Interview #38: A Dbacks Season Ticket Holder!
Eric Forwark, Cubs/Indians/Dbacks/Packers/Lebron fan
Intro
Eric Forwark is a Phoenix resident who is in his tenth season as a Diamondbacks season ticket holder. He also was born to a Cubs-loving father, grew up in Akron so picked up an Indians fan card, and then adopted the Diamondbacks upon moving west. It’s a lot of balls to juggle, I just have my Padres fandom and then anyone who played for Cal Poly, so a lot simpler. Go Drew Thorpe!
Anyways, Eric was sent my way by Geoff Litwin. He works for the same law firm as my friend’s wife. I did not know this, and I was randomly wearing a hat with that firm’s logo on it that I picked up at my friend’s house because it’s a comfy hat. Eric logged into zoom on his work computer and was immediately worried I was giving him a surprise work review. Muahaha.
No such thing, we talked about what being a baseball fan and also a first-hand view of LeBron-mania in Akron in the early 2000s.
The Cubs/Indians Fandom and 2016 World Series
So where did you grow up?
I grew up in Akron, Ohio, actually.
And you're a Cubs fan?
I've got a weird history of sports teams, and I would say that my first passionate baseball team, for the most part, was the Cubs. My dad was born in lower Wisconsin, Racine, WI, so basically I’m a Packers fan and I'm also Cubs fan. Then I grew up just south of Cleveland. I was born in ’88, so you know, the 90’s Indians were everything.
Oh. When you were-
Yeah. Hold on one second. I had a bunch of random notes of shit that I thought would be important.
Ok.
Yeah. So I grew up in Akron, OH, but was a huge Cubs fan. I was pretty much the only kid wearing a Cubs hat to school every day. The 90s went through with the World Series teams, all that kind of stuff, so I spent a lot of time rooting for the Indians and at that point in my life I was just kind of like, well, cool, I’ve got a National League team and an American League team. I was like, they'll never make it to the World Series against each other, and 2016 happened. Cubs were my number one team, then it was the Indians, and then I didn't move out to Arizona until about 2006. Basically 2010 is when I became an actual Diamondbacks fan. I just started going to games. I just wanted to go watch baseball.
How long did you play baseball for?
I never played for my high school, but I played it through high school. Looking to go back and play it again, I got somebody that I worked with out here that runs a league and I’m really intrigued to get back into it because I do miss it for sure. But I was a Little League player, my dad was my coach, we did travel teams. My dad was very, very involved in everything that we did and just grew up playing the game and had a blast playing it. So it's always been a summertime thing for me and my family.
So your dad's the one who got you into baseball?
Oh yeah. My grandparents as well, on my dad's side, huge Cubs fans. So that's really where a lot of my youth baseball stemmed from.
So who did you pick in 2016? (note: in 2016 the Indians faced the Cubs in the World Series; the Indians hadn’t won since 1954, the Cubs not since 1908)
I said right before the series started, I wasn't going to be the guy that was happy for both. I chose the Cubs because it was in my blood, it's been the team that I rooted for forever. I gotta go Cubs. My whole childhood growing up, I wore a Mark Grace jersey, he was my favorite baseball player growing up. Obviously Sammy Sosa, Ryne Sandberg, you know, a lot of the old great Cubbies that never got to win it all. Been through a lot of that stuff, but also been through some heavy stuff with the Indians. Jose Mesa with the Marlins; the Braves flat out, they just beat us.
So I went Cubs and we were down 3 to 1, I was like, well, this sucks. My grandma at the time, she was sick, she had cancer. They won the World Series and she died 14 days later. It was one of those where the last thing I got to talk to her was, hey, at least you got to see the Cubs win it all. She was so happy about it, so kind of a bittersweet moment. And that was actually a big reason I rooted for the Cubs. But unfortunately my grandpa on my other side, he was a huge Indians fan, he used to call his fishing boat Chief Wahoo, he passed away a month after that, so unfortunately he didn't get to see the Indians win it all.
So do you ever go back to Ohio?
All the time. I go back probably a month or two at a time. I'll be back there in August. Actually one of the coolest things that I’ve done recently, as an Indians fan, I went to the very last home game of the Indians.
What was that whole experience like?
It was an interesting experience because, you know, growing up, we never looked at it as a bad thing, rooting for the Indians. I don't want to get too political, but it was just one of those things, since 1918 (note: 1915). We were the first people to employ a Native American baseball player (Louis Sockalexis, in 1897). The team decided to go differently with the name. It really was the end of that era; I got to witness that in person. I went around with my digital camera, took pictures of all the stuff that still had Indians on it.
The name Guardians was kind of a little goofy at first, and I think they could have played it a little differently. There's some people that are starting to mock up new designs, play it more towards what that bridge was, the bridge that has the actual guardians on it. My friend’s grandpa actually helped design and which, looking back on it now, that's pretty cool. But I just thought they tried to make it look so similar to the Indians. It wasn’t a full re-brand.
They just changed the first letters from I-N to G-U-A. Like, we can only afford to change half the letters. I personally wanted Cleveland Baseball Team. What about you?
I don't think that was an option, but I would’ve taken that. I know we started out as the Spiders; I can't say that I like that name. Cleveland Spiders just doesn't really roll off the tongue. I would have loved the Cleveland Tribe because at least, not to get into the political side of this, but at least if it was Cleveland Tribe, at least it's still supporting the Native Americans. We have the Cuyahoga Valley, there's so much rich history in that area. To me it still pays a tribute to that. So Tribe to me wasn't a name that is politically incorrect. To be completely honest with you, I've been going to games since 1996, I think since Jacobs Field was first built, and I've never seen one person wear a headdress, any of the things that could be perceived as disrespectful.
First of all, imagine having an AL and NL team, as many of us do or at least did. And those teams happen to have the two longest active championship droughts in pro sports. And then they meet in the World Series! And then that World Series is a seven-game thriller that ends in extra innings. It’s sweet that Eric got to enjoy that Cubs victory with his grandma before she passed, but then he also had to experience the added heartbreak with his other grandparent losing a close one before he passed not long after. That would’ve been a wild month emotionally.
As for the Cleveland name change, I’m not equipped to go too deep into the woods on that. Do I think if we had an expansion team today, we’d ever pick the Redskins or Indians? Obviously not. Not when such prestigious names as “Kraken” and “Pelicans” are available. But would we choose Chiefs or Braves? Those names are next on the PC chopping block. And there were enough people of that group that were bothered by it that they made the right decision, I think. But the run-up to the actual name changes were so outrageous, with media and other parts of the country calling fans of these teams racists, culture war pieces on cable news every other day, shaming entire fan bases over a name they didn’t pick. Remember, the devil ray is an actual aquatic animal, and the team had to change to the Rays because the Christians got upset.
Guardians is growing on me, and the fans seem to be getting on board too. It probably does need a design refresh, it still looks like the Indians just with a couple letters changed and Chief Wahoo sent off to retirement with fellow “this seemed like a good idea at the time” mascot Chief Noc-A-Homa of the Braves.
A Decade at Chase Field
Geoff said you go to 30 games a year or so.
There was a time period where I was trying to reach 40 every year. I became a season ticket holder in 2014. I used to be known downtown as the $5 ticket guy because I’d go to games back in 2010 and 2011, so 2011 was when we finally made it to the playoffs after our run back in ‘07 and I just started going to games and realized it was cheap to go.
I’d get off the light rail and they all knew who I was, all the scalpers, and I’d always just say, well, hey, man like, $5 tickets, right? So for a while there I was always the $5 ticket guy, from 2010 to 2014, and now I got my season tickets that I've had… (2024 is) my tenth year of having season tickets. At the time when I bought them, it was like, I don't know if this is a good idea or not. I didn't have any money at the time, but I just said screw it, I like baseball and I went forward with it. It's been a heck of time and finally got to see the World Series last year, so it's been fun. Best decision I made.
So you've renewed it every year?
Yeah, I get a pin this year. They gave me a pin at five years, they’ll give me a pin at 10 years.
Where are your seats?
So the left field foul pole, I am the upper deck and the very corner of the seats on the 1st row of 331, seats 23 and 24 on the aisle.
The little strip of seats?
Not the strip, that's 332.
My mistake.
I’m the next one over, the first two seats in that front row. I have a half-season and I sit in my seats Opening Day and a couple of the playoffs games since I've been a season ticket holder and in the World Series. But other than that, I upgrade my tickets and I sit somewhere else. I'm grandfathered in, I'm the last year you could buy outside reserve in Chase Field was the year I bought tickets.
Did you see the offer of $399 for all 81 home games they put out per seat? Are yours cheaper than that?
I paid $1,200 bucks for the two tickets this year. So $600 a seat. But when you get those tickets (the season pass), you're all the way up at the top. And what you don't get when you get the pass, which I'm not hating on, I'm allowed to move my tickets, I get bonus points to where I can have free upgrades, I have sat behind the Diamondbacks dugout, ten rows up, couple of times this year ‘cause they give me these points. I’ve had batting practice on the field because I'm a season ticket holder. We do events every year that I get to be a part of, all sorts of other stuff like catch on the field with your dad on Father's Day. The cool part is I get all those promises and I'm still kind of grandfathered into the cheapest stuff out there.
So now you’re also a Diamondbacks fan. But were you always a fan or just liked going to games while living in Arizona? Did they grow on you?
I wouldn't call myself a fan before I moved here, but I did root for them in 2001 because Mark Grace was on that team. I wanted Mark Grace to win, he was my favorite Cubs player basically of all time. And as I grew up and understood who he was as an adult, I was proud to say that he makes me laugh and he didn't make all the best decisions. But you know, it kind of kind of cracked me up, he just reminds me of a lot of people I know.
I started going to a lot of games in 2010 just because I like baseball and I wanted to go. But 2011, I don't know how much you know about the 2011 Diamondbacks team, but it was a fantastic year, it was magical. We had a guy named Ryan Roberts, with big tattoo sleeves, called the Tat Man, and one of my favorite games ever, we went into the 9th inning, it was tied. So (it was 1-1) in the 10th and the Dodgers score four runs and it's 5-1 going to the bottom of the tenth. And I said to my buddy, I go, dude, this is sucks, let’s get out of here. We already won the division, I don’t wanna watch the Dodgers win. He goes, no, no, no, let's go down, sit in some good seats. I go, you go down there, I’ll come find you if we have a chance. Next thing you know, we get one run, so it's 5-2 and all of a sudden there's a guy on 1st and 2nd and I'm like, I'm going to go down and meet my friends.
So I go down, we're real close, we got great seats. Everybody pretty much left. This is when they're only getting, like, less than 15,000 on a weekday even though we won the division. Next guy walks, Ryan Roberts comes up and I go this is the coolest thing ever. This is right when people started having smartphones, so I record this because of it happens, this is going to be amazing. My dad always told me growing up, I know things happen, but I hate traffic so we’re always leaving after the seventh inning.
And he gets up, first pitch, Grand Slam to win it all. And Kirk Gibson was the manager and he does the Kirk Gibson fist bump and I got it on film. I got it on my YouTube channel. It's one of those moments that I’ll absolutely never forget.
I’d never seen that Roberts highlight before, but it’s pretty awesome. For a team that’s only in its 26th season, they’ve had a lot of memorable moments. Their top 5 highlights might be ahead of at least half the league in terms of pure excitement and memorable..ness? You’ve got the 2001 World Series, last year’s Alek Thomas pool homer, Randy Johnson’s perfect game… I’ll think on it.
Generic Baseball Talk
What is it about baseball that makes it your favorite?
It's just the game itself. It's so random. I think stats are fun. I don't know how to answer that question to be honest with you. It's just something that’s been in my life from day one. As I grew older, I just think the whole strategic standpoint of it is amazing. A lot of people complain that it's 162 games a year. I think that makes it all the better in my opinion. It's not like football. I love football and I'll say that if I had to pick my favorite sport, it’d be baseball, but if not, it's definitely football. With the 16 games a year and you only get one chance on that, I love the fact that there's series of baseball, it's all about winning those series.
So it's just a longevity thing, and especially nowadays, the world we’re living in, kind of instant satisfaction everywhere we go. Like, the Diamondbacks are slumping right now. We were fantastic for the first half of last year and then the second half of the year last year, we sucked, and then somehow we still went to the World Series. So just that that surprising stuff that can happen that just makes me love it. It's a team game, but it's also an individual game. You’ve got to your part. It's just the passion of just doing to the games, too. As I've gotten older, it's one of those things that, I can take somebody to a game that doesn't know anything about baseball and I can still show ‘em a good time.
What do you do for work?
I am a records manager at a law firm.
What does the records manager do?
We make sure things go smoothly. From a time a file is opened to the time the file is closed, that everything goes smoothly. There’s a lot of things that happen in the background that a lot of people don't think about. My records team facilitates managing what's on site. It's pretty similar to the doctor's office, you got to make sure that we're following the laws. It's a niche job, but if you get it, it's a great job to have and if you work for a firm like mine, it's just been great.
Did you go to school for that field?
I wanted to be a graphic designer. I got into a summer job, worked out to a full time job and now in my position, it’s grown into a great job I’m proud of. We've got offices all over California, which allowed me to go to Oakland, San Francisco, Denver, San Diego, here in Phoenix. So a lot of places that I’ve been able to go see baseball games, too. So it’s been great growth in the company to expand to cities that have baseball teams.
So that's a career you kind of fell into and it seems like you must have been naturally drawn to something like that with how what you liked about baseball is details.
It's coming up with this strategy and making sure that whatever object something works. So if you compare it to baseball, I’m making sure that I'm managing enough people, enough resources, and stuff to get to the result you want. Not always does it ever work out that way, it's a little easier than baseball, for sure, but it’s about having the right people in place and all that stuff. Problem solving.
We’re Gonna Talk LeBron so ESPN pays attention to me
Are you into any other sports?
Yeah, basketball. I grew up in Akron, so that's where LeBron James is from. I kind of followed him around. I know there's a lot of haters out there for LeBron, which is cool with me, I get it. But I’m a LeBron stan as you’d say. Football, Green Bay Packers is my number one team. I don't call myself a Browns fan and I don't call myself a Bengals fan by any means. Baseball is really the only sport that I have multiple teams in, and I think it's just because I love it so much. I always hate having to be that guy that's like, yeah, I've got three teams.
So you went to high school in Akron. You didn't go to St. Vincent–St. Mary High School did you?
My school was technically in Richfield, Ohio. My house address was technically an Akron address. My mom went to St. Vincent–St. Mary, and my dad went to Firestone, which the only famous Firestone alum is the woman that unfortunately died in the Challenger explosion. (Astronaut Judith Resnik).
So you weren’t in high school when Lebron was.
Well, I mean, in Akron we knew him since he was a freshman. So it was like St. Vincent–St. Mary, everybody knew that this guy was, people were totally about him, this guy’s from Akron? No way. You either know Lebron James, or you know The Black Keys, from a musical standpoint, and both of them were I think about the same the same age. So yeah, LeBron was huge. I used to see him. Actually his house, put it this way, my girlfriend's house is on this side of the street, their neighborhood across the street, and then that neighbor, their backyard backs up into Lebron's huge mansion that's in Akron, Ohio. So when he came back home after being in Miami, they all lined up in my ex-girlfriend’s neighborhood. They got cupcakes, they were like, I'm so sorry that Lebron made all this stuff, all the traffic and stuff worse. So she got cupcakes and I’m trying to ask her like, can I get a Lebron cupcake?
I used to see him, remember the Hummer that he used to have where he got in trouble, or supposedly got in trouble with the Hummer? I think they gave it to his mom. Anyways, I saw him at this one gas station, and we're all sitting there hanging out, and all of a sudden Lebron James in his Hummer pulls up, fills up this gas, puts the gas cap on and goes, hey, guys, I left about $20 worth of gas, I put too much in it, whoever gets here the quickest can have the rest of my gas. So we all get in our cars, come around, and my one friend gets up and goes to the pump to put in Lebron James’ gas. And they shut it off. And we go, dude, but it’s Lebron James! And (the attendant) goes like, it’s literally the law. I can't have two people, two vehicles, get the same gas. We all looked it up and he goes, I'm so sorry, I wanted you guys to have LeBron James’ gas. That was my high school experience with Lebron.
I had no idea that was a law.
Yeah. If you go look on the gas stations, it will tell you you can, you can do your tank, your gas can, but you can't have two vehicles out of the same pump. I don't know why that is, but that's just what they said.
That's what you learned from LeBron.
Yeah, you can't have two vehicles get gas, so.
Akron’s a small-ish town, right? I was going to go to a RubberDucks game but it got rained out. I also went to an abandoned amusement park.
Yeah, it’s relatively small. I think it's a population of 300,000 nowadays. We used to be called the rubber capital of the world. OK, I'm sorry, I got it wrong; 188,000 since 2022. But we're pretty big.
Hence the RubberDucks.
OK, I'm sorry, I got it wrong; 188,000 since 2022. But we're pretty big, we're 25 minutes south of Cleveland. All of Ohio is just this long strip of a highway. I’ll be completely honest with you, most people don't tout Ohio, but I will say I love Ohio. It's a great place, especially if you know somebody there that can take you around. The bad rap we get, I think they give it to us just cause we’re Ohio. It is what it is, so. We got problems, too. I’m very proud and happy of where I grew up.
I’m also an amusement park enthusiast, I ride roller coasters as a hobby.
I thought I had the most random athlete encounters. I have a Joe Morgan and Merton Hanks autograph on a golf scorecard. Also a Johnny Bench autograph on a San Francisco 49ers hat. But almost getting free LeBron gas? And then getting Dikembe Mutombo’d by the law? That takes the… cupcake.
I looked this law up, because I never knew. Isn’t gas that’s been paid for… who cares where it goes? It’s called “double pumping". Heh. Apparently it’s a fire hazard.