BASEBALL

I grew up in upstate New York.  Winters there begin before Thanksgiving and end just before Easter ...if Easter falls in April.  As kids my brothers and I reckoned that Spring actually began in February when the Pitchers and Catchers reported for spring training in either Florida or Arizona.  We knew that somewhere it was warm  with sunny blue skies and we could almost smell the linseed oil and pine tar.

 

Baseball is the most democratic of sports.  You can be thin or fat...tall or short...man or woman...fast or slow...disabled or not...and after 1947 black, white, brown or yellow.  Somehow if you love baseball ...baseball will love you back.

 

Once down in the Dominican Republic, where every town, village or barrio has both a church and a ball field, I watched a group of boys, some with shoes and some without, clear rocks and debris from an empty field to make a   diamond and outfield.  I stayed and watched them play ...some still without shoes.  They had to play and I had to watch.

Baseball tugs at your heart and tugs at your brain.  It is unlike any other sport because it  truly is a metaphor for life...a drama conceived and played first on an American stage and now on a world stage. It begins the first time you visit a ball park and for that I will let the words of my brother Don describe it from memory,  in the eyes of an eight year old boy...

 

In 1954 I experienced one of the greatest thrills of my young life.  My uncle, Vern was a big baseball fan.  He called my mom and asked if he could take my brothers and myself to a baseball game...  Being 8 years old I didn't know what to expect...   As we got out of the car I could smell the hot dogs and popcorn and peanuts.as  we walked through this big gate.  My uncle stopped to buy a Program.  and  asked if we would like one.  I said sure.  We then proceeded up this concrete runway.  Much to my surprise I thought I was in heaven.   The lights glowed over this majestic space.  As I looked at it... I saw this wonderful green fence with a lot of advertising on it.  As I continued to gaze at this wonderful place I looked at the manicured dirt field, with grass that I had never seen before.  Then in a split second 9 men walked out in their glistening white uniforms.   They had this big red "C" on the left side of their uniforms.   They were the hometown Corning Red Sox and   I was like a kid in a candy store.  We found seats and proceeded to watch these men play a little boys game.  Now from 1954 through 1960 we were a fixture at these games.  ... This started an exciting journey and love for the game of baseball.  It's now 60 years later and 2014, the War Memorial Stadium where they played, is just a place for football, lacrosse and track.  But in 1954 through 1960 it was a cathedral for the most memorable life experience that I have ever had. My heart still belongs to the days of watching the Corning Red Sox.  A few years ago I was able to acquire two Corning Red Sox Jerseys.  These are two of my prize possessions.  They are not the glistening white uniforms that I first saw, but  they still look good to me. 

My brother says it all...when you're a baseball fan, you're not just a spectator... you're part of the game.

 

In the years since then there have been many historic and breathtaking moments that I have witnessed  during games, usually on the radio or television.  Ned Garver and Bobby Thompson in '51... Willie Mays catching the hit by Vic Wertz over his shoulder on the run in "54...The Dodgers in "55...Don Larsen in "57...Maris in '61...the '69 and  "86  Mets and every game that Derek Jeeter ever played.  When my oldest daughter was a baby I would sit in her nursery in a rocking chair with the game on the radio, until she would fall asleep happy the Mets were ahead.  Later she would go to Shea on her birthday to see her name on the big screen and go to Yankee stadium for  fourth of July double headers with fireworks.  She loved the hot dogs! 

But when I think about my best  baseball memory.. that took place  in 1954 when the Corning Red Sox won the Pennsylvania, Ontario, New York (PONY) class D league pennant.  For my brothers and myself... Corning NY...our hometown... for one brief and shining moment  that lives forever within us... was the very center of the Baseball universe!

 

But my favorite and most personal memory however is still sitting in the dark with my baby girl in her crib...happy and at peace with the world and listening to the game ...picturing it all in my mind...play by play and seeing it all on the radio.

 

ERLANDSSON AND ALLISON