After XU graduation I was hired by Firstar Bank as a marketing specialist and soon thereafter Firstar became the official bank of the Cincinnati Reds. One of my responsibilities of the Reds sponsorship was to conduct the contests in all the branches for the aptly titled "Firstar First Pitch." Basically for every home game I was to find branch winners to throw the first pitch out at all the Reds' home games. Four people were allowed onto the field, one to pitch, one to throw from the mound, and two to stand and stare. Everybody got a Reds baseball cap and the winner got to keep the ball as a memento. And if you had $35 they'd tape it and give you the tape later. The whole event was on the jumbo-tron too. One problem... nobody believed they won a first pitch at a Reds game and people weren't showing up at the game as instructed! After about four games with no winners showing up to claim their prize, my boss really got on my case so I did the next logical thing - I stacked the contest and selected all my friends and family to throw first pitches for the complete season!
I often wondered if my contact at the Reds thought it strange that all the winners were about my age. And even stranger that they saw a few repeat winners like Brian who was on the field twice.
Attached is a classic picture of Brian, Adam, Adam's brother, and I after the first pitch at the Reds vs Indians game. What you can't tell from the picture is that Adam was drunk as a skunk. Homeboy threw the pitch in the dirt and the ball jumped passed his brother who was catching and hit some poor little kid standing by his classmates on the field! Brian and I laughed ourselves to tears.
Brian always wanted to make a movie about the cool, random, and outright crazy things that always happened to us and he swore this first pitch would be in a dream sequence. We were going to call the movie Team Khaki because of our preppy khaki pants. Look at the picture and see that Team Khaki was in full effect.
Miss you bro.
Brian Dargin Gunnoe was born on August 27, 2009 to proud parents (and our cousins) AJ and Gary Gunnoe. “Dargin” was 8 pounds, 7 ounces, and 20 inches long. Everyone is healthy.
