Sharing the GTA - LIF

Guesses:

1
3
4
6
9
11
19
22
27
31
33
34
35
40
42
45
47
49
50
53
59
61
62
64
68
69
73
77
81
82
84
85
87
88
89
94
99

I count 37 guesses. Looks like that means I'm going to be adding 2 barrel aged Bellwoods beers to the box. I'm planning a couple trips to GTA breweries over the week-end and early next week. I'll try to get some good fresh stuff to go along with the two beers already designated for the box.

Depending on the location of the winner, I may extend the "GTA" a little geographically to ensure that beers new to the winner are in the box, as much as possible.

A little over a day to go...

Cheers!

 

That makes 39 guesses. A few more hours to go...

I picked up something pretty interesting from a brewery I quite like this morning. I've have yet to try the beer, but I've had the base beer in the past and have enjoyed it. I'm going to try to pick up another item for the box tomorrow as I just watched a six second video indicating one of Toronto's great beers is getting canned and being released tomorrow morning!

The winner will be announced when I have a few minutes some time tomorrow to post the result, tell a long-winded story about the foul ball, and try to get some style preferences from the winner.

Cheers!

 

We'll call it with forty-one guesses in total!

It was the summer of 1993. A young Coronaeus was out watching his hometown team in a mid-August game at the Big Owe. Nos Amours were playing the middling St Louis Cardinals in what was still a pretty good race for the NL East pennant that the hated Phillies would eventually claim by a meagre 3 games. A light hitting Puerto Rican middle infielder for the Cards stepped to the plate on a night where he would go 1 for 5 in an 11 inning nail biter (Expos won!). During the at bat in question, two foul balls were hit to the 3rd base box seats. The first of those went several rows above our heads, but still caused us to stand in anticipation. The second foul was looped right towards us. A friend of mine was to my right, and we both stood with hands up, reaching over the fans in front of us knowing we had a good chance at that ball. When the ball made its descent, at least four sets of hands made a strong effort for the catch. None of us caught the ball, though it did deflect off my right hand. My friend, who was stationed adjacent to the aisle, with cat like quickness, bent over and grabbed the rolling ball from the stairs beside him. With ball clutched firmly in hand, he stood tall, arm raised and smiled. To this day he keeps the ball in his den, on a shelf, regularly re-telling the story of how he "caught" that foul ball any time someone asks about its provenance. Any attempt to remind him of that part of the story in which he picked the ball up off the ground falls on deaf ears.

Despite having been to hundreds of games at the Olympic Stadium and many others in Toronto, that was the only time I've ever had a chance on a foul ball at an MLB game. We'll leave untold the story of how my wife was almost killed by ball scorched into the first row at a Lansing Lugnuts game. She claims I ducked in a very un-manly fashion leaving her vulnerable to the deadly missile. I am pretty sure I was bending down to tie up my shoelaces. Who can remember?

You are wondering of course, who was that light hitting Puerto Rican middle infielder for the St. Louis Cardinals who hit that memorable foul ball? It was Luis Alicea, and according to Baseball-Reference, he clubbed 47 dingers in his 13 year major league career.

That means, the winner of this LIF is .....

@PaulQuinn

Congrats!

Please send me a note to pass along your address. Also, let me know if there are any styles you really don't like so I can avoid adding them to the box.

I should have it ready to go early next week. I just need to take a short break to enjoy one of these (fresh this morning from the brewery) before get out a shipper for the package. I'll make sure to save one for the box!

 

The LIF winner's box is finally packed up and ready to go. I had to wait on some shippers to get this out. I've taken a photo of the winnings and can post once @PaulQuinn receives his box, to maintain some level of surprise.

My new shippers, from a new source for me, are a little different than I have used in the past. This meant I had to swap out a small growler because it would not fit into the bottle receptacles of the styrofoam. The good news is, I was able to add an extra can to the box! So, 7 beers from the GTA are on there way soon...

Cheers!

 

Glad it got there safe and sound. CHeers!