HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1977-08-10, Page 12Sugar and Spice
by Bill Smiley
The Ball Game
Drove about 200 miles the other night
with a couple of other idiots to watch a
big-league double-header baseball game:,
New York Yankees. vs. Toronto Bluejays,
"How can you just sit there for six, hours
watching a group pf grown men do
something we used to do in public school,
at recess?" my wife asks, with amusement
and not a little scorn. -
Well, it's a little difficult to explain,
without sounding childish. In the first
place, these are not grown men. They are
professional ball players. Secondly, they
don't do it quite the way we did it at recess.
Thirdly, baseball, once you, get it in your
blood, is like a low-burning fever, and the
only antibiotic that cools it out is watching
a ball game.
Baseball players, like hockey players,
are not grown men. They are overgrown
boys, who are, highly paid for doing
something they'd rather 'do than eat.
And they do it superbly, with a skill and
grace and ease that make the game as
thrilling as any ballet. There's an extra
charge in the knowledge that one of the ,
dancers is going to make a misstep at any
time and come up with egg -on his face,
instead of the baseball.,
Finally, I played baseball in a baseball
town, from the time I was about eight until
I was 16 or so, often for hours a day.
My heroes, in those days, were the
members of our local professional team,
even though it was Class D ball. They were
tall and bronzed and lean, college boys and
coal miners from the States, many of them
With unpronounceable names that soupded
exotic in that small Anglo-Irish-Scottish
community.
They weren't great ballpliyers; few of
them went up, to the major leagues; but
they were pretty good. To us kids, they
were Hercules and Achilles rolled into one.
To the girls in town, they were Adonis.
They chewed-tobacco, and we imitated
them with licorice. They spoke with a
variety of Yankee drawls. and we tried to
copy them, much to the dismay of our
mothers. They ambled and slouched, and
we did the same.
We couldn't afford the admittance price
in those Depression days, but we never
„missed a game.There were ways: over the
fence; through a hole in the fence; carrying
in players' equipment; tending the water
bucket; shagging pop or beer bottles and
turning them in for the refund.
It was always summer, in those summers
long ago. It never rained, or blew, or
turned cold. The sun always shone, the pop
was always ice cold, the popcorn was crisp
with real butter, the hog dogs were red hot.
There was no night-baseball then. We
didn't have lights. But about five o'clock on
a summer evening, the merchants began
rolling up their awnings, kids were gulping
down their early suppers, and everybody
headed for the ball park. -
Everybody knew practically everybody
on every team in the league. Everybody
knew that the umpire, Pete O'Brien, was
blind as a bat. Everybody knew that Izzie
Mysel, all six-two and 280 pounds of him,
would go for the fences every time and
probably strike out four times in a row.
There was no fancy electronic score-
board, but everybody knew exactly how
many balls and, Strikes there were on the
batter, how many strikeouts the pitcher
had made, and how many hits each player
had.
It wasn't so difficult then. Usually, nine
men played the entire game. Pinch-hitters
were a rarety, because, naturally, all your
best hitters were already playing. When
you had, and could only afford, a rotating
pitching staff of two, the pitcher was
seldom pulled.
There was no artificial turf, with its exact
bounce. There were pebbles and tufts of
grass that would give a ball a bad hop and
put it over the fielder's head, or through
his legs, and „make a single into a triple.
And - this is one of the grand things,
about baseball •••• there was always a chance,
even when it was 15-3, for a hometeam
rally in the last of the ninth, with all its wild
excitement.
That's where baseball has if over other
spectator sports. If the score in hockey is
8-2 with two minutes to go, it's game over.
Not even the LOrd could score that many in
that time. Same in football. Score 30-10
and a minute and a half left, there is no
way.
But in baseball, the game is never over
until the_ last player is retired. A real
baseball fan never gives up. In those days,
you didn't see the fans filing out early if
their team was away behind. We sat tight,
'waiting for the miraele. •
Greatest humiliation of my life was
taking a called strike *with the count three
and two and the winning runs on second
and third, two out, last of the ninth. And I
still swear that ball was low.
And maybe those are the reasons I went
to that double-header. Never mind the four
hours driving. Never mind the horrible
traffic. Never mind the rip-off prices and
the claustrophobic feeling of beirgin a mob
of 40,000 ,trying to get out of a stadium,.
The game still has some of its old magic,
on a midsummer's eve. The players still
boot that crucial ball. The coaches still
make all the wrong decisions. The umpires
still have myopia. And the music 'of the
crowd and the smells of the food and the
sight of that little White pill sailing off into
the blue, headed for the fence," make for a
great evening of nostalgia.
During the week August 1-7,
G.P.P. Officers at Winghatn
Detachment conducted thirty-
three investigations. -
Twenty charges were laid .
under the Highway Traffic Act
and thirty warnings were issued.
Six charges were laid under the I
Liquor Licence Act.
Two charges . were laid uPder ,
the Criminal Code.
During the week„ there were
three, motor vehicle collisions
. • •
which caused an estimated $2,000
in property damage. There were
U.P.P. hold 33 investigations
no injuries as a result of these.
collisions.
ths.
for ,
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12• THE BRUSSELS PbST„ AUGUSTO, 1077 Cronbrools naa
tl
ve..7
return from West
Correspondent
Mrs. Mac Engel
Mr. and Mrs. John Voll and
girls of Marathon, 'Ontario, spent
the past week with Mr. and Mrs.
Ross Engel and their iamily.
Misses Sandra and Tracy
Huether, Cambridge, are
holidaying with their grand-
mother, Mrs. Glenn Huether.
Mr, and Mrs. Seigfried
Schwark and son, Trevor, visited
friends in Normandale for several
days.
,Mr. and Mrs. Filroe Heddent,
Cape Coral, Florida, visited for a
few days with Mrs. MicEngle
and other 'relatives.
Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd Smith and
family were at Niagara last week.
Correspondent ,
Mrs. Cliff Bray
A bridal shower was held in the.
United Churbh, in honour of Mrs.
Brian Petrie (formerly Cheryl.
Bateman) of Ethel. A short
programme comprised of the
Maas sisters playing the guitar
and singing, also, a. solo by Susan.
Cardiff of Brussels was enjoyed
by all.
Mrs. Dorothy Dilsworth read
the address to the Bride, after
which gifts were opened and a
gracious Think- you from the
Bride was expressed.
Lunch.was served by the ladies
of the village.
Mrs. George Rowland of Mount
Bridges accompanied ,by her
sister and husband, visited with
kir, and Mrs. Stanley pis
and son, Carman of Reid
have returned from a three
-motor trip to the West Coast
eace River district, where t
visited Mr. sand Mrs.,
Bradshaw and family. They
met Mr. and `.Mrs. Ross Benn
from Walton on the trip,
• Mr. ,,and Mrs.Jack Con
attended a family reunion at
.home of Mr. and Mrs.Art Be
of Atwood, the occasion be
that the Hewitt's son, Bill
family were home f
Edmonton. Mr. and Mrs.-
Conley also attended the Belt
reunion on the Civic holiday at t
home of Ralph Douglas
Donegal.
Mrs. Douglas Wardlaw. Mr. a
Mrs. Jini McTaggart also call
on Mrs. Wardlaw on the wee
end.
Mr. and Mrs. William Dobso
have returned home from a trip
the United States.
Mr. and Mrs. Jean Ques..
and family have returned hom
after spending their.holiday wits
relatives at Sudbury.
Mr. and Mrs. Clifford Steve
and family were away for a fea
days last week.
Mr. and Mrs. David Sutton an
son David,,Mrs. Given Large and
Mr. Jack. Sutton, all of Brampton
visited with' Mr. and Mrs. A, C.
Sutton this past week.
Mr.and Mrs. D. Anthony and
son spent last week with May and
Bonnie Godden.
Ethel
Bridal shower hel