Growing up with Baseball

Growing Up with Baseball [First Page] [-1], (1) Lines: 0 to 21 ——— * 472.37022pt PgVar ——— Normal Page * PgEnds: PageBreak [-1], (1) Kim — University of Nebraska Press / Page i / / GrowingUpwithBaseball: HowWeLovedandPlayedtheGame/ Gary Land [-2], (2) Lines: 21 to 23 ——— 0.0pt PgVar ——— Normal Page PgEnds: TEX [-2], (2) Kim — University of Nebraska Press / Page ii / / Growing Up with Baseball: How We Loved and Played the Game / Gary Land Growing Up with Baseball how we loved and played the game [-3], (3) Lines: 23 to 60 ——— 0.4035pt PgVar ——— Normal Page * PgEnds: PageBreak [-3], (3) Edited by Gary Land university of nebraska press • lincoln and london Kim — University of Nebraska Press / Page iii / / Growing Up with Baseball: How We Loved and Played the Game / Gary Land Michael V. Miranda, “The Essence of the Game: A Personal Memoir,”was previously published in The Baseball Research Journal 29 (2000): 48–50. © 2004 by the Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska All rights reserved Manufactured in the United States of America Rights to the chapters are held by individual contributors. ⅜ϱ Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data [-4], (4) Growing up with baseball : how we loved and played the game / edited by Gary Land. p. cm. Lines: 60 to 140 isbn 0-8032-2975-5 (cloth : alk. ——— paper)—isbn 0-8032-0423-x (electronic) * 157.66423pt PgVar 1. Baseball—United States— ——— Anecdotes. 2. Baseball fans Normal Page —United States—Anecdotes. * PgEnds: PageBreak I. Land, Gary, 1944– gv873.g76 2004 796.357—dc22 2004000615 [-4], (4) Set in Minion by Kim Essman. Designed by Ray Boeche. Printed by Thomson-Shore Inc. Kim — University of Nebraska Press / Page iv / / Growing Up with Baseball: How We Loved and Played the Game / Gary Land Contents Preface vii Part 1: Loving the Game Introduction 3 Bob Boynton: Ballparks I Have Known 10 Bob Wilson: Choosing Baseball 15 Roy Branson: A Day of Salvation 24 Michael V. Miranda: The Essence of the Game 27 [-5], (5) Woodrow W. Whidden: A Kid’s Catch-22 of the ’54 Series 33 Jan Finkel: Dad and a Cast of (Almost) Lines: 140 to 262 Thousands 37 ——— 9.60004pt PgVar Dave Anderson: How the Baseball Bug Bit 41 ——— Gary Huffaker: The Catch 44 Normal Page Larry Brunt: Rounding the Bases 48 PgEnds: TEX Terrie Dopp Aamodt: The Impossible Dream 61 [-5], (5) Tom Nahigian: Loving and Learning the Game 67 Keith Francis: How Baseball Turned Me into a Californian 71 Part 2: Playing the Game Introduction 81 Walter Kephart: My Father Never Took Me to a Baseball Game 86 Willie Runquist: The Hill 90 Dennis Brislen: Marvelous Marv 101 Gene Carney: The Tennis Court 105 Benjamin McArthur: Little Chiefs 114 TerrySloope:TakeTwoandHitItinto the Trees in Right 117 Kim — University of Nebraska Press / Page v / / Growing Up with Baseball: How We Loved and Played the Game / Gary Land vi Contents Dave Anderson: Looking for a Game of Ball 124 Charlie Bevis: A Game of Bunt 128 Eric C. Hageman: The Clincher 131 Merritt Clifton: The Sandlots of Berkeley 133 David Petreman: The Mounds of Summer 141 Part 3: The Game Off the Field Introduction 147 Bob Boynton: Diceball and Pingball 152 Paul L. Wysard: Island Games 160 Edward Luteran: The Elks League 162 [-6], (6) Delmer Davis: Lawn Baseball Solitaire 166 David A. Goss: All Kinds of Ball Games 172 Lines: 262 to 327 Al Smitley: Off the Wall 177 ——— Edward J. Rielly: Playing My Cards Right 179 * 202.66173pt PgVar ——— Edward J. Rielly: Just Me and the Barn 181 Normal Page Jason Myers: The Day Mick Kelleher * PgEnds: PageBreak Hit Two Home Runs 184 List of Contributors 189 [-6], (6) Kim — University of Nebraska Press / Page vi / / Growing Up with Baseball: How We Loved and Played the Game / Gary Land Preface Until about thirty years ago, the game of baseball was a ubiquitous partofgrowingupformanyboys,aswellassomegirls.During the summer months, traveling the streets of both small towns and [-7], (7) big cities, one would encounter groups of kids playing baseball, or a derivative of it, in vacant lots, parks, schoolyards, and even the streets. For those of us who experienced childhood during that time, Lines: 327 to 353 those sights are unfortunately no longer common. Today one seldom ——— sees informal games of baseball. Apart from organized youth leagues, 0.0pt PgVar most baseball diamonds are usually empty, and games in the parks ——— and streets seem nonexistent. Normal Page This situation does not mean that baseball is dying, however. PgEnds: TEX According to the National Sporting Goods Association, youth partic- ipation in baseball is growing slightly among seven- to eleven-year- [-7], (7) olds, while declining among twelve- to seventeen-year-olds. In 2000 the total number of baseball participants aged seven years and older (including adults) was 15.7 million, almost exactly the same as the 15.6 million of ten years earlier (these figures may be found at nsga.org). Because most young people are today playing baseball mainly within organized leagues, their experiences with the game differ greatly from those of earlier generations who grew up when, for many boys, summer meant endless hours spent on the diamond. The realization of this qualitative difference, whatever the quantitative situation might be, gave rise to this book. While reading a discus- sion on the Society of American Baseball Research (sabr) listserv regarding various ways the members had played baseball in the past, I concluded that an effort should be made to preserve their memories for our descendants. Harold Seymour has partially accomplished this in the first chapter of Baseball: The People’s Game (New York: Oxford Kim — University of Nebraska Press / Page vii / / GrowingUpwithBaseball: HowWeLovedandPlayedtheGame/ Gary Land viii Preface University Press, 1990), where he describes things such as “choosing up” sides, stoopball, and stickball. But I wanted to fill in these broad outlines with concrete details and personal experiences. I decided to seek individuals to write their memories of childhood and youth baseball and ask them to direct their comments toward one of three subjects: their original love for the game, the ways they played the game when young, and the baseball games they invented and played off the field. Although some nostalgia would necessarily appear in these accounts, I wanted writers to emphasize their actual experiences rather than lament how times had changed. I started the process of seeking contributors by first announcing my projectonthesabr listserv, publishing an announcement in the orga- [-8], (8) nization’s newsletter, and distributing flyers at sabr’s annual conven- tion. The response to these initial announcements was encouraging, so I then pursued other writers among colleagues and friends, posted Lines: 353 to 357 an announcement on my Web site, and distributed more flyers at In- ——— diana State University’s annual Conference on Baseball in American 0.0pt PgVar Literature and Culture. Some individuals heard about the project by ——— word of mouth and others suggested people for me to contact. Gradu- Normal Page ally I received enough material to prepare this book. I appreciate very PgEnds: TEX much the time the contributors took to write their memories and the patience they have shown while waiting for the project’s completion; [-8], (8) this volume could not have come into existence without them. Part 1 recalls how as children we fell in love with baseball and our emergence as fans of the game, including the vicarious experience of listening to it on the radio, special moments of attendance at the ballparks, and family influences. Part 2 offers memories of how we played the game, recalling such things as our invention of “ghost” runners when there was a shortage of players or laying out our own diamonds on land whose owners we often did not know. Then, because baseball really was central to our experience and could not be forgotten duringsuchtimesasrainydaysorevenwinter,part3 reconstructs games that took place off the field, including contests played in front- or backyards, solitaire card games, or elaborate imaginary leagues that played entire seasons of board-game baseball. Within each part the accounts appear in roughly chronological order, extending from the 1930stothe1980s. Although they sometimes range beyond the Kim — University of Nebraska Press / Page viii / / Growing Up with Baseball: How We Loved and Played the Game / Gary Land Preface ix specific topic of the section, I have placed each selection according to what seemed to be its dominant theme. I have introduced each section by identifying the themes that emerge from the various accounts and relating them to the baseball of my own childhood, although my recollections are not nearly as interesting as those of the contributors. In a few cases I have also incorporated contributors’ comments into the introductions. The writing styles vary considerably. Many of the memoirs are polished essays by experienced writers; others have the informal flavor of oral history. The variety of baseball experience is thereby reflected in the different ways it is remembered by people from many walks of life. It is my hope that the memories recorded here not only preserve a [-9], (9) small part of our common baseball history but also stir many readers’ own recollections of a time when, especially for males, being young and enjoying the game were almost synonymous. Lines: 357 to 360 ——— * 296.63495pt PgVar ——— Normal Page * PgEnds: PageBreak [-9], (9) Kim — University of Nebraska Press / Page ix / / Growing Up with Baseball: How We

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