Youth Baseball Archives

May 5, 2016

Tee-Ball Tidbits

Grandson Graham, 5, was playing tee-ball for the Hawks the other night. After waiting 15 minutes or more with the kids getting more and more wound up, the word came from the other coach that he didn’t have enough boys, and they were going to forfeit.

When you are five, you don’t care a whole lot about formalities, so a bunch of boys were rounded up and a pickup game ensued. That’s Graham sprinting for home. He sports #2 in the pictures.

Attention spans are short

Watching the game brought to mind the Peter, Paul & Mary song, “Right Field, with its chorus,

Right field, it’s easy, you know.
You can be awkward and you can be slow
That’s why I’m here in right field
Just watching the dandelions grow

Won a game ball

Graham won one of the two game balls. I think I heard it was for being “most attentive,” but I’m not sure.

“Most attentive,” as I decode it, was where he would stand there while a ball rolled past him, then he’d tear out after it, making a spectacular dive and roll like he was roping a calf. Once he and the ball came to a full and complete stop, he’d stand there watching the action until it dawned on him that the ball was supposed to go to someone who could tag the runner out.

These kids reminded me of the little leaguers I shot in Cape in the early ’60s.

Indulge the grandfather, please

When Son Adam was playing the the youth leagues (he was a killer catcher), I tried to never miss his games. I’m not going to be in town for many of Graham’s games, so here’s a whole gallery of him and his teammates. Click on any photo to make it larger, then use your arrow keys to move around.

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May 31, 2013June 6, 2013

Cubs’ Pitchers Had Problem

The day after I graduated Central High School in 1965, I showed up bright and early to start my Missourian summer internship. To my dismay, my first assignment was to fill in for the sports editor, who was going on vacation.

I confessed to Chuck Murdoch that I knew virtually nothing about sports and was in deep trouble. He took a couple of sucks on his ever-present pipe and a look of relief passed over his face as he realized his job was safe: this was ONE high school kid who wouldn’t show him up. He gave me the crash course in sports journalism (something that I always thought was somewhat of a contradiction in terms).

He explained that the first thing I had to do when I showed up three hours before the rest of the staff was to go to a dropbox on the Broadway door to retrieve an armload of youth league score books the coaches had dropped overnight. I was to take those score books and interpret scratches and scrawls that showed every batter and every play and write a play-by-play of the high spots of the games. I prayed for a tight paper so I could get by with just a game summary.

I got the job done, but I felt like a monk translating ancient scrolls from one language into another. So far as I know, nobody ever complained about my accounts.

Last night I found this comment written by a coach who either had a great sense of humor or a flair for understatement: “Cub’s pitchers couldn’t find the strike zone and walked 22 batters.”

First AP story

I thought it amusing enough I phoned it in to the Associated Press, which put in on the wire. I’m pretty sure that was the first time anything of mine moved on a news wire. It was a real thrill when I heard the clatter of the teletype and discovered that it was my brief that was going out to the world (well, maybe the nation or the region or the state. I don’t remember the codes well enough to know how far it was broadcast. It didn’t win the Pulitzer, I know that.).

I didn’t do too badly covering government and cops, but the society and agriculture beats were a bit of a stretch. I loved it.

December 7, 2012March 2, 2021

It’s All About the Sno Cone

I confused so many people with my photos of what might have been an American Legion / Babe Ruth group shot that I’m going to play it safe. If you can believe the names on the uniforms, this contest was between the Cardinals and the Red Sox.

This Red Sox player is enjoying his sno cone on his way off the field. HE knows what’s important: it’s not whether you win or lose; it’s whether or not you get a post-game sno cone.His mother would probably swear the youngster has a halo over his head, but I can attest to it being the lights on the field in the background.

(Even THIS post has a confusing element: I saw the sugary concoction made from flavored syrup and crush ice spelled “sno cone,” “sno-cone” and “snow cone.” Take your pick.)

Red Sox and Cardinals photo gallery

Here are photos from the Cardinals – Red Sox baseball game some time in the late middle ’60s. Click on any image to make it larger, then click on the left or right side of the photo to move through the gallery.