Thankfully, the Angels Lost, Too

So, ...

I don't know about the Oakland players, but I, for one A, am happy to have today off from a game. This is an intense race for the American League West Division pennant, and a grizzled (literally, in my case) veteran like me needs more rest than does, say, one of our babe-in-the-woods brothers-in-arms such as Billy Burns.

I found it amazing to learn the other day that Billy Burns, 24-year-old from Marietta, Ga., is the first rookie to play for the A's all this fantastic season. He debuted earlier this week in the Houston series (which didn't go that great; Oakland lost two of three and had to rally from 4-1 down in the ninth to win one). 

Billy Burns was born Aug. 30, 1989. On Aug. 30, 1989, I had just turned 21 years old, had just finished a summer internship at The Courier-Journal and was just getting back to WKU for my senior year as editor of the College Heights Herald. Let me tell you; I thought I was a big shot. I'm sure Billy Burns feels like a big shot now. Of course, he feels like a big shot--he's a freaking Major League Baseball player with the freaking Oakland A's, battling for the freaking American League West pennant. Billy Burns is a big shot. I don't know what else I want to say about that--other than that I hope he enjoys it, that I hope he receives it gracefully (more gracefully than did 21-year-old I, when I was only feeling like a big shot) and that I hope he receives it gracefully, too, whenever, inevitably, his plans are changed.

At the time his picture was snapped for this 1969 baseball card, Hank Bauer would have been 46, the age I am getting ready to turn this weekend. And here's Joe Rudi, who was 22.