We Need the Beer to be Cold Again

We need winning Baltimore Orioles baseball and the late Chuck Thompson's easygoing radio play-by-play on a muggy summer night to put life's daily chaos in perspective..

I met Thompson many years ago in a Rehoboth Beach bookstore where he was signing copies of his book "Ain't the Beer Cold!"

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He and I talked about the Orioles glory years: the sweep of the mighty Los Angeles Dodgers to win the 1966 World Series Championship, the time Frank Robinson hit a homerun that landed outside Memorial Stadium, the time Brooks Robinson hit for the cycle, and the time Jim Gentile hit two grand slams in a game.

I told him my late mom was a classmate of Al Kaline at Southern High School in South Baltimore and that she helped him with his math homework. Thompson said my mom must have been a wonderful woman to help Kaline.

He said he was blessed to be able to be a "small part" of the Orioles baseball legacy. And he told me to never stop being a fan of the team.

Thompson reached into a cooler behind his chair, pulled out a small can of beer and gave it to me.

He said. "Enjoy this. And let me tell you, this one really is cold."

I kept that small can of beer. It sits on my bookshelf next to Thompson's book.