Baseball Memories

                  BASEBALL MEMORIES

                                  by

                       John J Collet

The first thing I remember about baseball is my first glove. My dad bought it for me at a little neighborhood store in Glasgow Village north of St. Louis. It looked like an old-time first baseman's mit. It had a thumb finger and all the other fingers were together. Not much padding. It turned out, I never got to use it. It was for a right-hander. We figured out pretty quick, I threw and batted left-handed. I ended up getting a Stan Musial signature glove when I started playing ball. It was kind of strange, too, as the middle and ring finger were together in one sleeve. 

I kept that first glove for 20 years, just because.

I started playing ball, perennial right-fielder, in the Glasgow Village league when I was almost 6 years old. We were supposed to have a practice, but it was pouring down rain. The coach called up and said to come over his house, that we would have a skull practice. I had no idea. So we all gathered on his screened in back porch and talked about what to do in certain game situations. I can't remember what was said, just that it was called a skull practice.

When I was 5 and 6 years old, late 1950s, we played regular baseball. No t-ball or coaches pitching. Of course, maybe we shouldn't have. I remember one pitcher who was really wild. He was throwing some of his pitches over the backstop.

I had my first economics lesson in little kid baseball. I played for the Bluebirds. We had a tshirt and a cap. But the Redbirds had a rich coach. They had hats, tshirts, baseball pants and red stockings and got ice cream after games. But blue was my favorite color, so I did alright. Nowadays, the pros and colleges have a different uniform for everyday and Sunday. Even my middle son, when he played middle school ball, had home and away jerseys and a hoodie with team logo. I balked at buying that. The coach ended up paying for one for my son, but I didn't like it. Seems like extra uniforms are an extra expense they could do without and lower ticket prices.

I got to see my first major league game in 1960. All the Bluebirds and their dads got on a bus and went down to see the Cardinals at old Sportsman's Park on Grand Avenue. Only time I got to see Stan Musial. Only thing I remember is he he hit a foul ball behind home plate that went over the grandstand and into the street behind. But I enjoyed the stadium experience. All the crowd and the big green field.

In 1961, my family moved to Greenwood SC because of my dad's job as a USDA meat inspector. I was playing for one team when we faced another team with a super powerful pitcher. This pitcher went on to play QB at Alabama. My coach decided that in order to intimidate the pitcher, he wanted our players to sling their bats toward the pitcher after their swing. I think a couple players did this. I told my dad after the game what was going on. He took me off the team and told the league administrators. They removed the coach and I was able to play again when they got a new coach.

The biggest baseball in Greenwood, a small city of 25,000, was American Legion Baseball. But it was big there. The whole town would come out. They had a decent sized stadium and I enjoyed the stadium experience.

In 1968, my dad passed away, and my Mom moved my sister and I back to the St. Louis area. We lived temporarily with my grandfather in North St. Louis and I played in the Baden baseball league. 

I played mostly center field. I never was much of a hitter but made some good defensive plays. 

The next year, we had moved to the nearby suburb of Ferguson. I tried out for the sophomore team at McCluer high school. It was a bad sign that when we were warming up playing catch I threw a ball onto the building roof. Didn't make the team. That Summer, I played my last organized ball with the Ferguson Khourey League. Didn't hit great. I saw my first curveball and didn't hang in long enough and struck out. I always tended to stick my foot in the bucket. But I did hit a one drive down the left field line and got a triple. And I made some nice catches in right field.

1968 was another big year in St. Louis as Cardinals won another pennant. We went to many games that year as bleacher tickets were only $1. My older cousin Janet took me, my sister Gracie and cousin Charlie down to the stadium to wait in line overnight to try to get World Series tickets. We took down lawn chairs, blankets and pillows, but we spent most of the time playing catch, walking around and watching the crowd. We were all snaked around in a long line. The ticket office was supposed to open at 8am. But around 4am, a rumor passed through the crowd that the office was opening. The line evaporated as most everyone rushed the ticket office. We ended up at the back of the crowd. No tickets but a nice World Series experience.

After high school, I joined the Coast Guard. After boot camp and school, I was stationed on the USCGC Courageous out of Cape Canaveral FL. In 1973, we had a team in the Patrick AFB fastpitch league. I've never seen balls coming in so fast. Didn't hit very well, but played decent defense at first base. Sometimes we would be out on search and rescue missions, and on return, we would have to play doubleheaders to make up games. Exciting but tiring.

1973 was also a great year for me as a fan. The Cardinals were neck and neck with the Mets for the pennant that year. The Mets won, but it was thrilling. My mom had the St Louis Globe-Democrat mailed to me and I daily read all the game stories and kept a scrapbook.

1974 and 1975, We had a team in the Cape Canaveral slowpitch league. Much more our skill level and more fun, less pressure.

1973-1975, I was in Grapefruit League territory. I saw lots of Spring Training games. Yankees in Ft. Lauderdale, Twins in Orlando, Cards and Mets in St. Pete, Red Sox in Winter Haven, where the smell of orange blossoms wafted in from beyond the outfield fence.

In 1979, I was on the USCGC Glacier in Long Beach CA. We had a team in a local league. I played center field. I made a play I always dreamed of. A ball was hit deep to center. I raced back, crashed into the fence, and made the catch!

In 1982, I was out of the Coast Guard and working and going to school in St. Louis. The Cards won their first Workd Series after the 1970s drought. Joaquin Andujar was the most colorful player. His favorite saying was,"You never know."

Other favorites were pitcher Bob Forsch, catcher Darrell Porter, shortstop Ozzie Smith and 3rd baseman Ken Oberkfell.

In 1984, I moved to Seattle to attend the University of Washington. The Mariners played in the Kingdome and bleacher tickets were $2, so I went to alot of games. I would take my homework along as American League pitchers are slow as molasses. I could read whole chapters between pitches.

In 1985 and 1986, I made two trips to Nicaragua with a group out of Northern California called Baseball for Peace. We collected donations of baseballs and gear from the Mariners and other teams and sporting goods stores. Then in Nicaragua, we would go around to small 

farming communities, distributing baseball equipment and playing baseball games against the local teams. I was still playing right field and not hitting great, but it was nice to play real baseball. And I got to use the Spanish courses I took at UW to talk to actual Spanish speakers.

Cards won the Pennant again in 1985, but the thing people remember is umpire Don Denkinger's bad call at first. The real tragedy is that the Cardinals let the call affect them so bad that they lost game 6 and 7.

Baseball had a part in my meeting my wife. Halloween 1987, I went to a Halloween party that a woman on my co-ed soccer team was giving. Her roommate worked with my future wife Diane at a Savings and Loan. My wife came as a bag of money. I came as Chico Escuela, the Garrett Morris character from Saturday Night Live. So I mostly spent the night saying,"Beisbol been berry berry good to me." I was trying to get Diane to play on our soccer team. She never did play soccer, but we've been married for 32 years.

In 1989, we lived in South Seattle, a few miles from the Kingdome. We decided to walk to the game. One kid in a stroller, had to stop once at Kmart for other kid to pee, but otherwise a nice walk. Can't remember the game but we were glad to take the bus home.

In 1990, we moved to Corvallis OR. Seattle is a beautiful city, with beautiful neighborhoods, but the traffic is horrendous. So we headed for a smaller town. Turns out, Corvallis hosted the American Legion World Series in 1990. I can't remember the games, but the hamburgers and hotdogs were good, good crowds and beautiful weather.

In 1994, I was the assistant coach for my oldest son's Little League team. This was the only time I did a halfway decent job of coaching. One game, the head coach was gone and I did ok. Other seasons, I was a decent scorekeeper. I was a terrible basketball and soccer coach.

We were still Mariner fans in Oregon, and 1995 was a great year. We happened to be in Seattle watching the last game of the ALDS against Yankees  with my in-laws at the Moose Lodge in Snohomish. When Edgar drove in Junior, the place erupted!

In 2000, my oldest son Jameson, was  a high school senior and hadn't played baseball in 4 years. He went out for the varsity team and made it. We were really proud of him.

In 2001, Mariners won 116 games and Ichiro was rookie of the year. It was more than likely every time you'd turn on a game they'd win. We lost the ALCS to the Yankees and this would be our last time in the playoffs through 2019.

In 2002, my middle son Jeff was playing middle school ball. He was pitcher and had some good outings. We went to a tournament in Sisters OR and camped out overnight in a tent in Tumalo State Park on Memorial Day weekend. Most places that would be a pleasant weather weekend. But in central Oregon on the high desert plateau it was freezing at night. I've never been so cold in my life. I could feel the life seeping out of my body. We had just gotten a dog a few months before and we were all trying to keep the dog close and I'm sure he was trying to find the warmest body. 

Through the 2010s and teens, pretty exciting baseball outside of Seattle. Red Sox and Cubs finally ended their World Series curses and Cardinals had a couple wins. My favorite Cardinal player during this time is catcher Yadier Molina

Through the years, good and bad, it was always a pleasure to listen to Mariners on the radio. In the early years it was Dave Niehaus. For a grand slam,"Get out the mustard and rye bread, Grandma, it's Grand Salami time!"

And now it's Rick Rizzs. It's hard to believe that there is still baseball on AM radio. When I was a kid I'd pull in games on the radio from everywhere east of the Rockies. One night I pulled in the Houston channel and listened to them play the Mets through 20 something innings until the wee hours. Can't remember who won.

Baseball helps you to never give up. In the Spring, hope springs eternal and everyone is in 1st place. And you have a chance to win until the last out in the 9th.

Play ball!