The "Just One More Time...Take Me Out To The Ballgame" Story

My all-time favorite baseball player
The "Say Hey Kid" Willie Mays.
Click on images to enlarge them.

It was an ordinary day.  Thought I would write about my love of baseball one more time.  I know...you're getting sick of reading about baseball, but this is the time of the year that I get to watch my grandson play the game that I loved so much as a child and still continue to love.  Sitting in a lawn chair at one of the many baseball fields in Lancaster County is now one of my favorite past times during the summer months.  For years I played little league and was fortunate enough to be on a team known as the Young Republicans who captured the Pennsylvania State Title in the 13-14 year old age bracket.  I eventually began to coach the sport and was lucky enough to coach both my sons and win the Lancaster County New Era Tournament when my youngest son was 15 years old.  

12 year old LDub playing for Schick.

I then began playing slow-pitch softball as well as being an umpire in baseball.  Today I find that sitting in that lawn chair is just about all I can handle.  But, I have never lost the love of one of the greatest games ever invented.  Baseball originated before the American Civil War when the game was called "grounders."  It was the forerunner of cricket which I also enjoy watching and saw a few matches a couple of years ago on the island of Barbados while on vacation.  I recently read that more people know that Roger Maris's 61 home runs broke the record of 60 by Babe Ruth from 1927 than know the fact that Ronald Regan's 525 electoral-college votes in 1984 broke President Franklin Roosevelt's record of 523 in 1936. In 1871 the first pro baseball league was formed and by the start of the 20th century most eastern states had at least one professional team.  

Playing for the Young Republicans in 1957. Middle on right.

At that time they had just the National and American leagues.  One of my best childhood friends, Bill, loved the American League New York Yankees with Mickey Mantle while I loved the National League New York Giants who had the Say Hey kid, Willie Mays on its team.  I even got to see him play when he was in the minor leagues and played in Lancaster who had the Lancaster Red Roses as a minor league team.  

Program from the Red Roses

And then there was the collection of baseball cards that all the guys in my neighborhood collected and traded with each other.  The cards that you had more than one of and that nobody else wanted in a trade became the motor for your two-wheel bike.  Fasten it to the frame with a clothes pin and when the spokes of the wheel struck the card, it sounded like a motorcycle.  When my grandson began playing baseball and my oldest son became his coach, I was in heaven!  Going to games meant not only getting to visit with the family, but getting to watch my favorite sport.  My dear daughter-in-law was not an athlete, coming from a family that was not sport's oriented, but over the years we have trained her to the point that she knows that the letter "K" stands for a strikeout and DP stands for a double play.  

The team I coached to the Lancaster County Midget title.
I'm far left top and youngest son Tad is 7th from left, top row.

She has become a first-class "baseball mom" and wouldn't miss a game.  Even her mother and sister, who know more about playing the bells in church than baseball, are beginning to learn the fine points about playing baseball.  As far as my favorite song at a baseball game, well it has to be "Take Me Out to the Ball Game".  I know I should love our National Anthem, but it doesn't have the word "ball" in it.  

My oldest son pitched for Div. I Villanova.

Other baseball related things I love are "Casey at the Bat" which was a baseball poem written in 1888 by Ernest Thayer and  watching Abbott and Costello do their "Who's On First" routine.  While on a recent vacation to St. Martin, I knew I would miss a few of my grandson's games, so I found I could get an App titled "Game Changer" and watch a simulation of his games on my phone or laptop.  The waiters and waitresses at the restaurants where we ate on game nights found they were cheering for my grandson just as Carol and I were.  I know that baseball might not be everyone's favorite sport, but what do they know.  I will watch it until I'm no longer able to yell at the umpires!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

Part of my grandson's team in the Under-14 category this year is l-r: Ethan, Pete, grandson Caden, Noah and Cody.  All these "boys" are almost six feet tall...and they are 14 years old or younger.  They seem to get bigger as the years go by.