In the annals of baseball record-holders, you can find some of the greatest names in the game: Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Cy Young, Pete Rose, Walter Johnson, Tris Speaker, Rickey Henderson, Cal Ripken…

By comparison, Jesse Orosco doesn’t really stand out. But he has the record for most games appeared in. And it doesn’t look like anybody is going to be passing him anytime soon. He broke the previous record, held by Dennis Eckersley, on August 17, 1999.

I was at that game at the ripe old age of nine. But I didn’t actually see him break it. Because, you see, I was busy… looking at the record-breaking home run balls of 1998. Cartoonist and former college baseball player Todd McFarlane had bought most of the McGwire and Sosa home run balls, and was touring them around the country. We’d decided that a good time to go and see it would be once Mike Mussina had left the game.

So, what do you know, he left the game as the 7th began. We went to see the McGwire and Sosa home run balls.

As we looked at the great artifacts of the year before, hardly suspecting that A) the home runs were probably hit with the help of modern pharmaceuticals and B) that Jesse Orosco was making history.

You all remember how it happened. There were fireworks, a message on the video board from Dennis Eckersley, a special appearance by several members of the 1986 Mets, and, finally, a tearful moment on the mound as Orosco embraced his family as both teams surrounded and cheered his grand accomplishment. And then, he got Todd Walker to fly out to center.

At least, I think that’s what happened, I was too busy looking at Todd MacFarlane’s personal museum to see it. So maybe all that happened was that the PA announcer mentioned at the end of the game that Orosco had broken Eckersley’s record. Again, I was nine, so the memory is a bit hazy. I think one of those things happened though.