1988

No matter how exciting your summer was, you'll have a hard time topping Mike Remlinger's. Remlinger finally got his crack at The Show—Major League Baseball—with the San Francisco Giants, and he pulled off a rare feat in his bigleague debut, shutting out the then National League-leading Pittsburgh Pirates on only three hits in a 4-0 victory on June 15. Only 36 other National League pitchers have debuted with a shutout, the last one, oddly, a Chicago Cub named Jeff Pico in 1988. A very good year.

After toiling in Triple-A Phoenix early this season, proving he had recovered from strained ligaments in his left (pitching) elbow suffered in the previous seasons, Remlinger was called up to fill in for an injured Giant. Rem did more than fill in on his first day, which came almost exacdy four years after he was San Francisco's first-round draft pick in our junior year, 1987. The last Giant to debut with a shutout—Juan Marichal in 1960—is now in the Hall of Fame. According to newspaper accounts faxed to me by Class President Dan Estabrook, who's working for Stanford's development office, Remlinger was cheered on by a dozen or so Dartmouth friends that day, and more were planning to be on hand for future performances.

As of this writing, Rem has struggled a bit and even pitched an inning of relief instead of starting against the New York Mets in July. But no matter what, Remlinger made The Show, and for a day it was his stage.

Enough baseball, and back to the mailbag, which has been well-filled this summer. Don't despair if you haven't seen your letter; I'm working my way through the mail in the order it was received.

Allen Selis is headed to the religious big leagues: He's through two years of rabbinic school at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, and he'll be ordained as a conservative rabbi in the spring of 1994. Currendy Allen is a student rabbi to a small pulpit in upstate N.Y., but next year he'll study in Jerusalem. He encourages visitors ("I know where all the good bars are," he said).

Hilary Justice wrote in with tales of bankruptcy her former employer's, then her own—but she's landed safely at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., where she is the assistant to the librarian. Hilary's freshman roommate, Rachel Sexton, is teaching high school "somewhere in Maryland and is trying to figure out what she wants to be when she grows up," Hilary writes. Sounds like a lot of us.

Hilary also wrote of seeing LaneiChapman as an ensign on the Starship Enterprise on "Star Trek, the Next Generation." Really? I guess we should all start watching that show, huh?

Next month, letters from Kim Fasolo,Jennie Arlin, and a fax from Tim Burger. If you, too, would like to fax me, send it to 603/ 224-8120. Be sure to put my name and "Sports Department" on the cover sheet. Otherwise, someone might think you're submitting a really long personal advertisement, and you will be billed. You know how newspapers are hurting these days.

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