Synopsis: Marty and the
Pinheads receive an invitation to perform a pregame concert at Candlestick
Park before a Giants game. Doc Brown has concocted a new serum that improves
the human armstrength. That night, Doc brings his new serum with him to the
ballpark. Going into the clubhouse where Marty and his band are rehearsing,
Doc sets it down. Feeling thirsty, Marty, without looking what he was
reaching for, picks up the serum instead of a soda can that he had with him
and drinks the potion. Realizing this and knowing that Doc couldn't let
Marty perform onstage until the serum wore off. So he takes him back in time
to 1917 where he was to spend two months there until the potion would wear off.
Marty passes the time by trying out with the Boston Red Sox during spring training.
Under the influence of Doc's serum, Marty dazzles the team manager with his
pitching. The manager himself had been having problems with his other pitcher
Babe Ruth and was impressed enough to keep Marty on the team when it moved north.
On the last day before the team broke camp, Ruth challenges Marty to pitch to him.
Marty does, and Ruth is unable to keep up with his pitching. Finally, Ruth is
released and Marty assumes that the Babe is now heading to New York where his
carreer was to blossom as a slugger with the Yankees. Finally, the potion wears
off and Marty's pitching starts to suffer. After his release, Marty waits for
Doc who picks him up and takes him back to the future. But, when they're there,
they discover that major league baseball had died out during the 1920's. There's
no Candlestick Park and San Francisco is a minor league town and so is every
city in America. After some research, the two time travelers learn that after
Babe Ruth's release from the Red Sox in 1917, he had disappeared. He never
went to the Yankees, there was no Yankee Stadium, and the team that Ruth was
supposed to play on stayed at the Polo Grounds with the New York Giants until
major league baseball collasped. Major league baseball itself had never
recovered from the Black Sox scandal of 1919 and the Giants never left New
York for San Francisco. Realizing that Marty's increased armstrength caused
the Babe to be expendible, the two time travelers go back to 1917 to fix the
damage.
BACKGROUND:George Herman
("Babe") Ruth's (1895-1948) prolific slugging saved baseball from the throws of the Black
Sox Scandal of 1919. His 714 home runs stood until 1974 when Henry Aaron of
the Atlanta Braves
surpassed that mark. In 1927 he hit 60 home runs for the
New York Yankees-a record that stood until 1961 when Roger Maris
, also a Yankee
hit 61. That record stood until 1998 when Mark McGwire
of the St. Louis Cardinals
hit 70. That record stood until 2001 when Barry Bonds of the Giants hit 73
In his earlier days, Ruth pitched for the Boston Red Sox until his home run hitting was recognized. After the 1919 season, he was sold to the Yankees where his career flourished. He ended his career in 1935 while playing for the Boston Braves.
In 1919, baseball was rocked by the Black Sox Scandal when eight members of the Chicago
White Sox conspired to throw the World Series. One of these eight was an outfield called
"Shoeless" Joe Jackson. There was a story following the discovery of the scandal, a teary-eyed boy was selling newspapers on a corner when Jackson passed by. The boy said "Say it ain't so, Joe." "Kid." said Joe, "It is so."
In 1921, they were banished from baseball for life.
Before Back to the Future, before Star Trek, before Beatles, there was my love for baseball. For years I've been either listening to or going to ballgames. And now I'm bringing it to my stories with this latest one. My favorite hobby is to keep score for sporting events. Especially baseball. So whenever my updates seem to bog down, that's because I pay more attention to the sport and Back to the Future takes a back seat. My favorite team is the San Francisco Giants, my favorite player of all time is Willie Mays. His godson, Barry Bonds plays left field for the Giants. So you could understand the romanticism behind this story. After all, baseball is life.
This story also brings back Candlestick Park which was first featured in "Joyride to the Past". This time it's the 1987 version of the ballpark. 1987 is in which our story begins. If you read "Joyride to the Past" and saw Jennifer suffer the sniffles as a result of her visit there, well that's due to the fact that what made Candlestick Park the butt of all jokes was the weather. Meaning, it's cold at nights. Throughout the years, fans and players alike complained about the climate of the ballpark. Attorny Melvin Belli even sued the city for faulty heating when the heater in his luxury suite didn't work. When the Beatles performed their last ever concert anywhere, John Lennon's comments about the park was "It's a bit chilly." In 2000, the Giants moved into their new ballpark.
In writing this story, I made references as to the first draft to the first Back to the Future movie. The monkey Shemp is in this story. This story also mentions Dr. E. Brown Enterprises as mentioned in Back to the Future. Always wondered where Doc Brown works when he's not home and not traveling? Now you know.
