The Highlight of My Day

Normally, I wouldn't be all that excited about the West Michigan Whitecaps announcing their field staff for the 2010 season. I especially wouldn't be all that excited when 2 of the 3 coaches are the same ones that have been there for a while. However, the one new coach they added has me thrilled beyond belief.

To understand why the new West Michigan Whitecaps hitting coach is my idol, we have to go back years ago, to a small town in northern Kentucky, where a little red-headed boy was growing up as a Cincinnati Reds fan...

You see, in the late 80's and into 1990, the Reds had a team that was actually very good, and shocking the world with their play. Tom Browning and Jose Rijo on the mound, Barry Larkin and Eric Davis in the field, Lou Piniella in the dugout as the manager. As an eight-year old Reds fan, my life would soon change forever with the sweep of the Oakland Athletics in the 1990 World Series.

But alas, I am getting ahead of myself. You see, when you are a kid, you always have a favorite player. Yet when I was a kid, I found myself in a pickle. You see, I had a unique name, red hair, and always stood out from the crowd. I was also incredibly shy, and was not the flashy type at all. So in searching for a favorite player, I wanted to go against the grain.

My oldest sister Angela had already staked a claim to Barry Larkin as her favorite player, so he was out of the running. My other sister Erin was a year older, so she had the next pick of favorite players, and decided to go with Paul O'Neill. All my friends liked Eric Davis, or Chris Sabo, and soon, I was running out of options.

Being a second baseman, it seemed natural that my favorite player would also play second base. Again though, I was a bit different as a kid. I didn't want to root for the starting second baseman. Instead, I chose the guy off the bench. The pinch hitter extraordinaire. That's right, my favorite player was none other than Luis Quinones.

Luis was not a superstar. Luis didn't get a standing ovation when he came to the plate. But that was okay, because he was clutch...and he was unique.

I remember reading an article that painted Luis as a slight oddball in the locker room. The 1990 Reds had adopted M.C. Hammer's "You Can't Touch This" as their theme song for the season. In fact, it's the main reason I owned the cassette featuring this song. That wasn't good enough for my man Luis, however. Instead, Luis could be frequently seen running around the locker room, singing another M.C. Hammer classic: "Have You Seen Her?"

These antics, combined with a clutch pinch hit RBI single in game six of the 1990 NLCS, sealed the fact that I would be a lifelong Luis Quinones fan.

And so, with today's announcement that Luis is the new hitting coach for the West Michigan Whitecaps, this broadcaster cannot wait for Friday, April 23rd in Grand Rapids, when I will walk up to the cage during batting practice, and shake the hand of my hero, the one and only Mr. Luis Quinones.