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The First Season II: Regular Season Begins

The first game of the regular season got started amidst much pomp and circumstance as ten grand would allow. Jake had picked out his seat in the press box, but the number of local press that used their credentials to get in was so large that they had to move those who couldn't fit to the section of seats to the sides of the dugouts that had been delegated to VIPs. The problem was, much to Jake's dismay, many of the VIPs he had invited did not show for the game.

Beyond Henry and the hard-working and underpaid staff who had spent a year and half of their lives dedicate to getting to this point, the VIP sections had been vacant. So, the press moved in and instead of having two bald patches of box seats, the infield boxes were full once more as Sacramento left-fielder Garry Aguilera stepped in to face down the San Jose ace pitcher, Toshiki Hirayama. While Aguilera had the honor of being the first batter in Golden State history, he also had the honor of being the first single. After three pitches, on a 2-1 count, he got himself a base hit with a groundball up the middle.

Not deterred by the baserunner, Jake watched as Hirayama beared down and stuck out Major League bench player Tom Simmons. After that, he forced center-fielder John Bennett into a flyout, and then the Grizzlies clean-up man, Billy 'Million Dollar' Smith stepped up to face the young pitcher. Smith was a nice guy; he almost made it onto the Bombers' roster had it not been for his wife and two kids. Although he was originally from New Mexico, he, his wife, and four kids moved to Vallejo as he moved around the Athletics minor league system prior to being bumped up to the big club for half a month in the 1987 season. They called him 'Million Dollar' because of after his face-first dive into home plate, he had to have all of his front teeth capped and repaired. When he arrived back to his class-AAA team the next spring, he was known as the man with the million dollar smile.

But when Smith faced down the opposing pitcher, all of that congeniality disappeared. Jake watched as he fouled off Hirayama's 92mph fastball, and then held up to watch a curveball float outside. The next three pitches were like a silent battle happening between Smith and Hirayama. He tried his slider.. fouled off. His curveball.. fouled off. His sinker... fouled off. Finally, as though sick of trying to pitch around him, the Japanese pitcher that flew thousands of miles to play baseball for a very young league, reared back and located his fastball high and tight, but catching enough black to get the call he wanted. Smith was frozen in place as the ball slapped into the glove of Bombers' catcher Artie Palmer. The umpire reached back into a bow-and-arrow motion and the ball floated back toward the mound as the Bombers filed into the dugout.

The fans in the park went wild.

Jake sat in his seat, wearing a satisfied smile on his face.

NEXT: Part Four: 1988 Stats