Oh, Bob, I wish you were there to see it. In the olden days when I was first starting out in the newspaper biz, learning to write code as an agate clerk during the Atlanta Olympics was as numbing as it sounds. The cubicle I shared was a dartboard’s toss from a guy named Bob Larkin, a former offensive lineman at UCLA and our department’s copy desk chief.
He gave this rookie two bits of advice that have never been forgotten: Don’t go home and read the section because you’ll only notice the mistakes and, two, on a slow news day, go to Santa Fe. Truer words have never been spoken. That’s especially true of Thursday night at Fort Marcy Ballpark when the Fuego held their Pecos League season opener against the North Platte 80s.
The game, per usual, dragged on entirely too long and had most people home and in bed before it was over. The game included a first-inning argument with the umps, an ambulance driving onto the field in the seventh, and hands-down the most amazing comeback I’ve ever seen. You were right, Bob.
Santa Fe is never dull. It had me going through the proverbial memory banks to recall the most remarkable rallies I’ve ever covered. It certainly topped Nevada’s comeback from 14 points down with 65 seconds left in a 2017 win over the Lobos in The Pit.
It was better than the state golf tournament when a girl shanked a tee shot that rolled forever down a dirt service road, then topped an approach that rocketed under a tree, skipped through a water hazard, r.
