With the opening of the 2017 Major League Baseball season this past Sunday, it’s time for one of my favourite baseball trivia questions (and I have a lot of baseball trivia stored in my head).
What was the only time an entire team finished a game with the same batting averages as they started it?
Answer: In 1940, Bob Feller of the Cleveland Indians no-hit the Chicago White Sox of opening day of the season. That meant the entire White Sox lineup started and finished the game with batting averages of .000.
That’s one of the things I like about sports trivia, not just baseball trivia. I could have asked who the only pitcher was to throw a no-hitter on opening day, and it would have been exactly the same answer, but by putting the batting averages into it, you make the person answering the question think about how a team could have the same batting averages before and after a game.
With that out of the way, on to something that’s far from trivial.
On Monday’s After Nine show on CFIS, I talked to Ted Clarke of the Northern B.C. Helicopter Emergency Rescue Operations Society (HEROS) about the need for such a service in Prince George.
I’ve talked to Ted and other people from HEROS in the past, but every time I talk to them, I wonder how it can be that we in the centre of B.C.’s resource area don’t have access to a rapid-response medical system.
Ted said if you are injured or seriously ill within a five-hour radius of Prince George, they will send land transport, such as an ambulance, to take care of you and transport you, if necessary, to a health-care facility.
What HEROS wants to see is a medical helicopter service based in Prince George which would allow paramedics and doctors to be taken to the patient faster, allowing for more immediate care.
It’s going to cost some money, but as Ted pointed out, when there’s a forest fire in the area, the government has little trouble dispatching the resources need to save the timber.
Why won’t they do the same for people?
It’s a good question, and one I’m hoping HEROS keeps asking the government until they get some good answers.
