Tuesday, October 05, 1999
Loss doesn't spoil fans' enthusiasm
BY MARK CURNUTTE
The Cincinnati Enquirer
When Pokey Reese slapped a ninth-inning double Monday night in what would be a 5-0 Reds loss, 9-year-old Chip Wood hopped up and down in the Cinergy Field concourse.
The Indian Hill boy, who went to 20 games this season, couldn't be disappointed.
“I'm happy,” he said. “I like this team a lot.”
Cincinnati said goodbye to the '99 Reds Monday night. The New York Mets won the one-game playoff to advance to the National League Division Series.
But fans didn't leave unhappy.
“This is Game 163. This is icing on the cake,” said Bob Mathews, 56, of Delhi Township. “This mixture of young guys and veterans ... People would buy Opening Day tickets right now if they were on sale right now.”
Excitement built quickly for the playoff game. It drew a sellout of 54,621.
Seconds after the Reds beat Milwaukee in the wee hours Monday morning, Lora Crout was on the phone with cousin Mandi Worrell.
The Middletown teen-agers had to come up with a way to get to Monday night's game.
“I had to convince my dad to take us,” said Lora, 16. “That meant I had to have my mom talk my dad into it.”
It worked. Mandi, Lora and Lora's younger brother and sister, John and Emily, were part of the sold-out crowd.
On a cool, crisp fall night more suited for football, the summer game was the hottest ticket in town. Fans paid $75 for $17 blue seats on Third Street an hour before the game.
Early birds lined up at Cinergy gates in 46-degree weather, waiting to be let inside at 5:35p.m. When ushers opened the doors, they cheered.
Lora's crowd painted their faces with the red, white and black numbers of their favorite Reds players. She had No.11 for Barry Larkin. John Crout wore a No.23 for Greg Vaughn. Emily Crout likes Aaron Boone, No.17, and Mandi had No.21 for Sean Casey.
Bobby Brown of Franklin, Ky., had not taken his son, Corey, 9, to a Reds game this season. When he got another chance with Sunday night's win, he took advantage. Father and son drove 250 miles from their home near Bowling Green, Ky.
“When we left at 10 this morning (Monday), I had called, and there were still tickets,” Brown said. “When we got here at 4, they were sold out.”
He paid $30 each for two $9 tickets.
Barb Craig and Bette Collier, two 50-something women from Montgomery, have had Reds season tickets for 10 years.
They drove down early Monday and had dinner at the stadium — the pulled-pork platter, with potato salad — in their first-row green seats behind third base.
They each wore a Reds jacket and cap and hung their Reds blanket over the railing to show the team's wishbone-C emblem.
“Even if they were to lose tonight, I won't be upset,” Craig said. “This team has brought tears (of joy) to my eyes all year. Same for the bruisers who sit behind us.
“It's like you want to tell them "thanks' for all the joy they've brought us.”
Said Collier, “This is the year baseball has come back.”
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