I was remembering the other day; Thoughts of childhood ways. Do you remember baseball
cards and double-bubble gum?
I was a girl of 8 or 9 years, with big blue eyes, blonde pigtails, and dimples {which
happened to be my nickname in those days.}
At the end of my street there was a big ball field which took up the whole corner of
Seventh Street and Radnor Street. Every evening in the spring and summer we had baseball
games. Little League, Teener league, and a young men’s league played on this field.
We ate supper every evening at 5:30 on the dot. After supper I would run up to the
field. By this time the wooden and metal bleachers were filling up fast with
some colorful characters. Men dressed in Bermuda shorts and tee shirts, work clothes or
uniforms. Along side of them would be their wives. These ladies would dress in
Bermuda shorts or Capri pants...no daisy dukes in those days .They wore matching print
sleeveless blouses. No tank or tube-tops were permissible back then.
Ponytails were all the rage, along with the occasional page-boy styled haircut. The men
wore mostly crew cuts or duck-tail hair cuts. Long sideburns had not yet appeared on the
men’s fashion scene.
President Eisenhower had been elected. We all had kept our big "I like Ike" buttons
and America was the land of the free and the home of the brave. Each baseball game
started with the Pledge of Allegiance followed by the Star Spangled Banner. Then the
announcer with his deep resounding voice would yell those famous words. ”Play Ball!"
By now you’re asking what did "Dimples" do there every night? I would run up and
down those bleachers collecting empty pop bottles. I would then take them to the snack
truck and collect either two cents cash money or a pack of double-bubble gum. The
baseball cards in those days were worth their names in gold. We all traded them. The
cards we had extra ones of we would stick in the spokes of our bicycles. They made such a
fantastic noise as we rode all over town. Sometimes I saved the pennies all evening long
instead of buying gum. I remember having enough pennies saved to buy a paddle ball set.
They were very popular and we would play with those for hours.
Returning to the ball game, one night Mom came down and as we sat for awhile in the
bleachers a fast hard ball came straight towards us. It hit Mom square in the
forehead. Ouch!!
She went out like a light. Folks ran over to her I kept calling her name, then I ran
home to get Dad. He ran up the street like greased lightning. The ambulance had arrived
at the scene. We had no Para-medics in those days. The hospital was only four blocks away
so they took her to the emergency room. By then she had come to. The Doctors checked her
out and released her. They told my dad to watch for nausea or vomiting or sudden
sleepiness as this could mean complications. Mom was lucky. She seemed to be fine and
dandy. This is the reason I am and always will be deathly afraid of a baseball. Needless
to say after this incident I didn't go back to watch the games as often as before.
Ironically my grandson plays college ball now. He is pretty good at it. He wanted to be
a pro-ball player for quite awhile. The future is not for me to say or comment on. We
shall see soon I imagine. If he does decide to be one I will be there if I can...to
cheer him on of course...Praying too.
