A Place In History

Mahamadou Soumare was born on Saturday in the Bronx.

The day was special for his family, but the rest of the neighborhood barely noticed because everyone was focused on Alex Rodriguez.

Mahamadou – 8 pounds, 3 ounces and 18 inches – came into this world near the time Rodriguez’s 500th career home run cleared the left field wall at Yankee Stadium.

His place in history is secure.

I used to think my place was secure. As a child I heard that Mickey Mantle hit his 500th home run on my birthday. I didn’t confirm the information and was comfortable taking it as fact for most of my life.

I carried my bit of history around like a good-luck piece. It was comforting when my father died because he was about the only other person who cared about the obscure fact.

I later found out that I was born close to the day Mantle hit his 500th, but not on it.

Mahamadou Soumare doesn’t need to worry about that.