The Ol' Ballgame

I only vaguely remember Hank Arron breaking Babe Ruth's HR record in 1973. It was probably around that time that my father & grandfather took me to my first big league game, at the then state-of-the-art Veteran's Stadium. And there have been 100's of games since then - mostly at the Vet, though Lisa & I did get to Wrigley Field last month while in Chicago. The game that stands out the most to me is the 6th game of the 1980 World Series. I remember hanging out the sunroof of Dad's Impala w/Tina, screaming at the top of our lungs after Tug & the Phils finally won the Series.

And I've had many, many favorite players: Greg "The Bull" Luzinski, Tug McGraw, Pete Rose, Bob Boone, Thurman Munson, Gary "Sarge" Matthews, Larry Andersen, Jim Eisenreich, Curt Schilling, and more recently, Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino. Still, no player, team or ballpark means more to me than the games that we would play in the back yard at Nanny & Pappy's. We'd often field teams full of ghost runners, b/c at most, there'd only be the four of us kids staying in Honey Brook at any given time. Sometimes we could get the adults - my dad, Uncle Larry & Pappy involved in the game - and those were the best.


Yesterday was Nanny & Pappy's 60th Anniversary. I am very sad that we couldn't have Pappy here to celebrate. I miss him very much. I miss him every day. Mary sent me this picture of him as a young man playing baseball. Thanks, Pappy. I love you.

What's a five hour drive to celebrate 90 years?

A few weeks ago, actually, nearly a month ago, it was Nanny's (my paternal grandmother) 90th birthday. The Northern Miles were on our way back from a mission of mercy to New Jersey & we were able to stop by to wish Nanny a happy birthday and make a few faces at the camera that Aunt Mary was carrying around w/her.


This is what Choddie looked like when he heard he had to share w/his old dad the batch of forgotten cookies that Nanny had baked (or, er, forgotten....).


Thompson's response was no less refined. These faces aside, we had a nice time before making the grueling five hour drive back to the frozen tundra of Western New York. Thompson was very happy that I remembered how to get home, Choddie was very happy to see the dog & I think cousin Lucy is still amazed that we came all the way from Rochester to go to Nanny's birthday party.