History and baseball, a match made in heaven

John W. Gardner, former secretary of health, education and welfare for Lyndon Johnson, once… John W. Gardner, former secretary of health, education and welfare for Lyndon Johnson, once said, “history never looks like history when you are living through it.”

On Aug. 10, history looked grim. It looked ugly, snarling its unforgiving teeth, chomping into the infamous Missouri heat as night fell.

With a massive group of supporters in attendance, Curt Schilling and the Boston Red Sox delivered a memorable performance. But not the kind Red Sox fans write home about — Schilling gave up 10 extra-base hits to the Kansas City Royals in the Red Sox 5-4 loss.

The Royals swatted nine doubles and a home run, helping Schilling tie an American League record set in 1901 by Washington Senators’ starter Dale Gear.

Sixty-eight years after its creation, the Cleveland Indians’ starter Luis Tiant tied the record, serving up meatballs the size of Montana to his future team, the Boston Red Sox.

But the original — and still standing — record is held by George Derby, whose 1889 start for the Buffalo Bisons ended with his giving up 16 extra-base knocks.

But that was in the National League, so does it even count for anything? There is also no truth to the rumor that all 16 extra-base hits were well-placed bunts.

Nonetheless, Schilling’s performance also occurred at the second installment of the Greer family trip to Kauffman Stadium. Did it look like history when I was living through it live, suffering through the eighth-inning collapse to which Red Sox fans have grown so accustomed?

It looked painful, but certainly not historical. In fact, I’m a bit surprised the record hasn’t been matched more often, what with juiced balls and steroids, tired bullpens and outfielders who jog to the gaps.

But more importantly, fans feel like they were part of something when they read the game report in the newspaper. Their pictures suddenly have a story behind them and the trip gains meaning.

Regardless of the Red Sox record when a certain Pitt News sportswriter is in the stands — a whopping 0-14 in case you were wondering — it’s interesting to know I witnessed history. Sure, I had no clue I was living through it, but now I can act like I did.

And this is why baseball is such an incredible sport. You sit in the stands with scores of people sharing the same passion for the world’s most intellectual game and you might be witnessing the breaking or tying of a century-old record.

What other professional sport gives you that?

Curt Schilling stood on the mound for three-too-many batters on Thursday night, and Red Sox fans didn’t blame him. They booed Boston manager Terry Francona for waiting so long to pull his ace.

Francona drudged up old memories, gut-wrenching instances of Red Sox futility. No matter how big the lead, the Red Sox are never safe.

Heck, maybe Francona knew the record hung in balance and hoped to manage one of the infamous pitchers to tie the thing. You never know.

So when Alex Cora flailed at a breaking ball in the dirt for his only strikeout of the night, the proverbial fork pierced the Red Sox’s back — they were done. Three games in Kansas City produced three losses for the stumbling Sox.

It was a damaging experience, but not noticeably, and on the surface, a historical one. So as we headed for the exits amidst excited fans shouting “Sweep,” I heard my father murmur a sentence, a mere observation, that turned out to be his take on history.

“Boy, the Royals sure hit a lot of doubles tonight,” he said, looking over the scorecard that we meticulously kept during the contest, a Greer family tradition for every game. “I count nine. That has to be some kind of record or something.”

It was. Add an Emil Brown home run and Schilling tied the American League record for most extra-base hits given up by a single pitcher, set 105 years earlier.

But we didn’t even notice during the game as we lived through it. It sure didn’t look like history.