Happy Birthday Boise Hawks

The Boise Hawks were born 30 years ago today! June 16, 1987 to be exact and their first game was played in Spokane. How about that for irony as the Hawks are once again in Spokane and while they were supposed to start the season last night, the game was rained out.

So the Hawks get to start yet another season on their 30th Birthday and it will be double the fun because the two teams will play a doubleheader tonight.

Unfortunately Hank Aaron won't be there to throw out the first pitch as he was back in 1987. That's right, Hank Aaron who broke the Babes (Babe Ruth) home run record with 715 round trippers was on hand 30 years ago to toss out the first pitch.

I had the chance to meet Hank Aaron years ago in Omaha where I was sports director for KETV and like we did every year, I was covering the college baseball world series. Aaron was in town and made it a special point to do one on one interviews with each of the main sports anchors in Omaha at the time.

He brought with him a baseball he autographed and handed to me as a memento. I put the ball in my closet and for the most part, that was that.

One day I happened to see the ball and grabbed it to take a look. The wonderful Hank Aaron signature now read "ank Aaron". Somehow the H had been rubbed off.

A quick check with my eldest son revealed he had needed a baseball to play catch and that is the baseball he chose. Fortunately he was a smart kid and realized after a few throws that the writing on the ball couldn't be a good thing. He put the ball back in the closet but the "H" was gone.

I'm over it now and he is still alive but the talk of the Hawks 30th birthday and Hank Aaron throwing out that first pitch so many seasons ago brings back some treasure memories.

It's kind of what baseball is all about, Treasured Sumer Memories!