Hey, let's go to a game!

(Updated 08.22.210)

... So my good friend Matt -- and fellow baseball fanatic -- posed this question to me ...

What’s the best “Hey, let’s decide to go to a game
at the last minute, why not” payoff you had?

Here's what I'd tell him ...

No. 1: My double-header during the 2007 season ... The day I already had tickets to a Friday day game at Wrigley and then got tickets for that night's Brewers game too. Two games, two stadiums and four teams in one day.

No. 2: Aug. 21, 2010 ... The night we caught two extra inning games for $9 and watched baseball until past 1 in the morning.

No. 3: June 29, 1996 ... My family is vacationing in Colorado and we spend a couple nights in Denver. My 17th birthday was one night earlier and the Dodgers are in town to play the Rockies, and that's a big rivalry in Denver's eyes. We walk down to the stadium and walk around it, marveling at the complex. But my parents nix going to the game that night ...

But the next day ... We return to the stadium for some more investigation. We learn Coors Field has a general admission section high up in center field, called The Rock Pile. Tickets are $5 and the clerk we talk to explains the lines sometimes stretch for blocks, especially with the Dodgers in town; "You'd better get in line early," she says. It's about noon ...

I think we went to get some lunch and came back around 3. Sure enough, the line was getting long and my parents tell me, "If you want tickets, you're going to have to stand in line to get them."

"Fine," I say. They bring me a copy of the latest Sports Illustrated and go back to the hotel for some swimming. I proceed to wait in line for two hours with complete strangers ...

By the time my parents come back and the gates open at 5:30, the line stretches as far as you can see. And I'm in the front quarter of it... We get our four tickets for seats in The Rock Pile and enter ...

It turned out to be one of the most exciting games I may ever witness live. The Dodgers wailed on the Rockies. Mike Piazza hit three home runs, including a grand slam. And Eric Karros hit a home run of his own on the second pitch after that grand slam. There were nine home runs hit in the game, including three by the Rockies, which at the time, I think, was a National League record ...

Heading into the eighth inning, the Dodgers were up 13-0 -- and then the Rockies came back! As the Rockies mounted their come back, it was the loudest, most raucous crowd in which I've ever been involved. And I'll never forget the scoreboard flashing "Make some noise!"

The Rockies scored eight in the bottom of the eighth and two in the bottom of the ninth. But the Dodgers finally shut the door to win the game, 13-10.

A couple other circumstances surrounding the game: Bill Russell was the interim manager because Tommy Lasorda was hospitalized after suffering a heart attack ... Rockies manager Don Baylor was thrown out of the game in the top of the eighth for arguing a pitch ... Mike Piazza, just three years removed from his Rookie of the Year season, was leading the league with a .352 average ... The Dogers possessed a talented lineup at that time -- including Piazza, Karros, Raul Mondesi, Todd Hollandsworth, Greg Gagne and Delino DeShields -- that went on to, unfortunately, get swept out of the division lead by the Padres and lost the first round of the playoffs ... Then a phenom, Hideo Nomo pitched the next day, and the entire weekend series was a run-scoring, record-breaking bonanza that I remember being all the rage on Sportscenter that Monday.

No. 4: Sept. 2, 2003 ... The Cardinals came into Wrigley for a Friday afternoon, a makeup of an earlier rainout. ... Just a few days earlier, I bought a single ticket and got a seat several rows behind the third base dugout ...

The Cardinals took an early 2-0 lead with help from a solo home run by Jim Edmonds. Then the Cubs tied it in the bottom of the fifth...

Both teams battled like the playoff race they were in. There were several great defensive plays, including the spectacular game-saving catch catch Orlando Palmeiro made in the bottom of the ninth. Ramon Martinez had hit a ball to the wall with the bases loaded, Palmeiro leaped against the vines and snatched it to send the game to extra innings ...

It was a quintessential afternoon at Wrigley. The sun was shining, and I was keeping score, sitting next to two elderly ladies who were equally enthralled with the game. Every time it looked like the Cubs or the Cardinals were finally going to break the tie -- only to see the scoring chance fail -- a bunch of us looked at each other, rolled our eyes and sighed. I'll never forget the rush to get bathroom breaks between innings and fans trying to get back to their seats before missing anything. It was a marathon of a game ...

Finally, in the 15th inning, Sammy Sosa stepped to the plate -- when Cubs fans still adored him -- and hit a home run into the left field bleachers to give the Cubs a 4-2 win ...

Those Cubs included Aramis Ramirez and Kenny Lofton (coming over in a mideason trade), and Eric Karros (then in the twilight of his career) ... They, of course, won the NL Central and rode into the postseason only to have their dreams shattered by Steve Bartman, future Cubs Juan Pierre, Derrek Lee, that rookie phenom Dontrelle Willis and the Florida Marlins ...

No. 5: June 11, 2005 ... Cubs-Red Sox ... Some buddies and I went to Wrigley on that Saturday morning, determined to get tickets for the game -- but we doubted we had a serious shot. And if we did get a shot, we figured we'd have to pay dearly to get in. After all, it was, arguably, the series of the year ...

We hung around the stadium for about an hour before the game. Then, just as the game was getting underway, out of the blue, a guy steps in front of us outside the right field bleachers and offers two tickets in the 200 level behind home plate. Face value. $35.

... It was almost too good to be true. We took 'em. Had a great time. Got to see the defending World Champion "idiots", and the guys sitting behind us paid $100 for their tickets. We mused repeatedly, How interesting would it be to ask everyone in this stadium how much they paid for their tickets?

No. 6: Aug. 5, 1994 … The Seattle Kingdome, where the Mariners and Royals were supposed to play, was falling apart. So the series was moved to Kansas City … The Royals opened the entire stadium for general admission seating. Tickets were like $4 or $5. It was first-come, first served.

I remember my family getting there early and staking our place in line for a chance at good seats. Then, when the gates opened, my brother and I raced down the aisle … And ended up claiming a group of seats about three rows back from the Mariners dugout on the third base side.

The Mariners were hitting their mid-90s prime with Ken Griffey Jr., Jay Buhner, Edgar Martinez and Randy Johnson; Lou Piniella was their manager. But the Royals -- whose roster was loaded with steady veterans like Gary Gaetti, Greg Gagne, Wally Joyner, Vince Coleman, Jose Lind, Brian McRae and that season’s Rookie of the Year Bob Hamelin -- were hot, too …

That night, the Royals put on a hitting display and shut out the Mariners 8-0, to win their 14th straight game. The crowd was, arguably, as loud as I’ve ever heard at Kauffman Stadium ... I also remember Piniella going into one of his tirades with the homeplate umpire, and we had a front row seat when a fan got into it with Piniella as he huffed and puffed back to the dugout ...

That win was the last the Royals had during that streak. And the 1994 strike ruined the season a few days later.