We lived in a small town. Well actually I didn't live in town but about a mile and a half from it.
The population couldn't have been more than a few hundred. We had a post office, a convenience store, a mom and pop store and two churches.
There was a big two acre lot between the two churches with pear trees growing on the south and east sides and a huge oak in the southwest corner just outside the lot. This is where the neighborhood kids spent their Saturday afternoons during the summer.
I don't know how long it had been going on before I found out about it but there was always a pick up softball game starting about 1:00. Everybody would start showing up about 12:30 and we'd have a discussion on who would be this week's captains.
The captains would pick the teams, there was a coin toss then one team would take the field.
Someone was always around to keep score and umpire. I remember Wanda keeping score quite a bit. Randy Blalock or Uncle Kenneth usually called the games.
Myra was always there as were the two Tammys, Allen and Debra, Doodle, Tim and Chuck, Wes and me. There had to have been more because you really need 18 people to play.
I started off playing in right field because I had no idea what I was supposed to be doing and our field was laid out more like a rectangle than a square. Right field was rather shallow.
As time went on and I learned what to do, I moved around the field and through the bases.
I enjoyed pitching but I think I liked catching best.
Batting took much longer for me to learn. In the beginning, I always tried to kill the ball and earned the name Strike Out King.
When someone finally told me to slow it down, I started getting better. I learned how to pull my hits so the ball would fall in the general area I wanted it to. And I learned how to switch hit. I was able to use that skill later playing golf when I needed to chip left handed.
Now I live out in the country and drive an hour to work in the city every day. I've seen quite a few baseball diamonds but I never see anybody out there playing.
It's sad to me that kids don't play outside anymore. What kind of memories can they possibly be making?
Image credit
"It's That Time Again...." by mscaprikell is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
