A dozen years ago today was a day I will always remember for good and bad things. When I woke up that morning the only thing on my mind was that my Pittsburgh Pirates were going to open their new ballpark-beautiful PNC Park which is the best currently used ballpark in my opinion [that I’ve been to -I’ve seen games in 17 current ballparks} I had went to an exhibition game at PNC Park  a couple days earlier. I didn’t have tickets to the season opener but I was still excited about it.

On the way to work that morning I turned on the radio and found out news that wasn’t unexpected but still very sad to me. Willie “Pops” Stargell, my all-time favourite baseball player had died. Willie had been in bad health for some time. I had seen him the previous October when they closed Three Rivers Stadium. I knew the end was near. On the day the Pirates opened a new chapter in their history, one of their greatest ever players had died.

The third thing that happened to me that day was great news. On the way home I had called my mom. She had been experiencing some health issues, potentially serious health issues. She had testing done a few days before and I called and she reported that she had went to her doctor that day and the rest results which had been bad months earlier, were good now. A dozen years later she hasn’t had any recurrence and is in fine health. April 9th,2001 was one of the more emotional days I’ve had in my life. Hard to believe how quickly time passes.