Talkin' Baseball

There's a dog park on the northwest side of Dublin called Glacier Ridge. It has an open field for when your best pal wants to scamper about and on the south side a woodsy area for exploring.

Yesterday Charlie and I trekked over and also there was a fella named Dan. We've talked before. He's a year or so younger than I. His wife of 40 years recently passed. His dad worked for a competitor of mine when I was in sales. He's traveled a great deal and we have one other thing in common; We love baseball. Oh, not so much the baseball of today but of the game when we were growing up in the 50's and 60's. He was wearing a Milwaukee Braves cap from the old era and, of course, since I grew up a Braves fan I immediately recognized it.

So, we spent an hour talking about the players of that era. We named all the players from the Braves, Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Yankees and told trivial stories about each. It was so much fun.

Baseball isn't our national pastime anymore. I guess it went by the board when the Super Ball became the be all end all. When I was a kid in grade school at Sacred Heart School in Boone, Iowa the nuns would turn on the radio so we could listen to the World Series. They gave us reading time. I don't think I read. I was more concerned if Lou Burdette could win his 3rd game against the Yankees to secure the 1957 World Series for the Braves. He did and I was ecstatic.

If I was to be asked to name ten players in the major leagues today out side of the Chicago Cubs I'd be hard pressed to come up with an answer. In 1957 I could name the starting line ups for all eight teams in the American and Nationla leagues.

In the 50's we kids in Boone had our own Field of Dreams. It was a small field located next to the city water tower on the corner of Clinton and 1st street. It was grand.

I'm lucky to have grown up in such wonderful peaceful times. I remember today and that's good.
To further illustrate and I know I've written this before, if I went to my garage and pulled out my old catchers mitt, oiled it like it's never been oiled before and stuck my nose in it with eyes closed this is what would happen. Thousands of memories my the past would flood my mind; great memories from games I played Little League through college.

You should be so lucky as I.