Sweet. Attendance 12,479, Temp 56ยบ, and Time 2:30. Nice to see a perfect game again. Sad it was at the ghost town of Oakland Coliseum. It gets chilly in the upper decks and I miss seeing Billy Martin in the 1980’s running out of the dugout to give the umps a tough time by kicking dirt in their direction.
The Clock has really worked. Attendance is up, games are crisp.
One of my favorite Billy Martin stories comes form his time managing the A’s.
As he was wont to do, Billy got himself thrown out of the ballgame. He went into his office, turned on the TV, and called the dugout phone.
He continued talking to the dugout until the owner walked in. “Billy, when you get ejected, aren’t you supposed to leave the premises?” the owner asked. (Apparently, that was the rule at that time.
Billy got dressed, left, went to the sports bar across the street that had the game on. He went in the phone booth and called the dugout phone. He was managing the team and he wasn’t even in the ballpark.