and then he told me he knew of Lima because he was from Cincinnati. So after that small talk I left the store.
As I was riding down the escalator, this man caught up to me to ask me what brought me to Rhode Island and so I told him that I'm just visiting or whatever and then I asked him what he was doing here from Cincy and well, I'll just give you some dialogue here..
Me: "What brings you here from Cincinnati?"
TB: "I'm the pitching coach for the Reds AAA team."
Me: "Oh so you are like, the Bryan Price of the Louisville Bats?"
TB: "Yeah.. that's me."
Me: "Pleasure to meet you. I'm Ryan.. I'll actually be at the game on Monday 3 rows behind the Bats dugout."
TB: "(chuckling) I'll be there as well! Nice to meet you Ryan. Tom Browning is my name."
Me: "Nice to meet you too!"
And then we departed. After we had departed, his name was ringing one thousand bells in my head but I could not recollect a "Tom Browning". I knew I had heard it numerous times.. it seemed as if I heard his name every day and I couldn't put a finger on it.
So, I whipped out my Droid X and google'd "Tom Browning" and my jaw dropped, heart stopped and I had a smile about 50x the size of Rhode Island. I could not believe I couldn't remember who this man was. I was born in 1990 so I don't remember watching him play since I didn't start following baseball until about 2003-2004, but I knew this guy. I heard his name on Reds Live. I heard his name being tossed about in conversations about the Reds and their win in 1991. I started reading about him... 20-8, 3.55 ERA as a rookie. 12th pitcher ever to throw a perfect game, almost had one more in 1989 but lost it in the top on the 9th against Philadelphia, World Series Champion in '91, etc.
I could not believe it. I was shellshocked.. I really was. He was so humble. He mentioned nothing about being a ballplayer let alone what he accomplished in his career, and he was just chilling in Lids trying on random hats.
I'm still smiling about it. It was awesome!