To sleep, perchance to dream. Ay, there’s the rub. — Shakespeare
Earlier this week, I had a Uni Watch dream. Not just a uni-related dream, but a Uni Watch dream — a dream about doing Uni Watch. This doesn’t happen often, and I usually forget the details by the next morning, but this time I woke up in the middle of it and jotted down a few notes so I wouldn’t forget.
Here’s how it went: In the dream, I was watching a game from the 1983 American League Championship Series, between the White Sox and the Orioles, on a VHS tape. Late in the game, the White Sox sent Reggie Jackson up to pinch-hit. “Oh, right,” I thought to myself in the dream, “I forgot that Reggie briefly played for the Sox.” (He didn’t, of course, but that’s how things go in dreams.)
So there was Reggie, wearing Chicago’s beach blanket uniform. As he was batting, I noticed that his NOB didn’t say, “Jackson,” but it went by so quickly that I couldn’t get a clear view of it. So I rewound the tape, paused it at the appropriate spot, and saw that the NOB read, “A’s / Wampum.”
“Huh,” I thought in the dream, “I knew Reggie wore ‘Wampum’ when he was with the A’s, but I didn’t know he used his White Sox NOB as a shout-out to his A’s NOB! I’ll definitely have to write about this.”
And then I woke up. It was about 4:30am.
The reality, of course, is that Reggie Jackson never played for the White Sox (although he did play one season for the Orioles, the other team in the dream), nor did he wear “Wampum” as his NOB when he was with the A’s. Oakland’s “Wampum”-clad player was Dick Allen, who in 1977 wore that NOB and No. 60 because he was in the 1960 graduating class at Wampum High School in Pennsylvania:
Allen, unlike Reggie, did play for the White Sox, although he didn’t wear “Wampum” when he played with them. It’s all a big mishmash, which I guess is pretty standard as dreams go. So weird!
Are dreams a portal to another reality, or were you just feeling the effects of an undigested potato?
Fun fact: In 11 states, “I dreamed it, so it’s true” is a valid legal argument.
Your dream’s meaning is clear. Dick Allen belongs in the Baseball Hall of Fame alongside Reggie Jackson.
I can go along with that explanation!
Very associative dream! The only thing missing is a winged angel coming down from the skies, wearing an Angels hat and saying: one day you will play for us, Reggie. Followed by George Steinbrenner running from the stands and angrily chasing away the angel with a baseball bat.
I once had a Covid-induced fever dream that the Rockies unveiled uniforms that looked like the Colorado license plates, and then the next day I read about exactly that on uni-watch. It was very disconcerting. Maybe I read it, forgot about it in my covid brain fog, then read it again the next day but my subconscious remembered.
You had a premonitionary nightmare.
Uni Watch: For People Who Subconsciously Get It.
That’s really funny, Kenny!
I’m glad I’m not the only one who sometimes has dreams involving retired athletes playing for teams that they never played for. Of course, it makes sense that Paul would too!!!!
How much purple would need to be included for a dream for you to be considered a nightmare????
Kinda related; I really like this song by a Minneapolis singer/songwriter.
(I Keep Forgetting) My Recurring Dream
link
Now we just need someone to Photoshop Reggie in one of those Sox unis!
To quote Snoopy: “[you] gotta lay off of those late night pepperoni pizzas”
Thanks for sharing this, Paul! What strikes me is how measured your dream was. I can see myself having a similar dream, but then Reggie’s NOB might have been Wampum or Channel or just as likely “Pepperoni Pizza,” or he might have been wearing a 3-piece suit, or Dave Kingman and I might have put our arms around Reggie and walked him to first base, which might have led us to my second grade classroom, etc…
With apologies to George Costanza-
“It’s not a dream if you believe it”.
“I Have a Dream” – The Orioles will finally win the ALCS and play in the World Series for the first time in 41 years.
The ’83 White Sox had a number of players who wore glasses: Luzinski, Kittle, Hairston, Law….as did the O’s: Sakata, Lowenstein, Ford.
Could that have influenced the dreamscape?