New York City Baseball: February 6, 1995

13 candles adorned a two-layer cake from Mozzacatto's bakery. The lights were out, and my jovial family sang me a tune on my special day.

"Happy Birthday dear Kevin, Happy Birthday to you!"

Everybody smiled as I blew out the candles. It was a milestone: I was officially a teenager. But before I took a slice of cake, I made a few wisecracks about my age.

"Well mom," I said with a twinkle in my eye and a touch of sarcasm, "you'd better tell people how old your son is now!" With that, I mimicked the horrified expressions that she would surely encounter when she told people that her son was well past the age of cuteness and into the era of hell-bent teenage mayhem.

As a teenager, I started dabbling with things besides baseball.
Here I am taking a selfie before it was cool. Pretty good, eh?

I thought it wise: From the moment I was old enough to realize that I needed a job, my only plan was to play first base for the New York Yankees. When I noticed that every male my age was growing substantially bigger and stronger except me, it became clear that I needed a different career plan.

In retrospect, I may have had a chance to play some first base for the Yankees that year after all. Famed First Baseman Don Mattingly, Frank Thomas and Mark McGwire all get letters from their respective employers dated February 6, 1995. It read:

[u]ntil such time as the [Owners' and Players' bargaining units] ratify a new collective bargaining agreement or until further notice, individual Major League Clubs shall have no authority to negotiate terms and conditions of employment (or any element thereof) with the [Players' Union] or individual players or certified agents. The [Players' Union] is now on notice that individual Clubs are not authorized to negotiate or execute individual player contracts with bargaining unit players during the pendency of collective bargaining between [the Owners' and Players' bargaining units].

(Source: U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York - 880 F. Supp. 246, April 3, 1995, Emphasis mine).

That's right. Normally, February means spring training. This year, for the 845 members of the Major League Baseball Player's Association, February meant unemployment.

If only I had known to send in my résumé!

Also, it would Babe Ruth's 100th birthday that year. Happy Birthday, Bambino!