10.27.19 — The DW Sunday Column: The US could use another Ray Charles World Series Moment
The first baseball season after moving to Arizona was 2001, when the Arizona Diamondbacks capped it off by playing the New York Yankees in the 2001 World Series. I was thinking “this is way better than being a Brewers fan.”
I was able to go to three of the four World Series games that were played in downtown Phoenix. There were many memorable moments, such as when Rudy Giuliani (NY Mayor at the time) was walking down my isle to get to his seat; the buzz around the stadium, like a rumor floating around, when Randy Johnson started to warm up in the bullpen in Game 7; literally running into Mitch Albom, author of Tuesday’s with Morrie and other best-selling books and columns in the concourse and also standing next to David Spade in the concession line to get a soda (Spade is pretty short — oh, so is Albom).
Besides those, the other memories reflect the time we were in, which was October/November of 2001. The downtown area had numerous police patrolling around the stadium; more officers on horses in one place than I had ever seen; there were helicopters flying low during the game with spot lights, looking for suspicious activity; there were uniformed military personnel walking the concourse with bomb sniffing dogs…this was the first major sporting event after 9/11.
But the memory that will live on, and cannot be beat, is Ray Charles opening Game 2 with America the Beautiful. The beauty of the song, the horns in the background, his piano playing, his ad-libs during the song (ex: “when I was a little boy I remember always saying these words”) his voice, oh man, his voice….and man oh man, his expressions. His movement was the definition of style and grace, his hands on the keyboard, the swaying back and forth…in rhythm to the song….was great, but was nothing….absolutely nothing in comparison to the end.
His finish, with the background of four F16’s in the air, had him stand up, with a smile so wide and genuine, with both his hands covering his both cheeks, then hands on knees, he took a bow, he lips said “thank you/thank you” but you could not hear that….he moved left to right, bowed again, put his hands on his face again, all the while having a smile so wide that it felt like he was telling America, “It’s ok, it’s ok — we’ll be ok.”
In the stands, the applause seemed like it would never stop. You knew you had the privilege to be a witness to something special.
The game mattered, but that moment gave us a five-minute reprieve from the stress of the time. If you can watch the clip and not be emotional…I need to ask how, why, and a few other things.
With the World Series in Washington D.C. this year, and the struggles our country is going through right now….
You can only wish we would have another Ray Charles moment. America could use it.
References/Credits
YouTube video for details of the song in the article: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OTRRzSuWro
Top Picture: Don Watz — picture of picture from Bank One Ballpark 2001 World Series — Game 7 celebration (No cell phone cameras back then)
