baseball

I played little league baseball.  I was not very good at it.  My mom signed me and brother up.  It was pretty much free for any of the local kids in town. I think there was a small fee and the uniforms were sponsored by local businesses. It was the early eighties.  We had a few girls who played too but that was not common.  It was less diversified than it would be today.  In fact the girl who played in my age group is now an adult lesbian. I remember she was one of the best players. Our team was the Royals.   We even had a female coach. Her name was Midge. Her son was on our team too.  Midge was not very pretty, if fact she was kind rough around the edges to say the least. When Midge talked, you listened. Or she would tell your mom.  She understood the game and liked kids. Midge made the game fun even the fat kid in far right field.  Yep that was me.  I remember sitting in the grass picking dandelions.  Not much action ever happens in far right field.  Most players are right handed and hit the ball to the left field. That is where the action was.  I saw more action from the coach’s practice hits than I ever did in a real game. Midge would holler “look alive out there”.  That meant get ready, get off your butt and I’m gonna hit one in your direction.  She would hit one to me and I would have to catch it, or chase it.  She also taught us the game.  Not that I am an expert.  But some times I understand what going on if I see a game on TV. 

We had practice four evening a week.  There is a baseball field on the west side of town.  It was called Biggs Field.  I don’t know who “Biggs” was, but the ball park was pretty small. It was nothing fancy. Games were played on the main field.  Practices took place other the dirt ball fields behind the main field. Some teams practiced at empty lots around town due to limited access.  The main field was surrounded by chain link fence.  It had bleachers, cinder block dugouts, and a concession stand that served from both sides and sat right behind home plate.  The mom’s who worked the concession stand always bragged that they had the best seats in town.  They could practically look over the umpires should and make the call themselves. Parents would fill the stands all season, every Saturday.  The games were pretty much back to back.  Starting with the youngest kids in the morning and carried on in to the afternoon.  Then in the evening, the older teenagers played. By this time they had to the turn on the lights because the sun was going down. Some times parents would sit in their cars and watch the games.  My mom said it was so they could drink and smoke cigarettes.  That was one thing adults were not allowed to do in the stands.  After all, this was a family sport. They would park around the perimeter of the field and pull right up to the fence.  The only draw back was getting your windshield broken by a foul ball.  I remember it happened to Ida Livingston’s van.  She was very unhappy.  She was a local mom, who son played ball with the teenage teams.  I remember too, if you caught a foul ball, you got a free snow cone. 

I think our team was probably average.  We finished the season.  We didn’t get the big trophies like the top team did.  But it was a positive experience.  I got me involved with my peers and my mom got a lot of dandelion bouquets that summer.