This past issue of Inside Pitch (Nov/Dec) there is a Coaches Corner article by Dr. Wallie Jones. Dr. Jones is a 71 year old retired dentist and former American Legion Baseball Coach. Dr. Jones talks about running into a young baseball player at his dentist office that is wearing a dirty baseball uniform. He knew that the league"s seasons were completed for the summer and wanted to know why this little guy was wearing a dirty baseball uniform. The player said he and a couple of friends were at the park playing. Dr. Jones immediately assumed that some gung-ho dad had dragged their son and friends up to the park for practice. When he asked "Were there any coaches or parents there?" The boy simply smiled and said "No sir, We just like to play".
Reading this article brought back a flood of memories to me and my childhood summers. We only lived a few streets away from my little league field and during the summers we would all ride our bikes to the field carrying our baseball gear and worn out baseballs. We would play for hours. 3 on 3, 4 on 4, 5 on 5. If we were really lucky we would have even more meet us there are we would just pick teams and play. It was as much fun as I ever remembered playing. Don't get me wrong. I loved playing for my little league team, my high school and my college team. The joy of playing in a game where we had to come up with crazy rules because you only had 5 on 5 which of course would leave several positions unoccupied. I remember that if you didn't pull the ball you were automatically out. Haha. I guess that's why I liked to pull the ball later in my career. No hitting the other way in sandlot ball so that's what we learned to do.
We would play for four to five hours. When someone would leave we would just keep on playing. There was a Texaco gas station about a quarter mile from the field and we would go a get snacks or something to drink. If any of of had a few extra bucks we would go to the Squeeze Inn and get a couple of pieces of pizza bread and some cokes. Then we would go back to the field for the next game. So much fun and we did this countless times. Man, I loved that park. So we would play all day then go home have dinner and then come back and play our league games or just come back to watch the other guys play. If there was enough guys at the park during the games we would split off and play stick ball with real bats and tennis balls until they turned the field lights off. Wow! What I would do to be 11 or 12 years old again and be able to go back and play ball with all those guys again. I can't remember all of them but some of the guys that I want to give a shout out too include, Pat Daly, Reid Herskovitz, Steve Martin, Jeff Torian, Marshall and Joel Samuelson, Mark Mineroldi and several others that I cannot remember. Wow getting old stinks.
When we weren't playing we were all dreaming about playing...oh wait that might just have been me. Anyway baseball is a multigenerational and a multicultural fantastic game. I am so glad that my dad encouraged me to play. I love this game.
Inside Pitch Magazine is the official magazine of the American Baseball Coaches Association and is available through subscription both in print or digitally. Thank you Dr. Wallie Jones for your article. It is a great read and brought back so many fond memories.
