04/24/24
October 25, 2004
World's oldest man is cheering for beloved Red Sox: In 113 years, Fred Hale Sr. has seen a lot. There's one thing he'd like to see again. On game nights, Hale sits with his 84-year-old son, Fred, Jr., to watch the first few innings of each World Series game before going to bed.
Can the Red Sox win their first World Series since 1918?
"That's the question," said Hale. "We'll wait and see. Luck goes one way and goes out the other."
NESNfilter :-)
posted by goddam at 10:50 PM on October 25, 2004
"He was a great pitcher," said Hale, referring to how Ruth, baseball's immortal slugger, first earned his fame in Boston. One of the few living people who can actually claim to remember seeing him pitch... It reminds me of that line from Major League: "Remember, fans, Tuesday is Die Hard Night. Free admission for anyone who was actually alive the last time the Indians won the pennant. "
posted by grum@work at 10:54 PM on October 25, 2004
Well, 1. It's the world series. 2. No one is fighting. 3.We have about 3 whole posts a day to wade through. Not really like metafilter at all, except for the complaining. You're free to post what you find entertaining. I find a 113 year old man coming to watch any team with his 84 year old son pretty cool, especially considering the commercial nike ran after the yankees series. I find the fact that he saw babe ruth play pretty special. I would have posted it no matter who they root for. And really, this is the 3rd link in the past 7 days at spofi that have only to do with the red sox (the rest were the games in general), so I'm having trouble finding any truth to your complaint, and I tried, honest.
posted by justgary at 10:57 PM on October 25, 2004
I'm shocked the guy is coherent enough to give an interview without having to nap every other sentence. 113? At that point aren't you actually crumbling?
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 01:25 AM on October 26, 2004
How do you know he's not crumbling weedy ;) They interviewed some 70ish woman at the last game sitting and keeping score behind the green monster. She was sharp as a tack, but then again she's a babe next to this guy. She's younger than his son.
posted by justgary at 01:33 AM on October 26, 2004
And I'd like to thank Chris Myers for that interview. Every year that goes by makes it more unbelievable he ever had a sit-down 30 minute interview show on ESPN. How do you not know NOT to interview old people on live TV? That was f'in painful. She didn't want to talk to him and all his questions suggested it was impressive she wasn't drooling on herself. Of course, it wasn't anywhere near as bad as the old person fan-off between the Sox and Cards before Game 1. And then they brought those two back before Game 2. Isn't there some footage of Bill Buckner or Babe Ruth to run?
posted by yerfatma at 06:20 AM on October 26, 2004
I think that woman was even scoring the game. Good to see there are still some purists around.
posted by usfbull at 07:16 AM on October 26, 2004
He probably saw the Sox last World Series win, right? He made the network news [at 105] when a television cameraman caught him on his front porch roof shoveling off snow.
posted by kirkaracha at 09:08 AM on October 26, 2004
I think that woman was even scoring the game. She was, which was another wonderfully patronizing moment. Maybe my viewpoint is skewed, but New England is littered with older women who know how to score baseball games. Chris Myers treated it like a miracle any woman could do that. And then told her her husband would really be happy to see the Sox winning if he hadn't kicked it last year.
posted by yerfatma at 09:09 AM on October 26, 2004
I was watching a Cards game earlier this year and the camera zoomed in on a nun scoring the game. Red Schoendienst could have kicked Johnny Pesky's ass.
posted by mbd1 at 09:48 AM on October 26, 2004
I'm having trouble finding any truth to your complaint, and I tried, honest. It wasn't a serious complaint, worry not. Just an observation made after I visited MeFi for the first time in a couple of weeks and saw that 90% of the posts were election-related. Six posts on the same topic over the past three days is a proportionately similar outburst for SpoFI. :) I liked the article and appreciate the post. Obviously I need to work on my crochety-old-user imitation.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 12:41 PM on October 26, 2004
yerfatma: How do you not know NOT to interview old people on live TV? That was f'in painful. She didn't want to talk to him and all his questions suggested it was impressive she wasn't drooling on herself. But then, isn't that also how Fox seems to regard its viewers, regardless of their age?
posted by Motown Mike at 01:58 PM on October 26, 2004
Word.
posted by yerfatma at 02:55 PM on October 26, 2004
Obviously I need to work on my crochety-old-user imitation. No problem, and sorry about the speech. It was late, I was tired, you know the story...
posted by justgary at 03:01 PM on October 26, 2004
Hey you kids, get off my lawn!
posted by Samsonov14 at 04:16 PM on October 26, 2004
uh huh huh ... crochety.
posted by wfrazerjr at 08:29 PM on October 26, 2004
Man, when Boston wins the pennant, this place becomes like election-week MetaFilter.