1995 Memory

Probably because I am preparing for a trip to Florida to Spring Training, a memory popped into my head from 1995. I sold programs for the Hudson Valley Renegades that summer. Also, my friends and I hung out at the 7-11 routinely. It made sense at the time as a destination for teenage boys who wanted to get away from home and had no where better to go - it had food we could afford. This was the set of circumstances that put me in front of 7-11 with my friends, still wearing my maroon uniform, when a carload of players still in dirty uniform pulled up.

They came for beer. I was a teenager and only a few years younger than any of them, with the player in the back looking no older than any of us. I always wondered who the players were, and who they ended up becoming. Two of the Renegades active that year ended up becoming well-known major league players; Scott Podsednik and Ryan Dempster. However, the players we saw that night were from the opposing team. I do not even know which team they played for so it is impossible to say who they were.