opening day

[Lew Hodgett]

Especially after Lou Boudreau implemented the "Ted Williams Shift".

Those were the days when Williams was also a spokesman for Sears & Roebuck sporting goods.

Lew

[Charlie Self]

All mothers do something similar. My mother had a '40 Ford convertible hauled away and cut up while I was away for a week. Simply because it had no engine! A couple years later, she sold my '57 Chev convertible while I was at Parris Island. Too scary to drive (actually, I'm pretty sure my brother tore it up first, and it was back from the body shop and traded in...on a '58 Ford two door, fer crissake).

[Bill in Detroit]

I played little league ball exactly one season. We lost our first game (in part because of a fielding error I made) but we won -all- the others.

Wagars Market. Flat Rock recreation. 1963. 12-1, swept the playoffs. Last-picked runts, mis-fits and new kids.

One dusty afternoon I caught the catcher napping ... and stole home. The pitcher had thrown the pitch (I had run to about the 1/3 way point when he checked the runner on first) ... and I shoulda been caught. But the catcher never checked me ... because I was too slow to steal ... and threw the ball back to the pitcher. I don't think I was actually planning on stealing home until I saw him throw he ball back ... I was just trying to distract them to get the guy off first to second. When he threw the ball back to the pitcher, I went for the gold and the guy on first headed for second base. The batter stepped away from the plate, the catcher noticed me and tagged me out- fair and square ... except he didn't have the ball anymore. The pitcher was running in with the ball and a few choice words for the catcher. In the scuffle that followed, they both got benched. It was late in the season and everybody knew by then that you couldn't make errors playing our team. And the guy coming from first base made it to third.

I'll be 55 in a week or two. Strange those moments we can recall, eh?

Now, ask me the name of my first girlfriend. Or the birth dates of my sons. Or what I had for breakfast yesterday. ;-)

Bill