Remembering My Friend, Don Oppedisano

 

Heartbroken is the word that described me after hearing my friend Don Oppedisano had died so suddenly.  How long a history did I have with Don?  44 years.  Don and Sharon were married at Parkminster Church on Thanksgiving weekend 1977, exactly one week before Corinne and I were married there.  We began our married lives blessed by many faithful people of that worshipping community.  Although the opportunity to buy his family's shoe store in Honeoye Falls resulted in him and Sharon moving there, we've stayed in touch over the years.  

We first vacationed with Don and Sharon in Cape Cod in 1978 and we recently visited them in Doral, FL in March 2020 just before the pandemic hit.  In between, Don and I took many road trips to NY Yankee baseball games.  Each game was its own special adventure because Don planned our outings with such thoughtfulness.  June 1992 was the first of these adventures, and included his son Rich, my son Tim, pastor Mike and his sons.  We ventured to Camden Yards in Baltimore, during its inaugural season, to watch a Sunday night ESPN game followed by a Monday night game against the Orioles. We Yankee fans were well entertained that evening: 4 Yankee home runs; controversy with Baltimore's manager and umpires as to whether the Yankees starting pitcher was doctoring the ball; and receiving single serving size boxes of Wheaties as we left the stadium.  The Yankees, who were a sub 0.500 team at that point in the season, undoubtedly had eaten their Wheaties for breakfast that day.  Don arranged for us to stay with friends that night and created a plan for the following day that included a visit to Ft. McHenry and the Babe Ruth Museum.  We got to the stadium early for the Monday night game to watch batting practice. Don was somehow able to find a way for us to meet the Yankees manager at the time, Buck Showalter, and for the boys to get his autograph.  Although the Yankees lost the Monday game, we had a wonderful trip and time together.

There were many other Yankee road trips we enjoyed together including:

• The 2003 away opener against the Blue Jays at SkyDome, Hideki Matsui's first season and game with the Yankees, and the game that Derek Jeter broke his hand sliding head-first into third base; 
• The September 11, 2009 game where Tim, Don and I saw Derek Jeter break Lou Gehrig's all time Yankees hits record; and
• The July 21, 2018 game against the Mets that both my sons, Tim and Matt, attended with us and watched Yankees closer, Aroldis Chapman, nearly blow, leaving the bases loaded to end the game.

Don squeezed so much out of each trip, each game, each game highlight.  After one particular home game, we met up with Sharon and Corinne after the game and enjoyed Italian pastries at Veniero's in lower Manhattan.  Win or lose, the adventure of the road trip and appreciating the time spent with Don was rich because we also shared our joys, struggles, hopes and prayers.  He understood and lived out the concept that attending baseball games held much more than just entertainment value - we shared our faith walks, enjoyed the times as a gift from God, and we grew in our faith on these journeys.  Every game I attended with Don was a pure blessing.  

Because of my competitive nature, sports too often became an unhealthy obsession for me. Through Don's example I learned to appreciate baseball as a gift from God for all the positive things it teaches about life: discipline, focus, excellence, failure, and redemption.  I don't know when and with whom I'll be attending my next NY Yankees baseball game, but I know I will be remembering and giving thanks to God for my friend Don. 
 

Encountering Darryl Strawberry

 

Our family travels and vacations have come with planned and unexpected encounters, but were always an adventure.  On this trip, we encountered a person with celebrity status who, though broken, blessed our family. 

I was attending the International Bridge Conference, held each year during the month of June in Pittsburgh, which was a big deal for me. I was the principal author of a paper describing the bridge scour evaluation program that Bergmann and two other consultants ran for the New York State Thruway Authority. We made this event into a family mini-vacation, that included an evening baseball game at the old, Three Rivers Stadium on June 11,1991. It was to be a night of disappointments and blessings.  At that time Tim was 9, and baseball was the love of his life.  We were all pumped to attend the game between the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers and the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Unfortunately, we left Three Rivers Stadium early that night, wet and disappointed.  After a 2.5 hour rain delay the game was cancelled.  As we trudged through the parking lot, all I could think about was whether I would be able to get back the $50 I'd spent on game tickets.  I also hoped that we could get back to the Gateway Hilton Hotel, where we and the Dodgers were staying, in time for Tim to get autographs from some of the Dodgers.  Realizing this possibility, he was easily able to forget about the rainout.  We arrived ahead of the Dodgers, and there were already about a half dozen boys waiting around the front lobby near the main doors. The hotel management were not pleased to see these children loitering in their four star hotel and said that when the players arrived, we'd have to go outside to attempt to get autographs.  

In 1991, both the Dodgers and Pirates were contenders, and the Dodgers had several big names including Orel Hershiser, Eric Karros, and Darryl Strawberry.  In November of 1990, Darryl Strawberry, who had been a New York Met, signed with the Dodgers as a free agent.  He was kind of a big deal.  Darryl Strawberry was voted to the NL All Star team that year, and later in his career signed with the New York Yankees and was a member of their 1996, 1998 and 1999 World Series Championship teams.  

We waited a little longer, then saw several limos arrive with the bulk of the players.  What happened next was fast paced.  Tim and Corinne went outdoors, but the players passed them by.  Darryl Strawberry, a lean 6' 6" tall, towered over everyone.  He stopped in front of three boys in the lobby and quietly signed their cards and papers.  Tim, who was rarely quiet or patient, raced back inside and positioned himself next to Darryl who autographed his paper too.  Tim was filled with awe.  I wondered if Darryl Strawberry knew how happy he made those boys.  Leading up to that game he had been slumping, and was hampered by injuries.  I didn't know too much about Darryl Strawberry at the time, except that he had recently come to faith in Jesus.  That night I saw him as a person who was willing to take the time, when nobody from the media was watching, to bring a group of boys some joy by showing an interest in them.

Darryl Strawberry's baseball and personal life has been filled with both success and brokenness.  You can read about it here:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darryl_Strawberry .  He suffered under an abusive father, was suspended three times by Major League Baseball for substance abuse, suffered two bouts of cancer, and several times was in trouble with the law.  Yet, one can see through the brokenness that Darryl Strawberry is a person loved, saved and restored by Jesus, who taught us "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  I came not to call the righteous, but sinners." (Mark 2:17).