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Jan 6, 2009 
Many years ago…..16 to be exact….I was in Dallas, Texas for a training class. I have totally forgotten what the training class was….some computer technology that probably has long since been phased out. However, being somewhat of a sports fan (more so back in ’93 then now), I decided to go see a Texas Rangers game. I called Ticketmaster and asked for one ticket. When asked what section, I said how much does best available cost? $28 plus our normal fees. I said “I’ll take the best you’ve got”. They told me Row 9 behind home plate. “I’ll take it”. After paying all those handling, shipping, convenience and other creatively named fees from Ticketmaster, I was on my way.
After my class that day, I headed over to the ballpark for the game. I checked the schedule and Randy Johnson (that big tall guy that is actually still in the majors) was pitching for Seattle against Texas whose starting pitcher was some guy making his major league debut. As I went to my section (behind homeplate….oh yeah!!!), I found that the Row 9 directly behind home plate was actually the front row (yes, I was sitting 6 inches behind the net looking over the catcher’s shoulder directly out to the pitching mound). The rows tapered from Row 9 down to Row 1 as you went down the 1st or 3rd baseline. It’s hard to explain….but just trust me….I was in the front row!!!! First and only time.
I was there well before the game started and just enjoying the practice. I distinctly remember one guy practicing bunting off a tee. It looked pretty dumb….bunting off a tee….maybe the coach made him do it. I looked up his number in my program. His name was Jay Buhner. When they announced the players, I was quite excited to see Ken Griffey Jr in the lineup and big Randy Johnson starting. When they announced the debut of the starting pitcher for Texas, about 5 or 6 people sitting directly behind me stood up and cheered (everyone else yawned). I had to assume that this was his family or something. His name is Steve Dreyer.
The game was somewhat interesting in that Juan Gonzalez (back in his prime before all those injury marred seasons) blasted a homerun off Randy Johnson. Johnson proceeded to bean the next guy with a fastball. Coincidence…..I think not and neither did the umps. They threw Johnson out of the game. The funniest thing was watching Randy Johnson standing at 6’10” towering over some short ump arguing about getting thrown out. I actually took a picture….but lost it over the years. Texas was up 3-0 (I looked up the boxscore as I certainly didn’t remember that part). I remember Dreyer working in and out of trouble before getting the hook. In the 9th, Ken Griffey Jr jacked out a homer off some reliever making it an awesome close to the evening. Dreyer got his 1st major league victory. I thought wouldn’t that be cool if he went on to be a hall-of-famer or something and I was there for that 1st victory. He actually went 5 innings without giving up a run yet walking 6 and giving up 5 hits. Not pretty…but no runs and a victory against the Big Unit.
This gets a little more interesting. After my training that week, I flew back to Ohio and for whatever reason (because I didn’t live there), I was up in Cleveland. Being in a different area, why not take in another baseball game? So I went over to the park, bought a ticket and went in (unfortunately not front row…..back to my normal seats). Anyways, who is Cleveland playing….none other than the Texas Rangers. Who is pitching for Texas…..I couldn’t believe it….Steve Dreyer!!! By some strange coincidence, I’m watching his 2nd major league start. As much as I’d like to say he won again, he got pummeled. Looking at the boxscore now, he gave up 5 runs in 2 1/3 innings. Not so good.
How many people could have seen his first two starts that weren’t the Texas coaches/players/announcers? There can’t be many. As much as I hoped he’d go on to pitch 20 years in the majors, so I could say that I saw his first 2 starts…..it didn’t happen. Looking at his career stats, he made only 9 starts, pitching in 15 games for a total of 58 innings. He went 4-4 with a 5.71 ERA. His MLB career was done the following year.
Hey Steve (or Steve’s family)……if you ever Google your name and come across this page, drop a response to this post. I’d like to hear what you did after your baseball career. Hope all is well with you and yours.
Baseball stats are amazingly available. Here are the links to the actual game boxes.
Steve Dreyer’s 1st major league start boxscore
Steve Dreyer’s 2nd major league start boxscore
Steve Dreyer’s Career Stats
Who cares about Juan Gonzalez, Randy Johnson, and Ken Griffey Jr? In this blog, Steve Dreyer was the Man!!!!!
