It was 1961, I was 8 years old and in my first pennant race. The Cincinnati Reds were battling the Los Angeles Dodgers for the top spot in the National League. My dad would give me daily updates as the season wound down. This was back in the old days when there were just two teams that made the playoffs. The team that won the National League pennant would play the American League champion. Eventually, the Reds held off the Dodgers and would face the Yankees in the World Series.
Unlike today when World Series games are held at night to increase TV viewership, in 1961 all the games were held during the day. As a result, if you were the average 8-year-old kid, you were not going to be able to see much of the World Series since you were stuck in spelling class. However, I was a lucky third grader as my teacher must have been a Reds fan and rolled in the black and white TV that we normally used for documentaries and turned on the game. That is when my love of baseball became a reality.
The baseball season is much like life. It has its ups and downs. Teams can go on winning streaks, but they also hit bumps in the road. Injuries happen and teams can go into a nosedive until their star comes back. The Reds had some bumps that year but still pulled through it in the end up until they ran into the Yankees in the Series. The Yankees had Roger Maris (who broke Babe Ruths home run record that year), Mickey Mantle, Whitey Ford and the irresistible Yogi Bera. It was a great year for the Reds, but the Yankees were just too good and the Reds lost in five games. It would be nine years until the Reds won another pennant. More ups and downs.
My life has been filled with its share of ups and downs but when you live to be 71 years old, you are bound to have those. Having lost both of my parents were tough times. Meeting the love of my life, Julia, was one of my great peaks. Having two wonderful children were also huge highs. Watching them become the fine men that they have become made those highs even greater.
I was a very healthy person as I entered my 50’s. Still had my tonsils, my wisdom teeth and my appendix. Then I had the shock of my life when I found out I had Multiple Myeloma, a cancer of the bone marrow. My outlook was not good as people would typically live just two years at that time with this horrible disease. I was certain I would not live to see 60, the same age that my mother died. I then started a series of chemotherapies. They would work for a while and then stop. More ups and downs. Then a new chemo would come out and I would have new life.
This happened time and time again. Until, that is, when I ran out of new chemos. It looked like I had a couple months to live. This was the greatest low of my life. In tears, I begged my oncologist to somehow help me. It was time for a Hail Mary with a second stem cell transplant. In the meantime, I lost my kidneys and I had to start dialysis. After suffering through four plus months in the hospital and having problem after problem and almost giving up a miracle happened. I was suddenly in remission, a new high, one I had not experienced in the previous 13 years of fighting this disease.
The highs have continued, and I find myself in my own personal World Series. On the way up to Sedona for Jason’s wedding I received a call telling me that I had been approved by the Mayo Clinic to receive a kidney transplant. That started a weekend that was completed with Jason and Erin’s beautiful wedding. And the highs just continue.
Don’t ever get too down when you hit a low because the good times are around the corner. In 1975, I finally got to enjoy the first World Series win the Reds experienced in my lifetime. Just stick with it. The highs will come and you will have your own World Series.
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