I thought I'd put some comments down as to what the past year meant to me. Some items are purely personal, others are varying degrees of global.

• Rascal, my Dad's dog, passed away on 1/19/98. This picture is of his favorite game.
• Hercules, Mike Jones' dog, passed away on 7/2/98. Hercules (and the Joneses) lived with me for a couple years.
• Lowell Gilbert and Kristen Norwood had a boy (Joshua) on Memorial Day, and on 11/29, Mike and Terri Jones had AJ.
• My Great Uncle Harold Sprague died on 6/3/98.
• Our household grew with the addition of Lacy and Bandito, two darling ferrets (pics to follow)
• All of us Cubs fans will miss Harry Caray and Jack Brickhouse. Gabe Paul, a longtime baseball executive, who helped the Yankees win the World Series, passed away. Gabe got his start in baseball for the Rochester Red Wings as a bat boy, and eventually as a front office guy. Mark Belanger, star shortstop of the Baltimore of the 70's (and a heavy smoker), died of lung cancer at the relatively young age of 54. Dan Quisenberry, the great reliever for the 70's and 80's KC Royals died of brain cancer - when asked "Do you ever ask 'Why me?'", he responded "No, because so much good has happened to me, why not me?". Gene Autry, cowboy, owner of the California Angels, and creator/signer of classics like Frosty the Snowman, will be missed by a very diverse following. Roddy McDowell, start of, among other things, four of the five Planet of the Apes movies died of cancer. Other people who passed away: Alan Shepard, one of the first astronauts; Hal Newhouse (Detroit Tiger Pitching star); Frank Sinatra and Congressman (!) Sonny Bono; People of our generation may never realize how much Dr. Spock (that's the other Spock to us) has affected our lives; Ferdinand Porsche, who founded Porsche and helped his father design the original Volkswagen, passed in April; Barry Goldwater, the man who was responsible both in general and in particular for who Ronald Reagan was and what he did; Roy Rogers; Akira Kurosawa (creator of the movie Seven Samurais); George Wallace, who stood on the side for segregation; Florence Griffith Joyner; Bob Kane (creator of Batman); Knicks coach Red Holtzman; Jack Lord, the first actor to play Felix Leiter, in Dr. No (oh yeah, and of Hawaii 5-0 fame); Norman Fell (Mr. Roper of Three's Company); Flip Wilson (and Geraldine).
• On the Red Sox Home Opening Day, we had another one of those moments (see 1997's musings for reference. After Randy Johnson controlled the Sox for 8 innings, he left with a 7-2 lead. The bullpen didn't manage to get an out, and after 4 consecutive base runners, Mo came up to bat. If I had a patsy handy, I would have bet everything I had that Mo was about to launch one, and sure enough, he did - Sox won 9-7.
• I went to the Sox game on 5/19. This was not a pitcher's duel. We were witness to 6 home runs, including 2 by John Valentin and a blast by Frank Thomas. A great time was had, the weather was absolutely ideal. The Sox did lose 9-7, but what can you do? I also made it to two other games at Fenway and the season closer at Pawtucket.
• My excursion to Baltimore in August (see below) lent me the opportunity to see a couple games at Camden Yards - and they were gems! In the first, Mike Mussina lost his bid for a perfect game with 2 outs in the 8th (and ended up with a two-hitter). In the second, Juan Guzman debuted for the O's and won a game that was very tight until Rafael Palmiero hit a grand slam (his 34th homer of the year) to give some breathing room. Eric Davis continued his season-high hitting streak. The park was beautiful, even in my remote seats (top deck, foul territory, deep out in left field).
• Cal Ripken's famous streak ended on 9/20/98, after 2,362 games.
• I went to a couple Rochester Red Wings games - perfect days for baseball. P.J. Forbes showed that he deserves a shot in the bigs, both with his bat and his glove. Preston Wilson (Mookie's son, who had just been traded for Mike Piazza) showed that he did not yet deserve such a chance.
• Needless to say, the Maris chase between Sosa and McGwire kept my attention for most of the summer. It is unbelievable both that McGwire hit 5 in the last weekend to end with 70, and that two players would shatter the record at once (although you never know, Sosa could be partly responsible for motivating McGwire to such an exceptional performace).
• The end of the season left a tantalizing possibility (admittedly unlikely) that the Cubs would play the Red Sox in the World Series for the first time since 1908 (the last time the Cubs won).
• Dad took me to a Rochester Americans (Amerks) game in the newly redone War Memorial (now "Blue Cross Arena at the War Memorial"). The new arena is very comfortable, and has added quite a few seats and some luxury boxes. The game I went to broke an attendance record at 11,065 (the place holds 11,200 now).
• Almo sold its Computer Products Division (including TradeMark Computers and my services) to Bell Microproducts. This certainly added some spice and uncertainty to life, but for now, it seems to offer great potential to both companies.
• We had 10+ inches of rain in June! Send in the arks!
• I went to Seattle for the first time, on business, but I had time to look around, visit Pike Market, Wizards Game Center, and had a great time.
• WorldCon (Science Fiction) (Buconneer) was held in Baltimore. I met Lawrence Watt-Evans, one of my favorite writers, and talked to many of my favorite artists, including Eric Peterson and Rob Alexander. To top it all off, Clam Chowder made a very rare appearance!
• Lilith Fair was 8/11/98, and was as great as expected. Our line-up included Sarah McLachlan, Natalie Merchant, Letters to Cleo, Abra Moore, Syd Straw, and Chantal Kreviazuk. In particular, Chantal, Natalie, and Letters to Cleo were outstanding!
• I also got to see the Cowboy Junkies (my favorites) at Harborlights, the last show before they tear the place down. Nice place to see a show! Of course, Michael's guitar was sweet, and Margo as divine as always. Over the Rhine opened.
• Speaking of the Cowboy Junkies, they released a new album (Miles From Our Home), which recaptures some of the sound that originally drew me to them. "Blue Guitar", for example, is a perfect example of what I like best from them.
• While driving around with my parents the day after Christmas, we saw a (flock?) of 57(!!!) swans swimming around in Irondequoit Bay, hardly a tropical clime to tough out what we expect to be a cold winter.
• Hugh Finn was left comatose since an accident in 1995. Virginia courts finally allowed the doctors to pull his life support. The problem I have is a quote from one of the groups litigating to force the family and medical staff to keep him alive "We are just trying to preserve a man's human dignity." This seems absurd to me - where is the dignity in being kept alive (with no brain function) by a tube for such an extended length of time, and no signs of improvement? I hope that no-one would try to preserve my "dignity" in such a manner!
• Oh, yeah...the House passed two articles of impeachment on President Clinton (yawn). Too bad they didn't impeach themselves for not trying to run the country over the year (Gingrich and Livingston's resignations not withstanding).
• While Congress was so concerned with lying, Jesse "The Body" Ventura, a former pro wrestler (a profession based on lying) was elected governor of Minnesota. It is, one must admit, a natural transition.