Bob Uecker being called Home this week triggered so many baseball memories for me. I am ok with Winter weather! A hassle at times (as is 90 degrees plus heat!) but mostly due to the fact I miss baseball. Driving by Progressive Field and Lake Erie Crushers Stadium happen frequently for me plus every month or so I’ll have errands that take me past Classic Auto Group Park and Canal Park. That is when I truly miss the great American Past Time and no matter what evidence some may attempt to present, BASEBALL IS THE PAST TIME!
My baseball memories kicked in big time a few weeks attending the funeral of the Bitto family, grade school friends from St. Henry in the Lee Harvard area of town. Kathy and Steve Bitto sister Diane (my classmate) along with another sister and two other brothers Dad Steve passed away and we laid him to rest January 4th at St. Columbkille in Parma. Dad Steve had a great run at 97 and what do I remember about him? Yes, indeed he was an alum of the great Golden Knights Little League as a Manager! My Dad Max was also a manager and without a doubt even though these now are the best days of my life the Summers spent playing Little League on the 2 ball fields behind St. Henry Church and School came darn close. There was also a city League called B Buzz, and those games were played north of Harvard in JoAnn park. This neighborhood was so packed that St. Henry decided to go its own course and put together its own league for grade schoolers. Think about this: in St. Henry school each grade had 4 classes and with at least 30 if not 40 in a class. There were so many kids that portable classrooms with folding walls were put together in the basement of the school. I cannot remember to bring home a 1/2 gallon of milk some nights, but I remember Little League at St. Henry like yesterday. Talk about another time! At practices Mr. Rutkowski, one of the coaches, would catch BP with a cigar sticking out of his facemask plus at an early age one of our coaches (Mike Goliat) was a member of the Philadelphia Phillies Whizz Kids! Talk about being “Star Struck!” It also was not uncommon for one of the coaches to pull out a steel cooler after practice that contained a six pack or two of Black Label’s that coaches put down. Remember all these guys came right from the plant to coach practice or games and were still dirty with soot of whatever other dirt the factory tossed their way. Now the league was pretty basic when it came to unis – you received a colored tee shirt (all said GOLDEN KNIGHTS) and a same-colored ball cap also with Golden Knights on the caps). There was a minors and majors and some of the teams were names after the Priests (at the time we had 3 full time Priests and another helper) and others after MLB clubs. I can never forget a team that had white tees and caps, and they were mockingly called the “Marshmallows.” Shucks you were identified with the team you played on. One of my buds from JoAnn drive was nicknamed “Cubbie”! This was baseball in the Pete Rose sense of playing. Yes sir…colliding with the catcher at home to get him to cough up the ball and taking the second baseman off the bag to stop the DP as well as coming down almost sidearm with your throw to first to get the runner coming to second to slide low and early were taught at an early age! I remember on game the year between 4th and 5th where I was barreled into at home. I held on to the ball but when I held it up with my mitt for the ump to see I felt something warm on the side of my head. Yup, my ear was ripped up pretty good so one of the coaches took me to Suburban hospital where I received a tetanus shot, they cleaned the cut, and I went back and played LF the last 2 innings. No doubt in the words of MLB.com’s Sarah Lang’s “BASEBALL IS THE BEST!”
Another highlight from the ball diamonds behind St. Henry Church and School took place when the URBAN ACES Little League was now the baseball league at the hallowed diamonds, and I was asked to be a guest Coach for All Star weekend. I was introduced to the good people running the league by none other than Mudcat Grant and his team, as Mud was active in supporting URBAN ACES and yes, his true love of the game led him to be involved in any way possible. Another indelible memory was etched when my oldest son was asked to be a part of an All-Star team that weekend. He was called in to pitch late in one of the games and the Skipper tossed me a catcher’s mitt to warm him up. We were on the big diamond in the Southwest corner of the park, and it hit me…tears started flowing as I was crouching in the exact spot where I caught decades earlier. So special.
One last note about what BASEBALL means to mean, Just a few years ago I was in the old neighborhood and decided to stop and run the bases. I was coming back from a meeting, so I have on loafers, khakis, and a collared shirt but it did not matter. The youngsters were all out for recess and I noticed a silence then a roar as I was gliding across that hallowed ground. The kids stopped and clapped and as I was ready to depart one of the teachers came over and said, “May I asked what prompted you to do that” and in the words of the grade school students “look at that crazy white dude running around the bases.” When I filled in the inquiring teacher, she gave me a hug and sent me on the way with a “God Bless You Sir.”
I am certain we all have stories and memories like the above and no doubt…BASEBALL IS THE BEST!!
Read more of my thoughts and musings on NEO Sports Insiders. Munch on Sports is powered by the Ken Ganley Automotive Group & Ganley Chevy Of Aurora.
Please take care of each other and it’s your world, pay attention. Indeed, enjoy every sandwich and for now ADIOS AMIGO, long may you run
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