Alomar had been ferociously booed by the fans in Toronto and Cleveland. New York mayor Rudy Giuliani pleaded the Yankee faithful to not boo Alomar, but to instead give him in the silent treatment. It didn't work. In the end, karma caught up with Alomar and the Orioles, as year old Jeffrey Maier had a hand in defeating Baltimore four games to one.
Alomar apologized to Hirschbeck that October, and the two have since reconciled their differences. When they faced each other for the first time since the spitting incident, Alomar shook hands with Hirschbeck. The two now claim each other as friends. Michael Hirschbeck was a batboy with the Indians during Alomar's three-year stint with Cleveland, and Alomar has donated money to Hirschbeck's foundation dedicated to fighting ALD.
You forgive, you forget and you move on. Alomar, Hirschbeck now good friends 4 years later [Sports Illustrated]. Cookie banner We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience on our site, show personalized content and targeted ads, analyze site traffic, and understand where our audiences come from. By choosing I Accept , you consent to our use of cookies and other tracking technologies.
Spanish La Liga View team list. Filed under: Inhistoric In-Depth. Reddit Pocket Flipboard Email. A fierce argument erupted, Alomar was ejected and, as the yelling continued, he spit into Hirschbeck's face.
More than 13 years later, Alomar is still answering for his actions. Everybody knows who I am. It was one stupid moment that happened to me when I played," he told The Associated Press yesterday. In the clubhouse after the game, showing contempt rather than contrition, Alomar said Hirschbeck had changed since his eight-year-old son had died three years earlier because of adrenoleukodystrophy ALD , a rare genetic disorder that affects the brain.
When Hirschbeck learned of Alomar's comments the next day, he tried to get at him in the Orioles clubhouse before being restrained. My son had only died a couple of years before and so it was, obviously, a very touchy thing. After that, apart from a perfunctory handshake early in the season, Hirschbeck and Alomar tried to avoid one another. The frosty relationship changed dramatically in , after Alomar joined the Cleveland Indians as a free agent.
Hirschbeck, now 55, lives in Poland, Ohio, about kilometres southeast of Cleveland. Efta is an Indians employee who takes care of the umpires at games in Cleveland, and a friend of Hirschbeck's. Hirschbeck was working second base that night. When Alomar came out to take up his position, Hirschbeck said a simple hello.
Hirschbeck opened the paper one morning before the season and saw that Alomar had been traded to the Indians. There are 29 other teams, and he has to come to our backyard?
Before a series in Cleveland that May to which Hirschbeck's crew had assigned, the umpire casually asked one of the umpire attendants, Jack Efta, what he thought of Alomar. Says Hirschbeck, "That was the moment I said, You know what? Enough's enough. What's the sense in living with this feeling? I'm blessed. The next day Hirschbeck was standing behind second base with the Indians on the field.
He says now, "The floodgates were opened. The next day Alomar met with the Hirschbeck family in the stadium tunnel before the game. And it was time to move on. There was forgiveness and closure for both men and the beginning of a friendship. He's a great father, a great family man. Roberto and Sandy's framed jerseys went for more money than anything else at Hirschbeck's charity auction. They do not talk regularly, they have not seen each other in years, but the two men reach out to each other at important moments.
Four years ago, Hirschbeck learned he had cancer. Soon after, his phone rang. It was Alomar. Even as he went through chemotherapy, even when his back gave out, even when there was every reason for him to walk away, he stayed in the game.
He returned this spring for his 31st season, and while he's healthy again, he thinks that maybe this will be his last year and it will be time, finally, to walk away. These last few years have not been easy for Alomar, either. In he was embroiled in a contentious divorce with his then wife, Maria Del Pilar, who alleged that he had exposed her to the AIDS virus.
Alomar denied that claim, and the two settled out of court. That same year, when Alomar was up for the Hall of Fame for the first time, countless writers dredged up the spitting incident and turned to Hirschbeck for his thoughts on the player's candidacy.
The weekend of the announcement in January, Alomar was in New York City, surrounded by friends who'd flown in to be with him. He was assumed to be a lock to be a first-ballot Hall of Famer. But, incredibly, he was eight votes short. The punishment had been delivered. His phone rang later the same day. It was Hirschbeck. I'm sorry. We'll get it next year. Again, his old friend was one of the first to call.
Alomar is happily remarried now—he and his wife, Kim, wed in Toronto last summer—but lately he has been feeling an itch: He wants back in the game. He joined the Blue Jays as a special assistant in the spring of and began helping out in small ways, traveling around Canada teaching the game to young players; now he hungers for a bigger role. He wants to expand the team's presence in Puerto Rico and help bring a championship back to Toronto. It's time to give back. Yes, that one moment 17 years ago follows Alomar wherever he goes, and in quiet moments when his mind wanders, there's regret and there's a sadness that lingers still.
But then he thinks of the good and the beauty that came after, and he feels nothing but hope. Why didn't I just say, Ball four? Hirschbeck has called three World Series—, , and '10—and was behind the plate when Barry Bonds hit his record th home run, passing Hank Aaron on the alltime list, and when the Phillies' Roy Halladay threw his no-hitter against the Reds in the '10 NLDS. A videotape of the game marred by the spitting incident remains stowed away in a desk drawer at Hirschbeck's Ohio home.
But "it's not something I plan on converting to DVD," he says. In , Alomar's financial adviser introduced him to Facebook as a way to look up old friends. One of his first searches was for Kim Perks, who had worked as a SkyDome luxury box hostess while Alomar was a Blue Jay from to ' They were married in Toronto in She helps to run the Roberto Alomar Foundation. Sandy Alomar Sr. Classic Galleries. Sports Illustrated. SI Kids. Archives Classic Galleries.
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