"Ford's coming inside with this next pitch, you watch", In a gruff, uncertain voice "Colavito's trying to take the plate but Whitey won't let him. Better to throw one away inside than to hang one out over the plate for Colavito to get a piece of. A stick thin shaking arm would extend a knobby index finger from under the crochet afghan someone had given him. " See! Strikeout! what I tell you? Ford took the plate from Colavito and left him nothing good to swing at" That was my Grampa. Late summertime in Avon Lake, Grampa and Gramma were living with my mom, my siblings and me. Grampa had Parkinson's. Two cruel and thoughtless grandsons, thought to mock him at the dinner table when he had trouble getting the peas or mash potatoes to stay on the fork ."Donna teach these damn kids some respect or I will. Donny and I would laugh. Grampa would start to take off his belt. Donny and I would head for the back bedroom, Grampa shuffling in along behind. We would fly out the window to escape once again. Practically a dinner time routine.
Routine like the ball games on Saturday afternoons. Grampa and I would watch. Me getting lessons in baseball strategy and pitching. he watched for the pleasure of the game. It was well known among my close knit family, Gramma, Mom, her two sisters Audrey and Marilyn and all the cousins living in and around Cleveland that Grampa had pitched for Boston in the days after World War I. Family legend had it that he had even struck out the mighty Babe.
Colavito was in Detroit by then. My faulty memory still has him with the Indians but, this was the start of the curse which some say still haunts the Indians. I don't know, seems to me some poor trades, some bad decisions, and better teams in their division were just as much to blame as some curse. Any way that was pretty much the end of the Saturday afternoon baseball for me and Grampa. The Parkinson's was taking its toll. He got weaker, he had more and more trouble moving around unassisted. he had less patience for a kid's questions and a kid had less patience for his slow halting answers.
Rocky came back to the Indians. Grampa got sicker, Gramma couldn't take care of him any more. He was in and out of the Army Veterans Hospital in Broadview Heights that my friend Erin O'Brien writes of today. We kids were too young to visit. Something the nurses and doctors enforced in those days. We were left free to wander around the grounds while Mom and Gramma visited. I was just 13 when he passed, most of that time he was sick. He left me with a love, respect and understanding of the national pastime, to love an underdog and to root for the Indians over the Yankees.
Oh, Tag, what a beautiful post! I'm semi-knowledgeable about baseball (play it better than I follow it, just from pure joy of playing it - although it's been a decade or three). I've been through Ohio on the highways exactly once, and slept most of that time. Me to Ex: "Where are we?" Ex to me: "Leaving Ohio." Me to Ex: "Good, I didn't care for it." But, boy howdy, do I connect with a grandparent story. I never draw comments to my posts about my Granny-O, but I sometimes feel better about those than anything else I write. I feel the urge to revive her yet again. Thank you for this!
ReplyDeleteThank you Limes, it was your Granny o stories hat inspire me to spend a little time on the character in my family. Back in the day they used to hide the eccentrics. i say bring them out for sunsine and fresh air. What might we learn?
ReplyDeleteThanks for the shout and this great post, Tag.
ReplyDeleteGreat post here, but your posts on Inspire need some work.
ReplyDeleteMost likely thats true,
ReplyDeletewhy do you continue to stay at Inspire when you are hated by so many members.
ReplyDeleteMost people would just leave, why not you?
Stubborn, I guess. its a shame so many the kind folks at BCAN are so filled with hatred and unforgiveness. But those who walk on water are first to cast stones.
ReplyDeleteWhy do you show as a new member on Inspire?
ReplyDeleteI thought to quit the group and checked out, but was so inspired by your comments I rejoined. Why do you hide behind this anonymity? Something you don't want your friends on Inspire to know of your motives?
ReplyDeleteYou are one to talk. You were on inspire under a different name for a while, until you were caught. Everyone sees right through you and your motives.
ReplyDeleteI guess I'm not the only stubborn one in this conversation. Sorry you feel this way.
ReplyDeleteI have no knowledge of what that exchange is all about, but it is ugly. It reminds me of some of what's been discussed at Erin's - the right to hide behind anonymity for privacy vs. hiding behind anonymity to be hateful.
ReplyDeleteHate to butt in, but what exactly is "Inspire"?
ReplyDeleteHi Kirk, Inspire is a chat/information site that intends to bring people together for mutual support during an illness. It can be a great benefit for people like me who had no knowledge of the disease prior to getting it. Sorry this got brought over here Limes. It is ugly and unnecessary.
ReplyDeleteWell, you don't need to apologize to me. I was expressing dismay on your behalf that this person needs to come onto your blog (where you'd previously generously allowed everyone to land their comments at will) and pick a beef on a lovely post that had nothing whatever to do with . . . . . I don't care for mean-spirited people.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate the support, however I did actually initiate this by an unkind and mean spirited post here several weeks ago. But there is no reason to bring the discussion here. This poster has my email address, if not. Here it is again: tagmike@live.com
ReplyDelete