Old time baseball

[Scout]

'Classics Illustrated' were great. There's a hardback book out on CI history. Like most people, good old Dad threw out stacks of comic books and ball cards after I moved out. Plus tons of metal soldiers.

Threw away Yankee and Red Sox cards in favor of Indians cards? In the 1950's? I knew something was wrong with you Gordie from the very beginning.

[harpskiddie]

Scout:

Do you mean that you knew from the very beginning of our association, or that there was something wrong with me from birth? If the latter, you are indubitably correct, and if the former, then you are perspicacious indeed. Much more so than your Dad, and my Mom, who was continually throwing out stuff even before I moved out.

I also had an army of lead soldiers [which may account for part of my brain disorder], and I tended to favor the British Army of the Sudan, although I had them led by the band of the Grenadier Guards [in full dress uniforms], and would accompany them at times with an armored column of German Panzers.

My army looked rather odd, I suppose, with kilted infantry men in khaki and pith helmets many of them firing from kneeling or prone positions, led by scarlet-uniformed and bearskin-helmeted bandsmen with their gleaming instruments, two or three gray and black tiger tanks protecting the flanks, and a squadron of the Household Cavalry bringing up the rear or scouting ahead [in full panoply, of course].

On of my buddies and I used to have wars [he used to call in a squadron of Spitfires and Hurricanes for support, and he had a model railway to move his men around], which he usually won, and we actually used to destroy soldiers to make sure that they were killed. When I first started buying these men at Woolworth's or Chainways they were a nickel each, increasing in price over the years until they became a quarter apiece and you could buy sets of assorted figures, or singles. The biggest jump was from 2 for a quarter to a quarter each, and I can still remember my absolute shock when I ran down to the store to add to my agglomeration only to discover this outrage.

In any event, a few weeks later I discovered baseball, and my army was retired to a few shoe boxes in the hall closet, eventually disappearing without fanfare or notice. I often think of how intriguing it would be to reconstruct the Little Horn fights with metal troopers and a realistic landscape, much like people have done for battles such as Gettysburg or Waterloo. With LBH, the numbers [of figures] would not be prohibitive, since you wouldn't need thirty thousand of this and twenty thousand of that, and there are figures readily available, detailed down to the individual man.

But I have neither the space nor, more importantly, the wherewithal, to attempt such a thing [which has surely been done on some or another scale by someone or other]. The figures cost anywhere up to about forty bucks a pop. But it would be fun.

Gordie
MC
mentally challenged

[gocav76]

Gordie-Along with my brother, we had 3 other neighborhood friends-and all we did was play army, in the woods around our homes. One boy down the street-his Dad was wounded on Iwo Jima, another boy, was in a Sherman tank with Gen. Patton! And the other his Dad was in the Infantry all over Europe in WW. My Dad was a Radar Operator for the U.S. Airforce in Louisville, Ky during the Korean War--it seems my brother and I operated under that disadvantage! We played with the plastic toy soldiers made by the Marx toy company--great looking German, American, and Japanese soldiers. Whenever we all played we had to identify our own troops--Denny next door used one dot of red finger nail polish on the bottom stand. Steve used two dots--my brother and I used three dots. Seems like everytime we played we were always missing a lot of soldiers, because One dot Denny would scratch of two of our dots and steal our guys!

[harpskiddie]

Larry:

You had to be careful of that One-Dot Gang!!! We heard of them way up here in the frozen [sometimes] north. I have the advantage [?] of being a tad older than you. Most of the men in my old neighborhood went to war in WW II, and I was six years old when they started coming home. We also played War, but in the neighborhood, fighting in the back alleys and lurking in the basement stairways. We had lots of helmets to wear - all Canadian or German - and strangely enough most kids wanted to be the Germans [go figure]. So you'd see kids running or hiding with their helmets and capguns [or pieces of wood passing as Tommy guns], and lobbing "handgrenades" into backyards, and warning Mrs. Davison or whoever about giving away our position by speaking to us.

None of us knew what the war had been about, although we could follow it in the newspapers [everyone read the papers in those days] or at the movie theater [via the newsreels], and it all seemed romantic and faraway, and antiseptic and fun - and we couldn't wait to grow up so we could be in the next one. The returning veterans never talked much about their experiences, especially to the kids.

I can remember wanting to be old enough to go to Korea with the RCRs, the Van Doos, and the PPCLI , and how disappointed I was that the Suez Crisis didn't wait until I was old enough to go.

I'd still like to know about that Custer vs the Indians baseball game.

Gordie
MC

[Scout]

We actually dug a trench in my backyard after we saw 'Sgt. York,' the parents said nothing about it, I guess they were glad I was somewhere where they could actually keep an eye on my rather mischievous behind. Played baseball all summer in a nearby park or marathon whiffle ball games in the back yard. I have a stepson who's young life has consisted of sitting in his room all day, all night, every month of every year playing video games. Talk about lost youth. How sad.

Best baseball card set of all time....1954 Topps. What's a pack of cards cost these days...$19.95?

[harpskiddie]

1954 - Ah yes, I remember it well, or sort of. I was 15 and playing for two age group baseball teams, one Bantam and one Senior, and two fastball teams, one Junior and One Senior [ as well as pick-ups, screenball, and whatever else gave me a chance to throw and swing.

1954 - Men were men, homers were homers, and saves were saves. Some of those relievers in today's game and with today's rules, would be chalking up 60 saves regularly.

1954 - Lemon, Wynn, Garcia, Feller, Newhouser , Mossi and Narleski [maybe Houtteman and Chakales], Mitchell, Avila, Rosen, I can't remember them all, but the Indians were a very good club, until they ran into that Giant Rhodes in the Series [whatever happened to him, anyway?].

Gordie
MC

[screenball]

I was interested in your reference to "screenball". Are you referring to a game where batters hit a baseball toward a backstop and fielders in front of and behind try to stop the ball. Runs are scored depending on where on the backstop the ball hits, or if it goes over and lands?
I am doing some research on this. Please email me at [e-mail]

[harpskiddie]

Wilco. But for everyone else, our version was sorta the reverse of the above. It made you a good hitter - if you had any ability to begin with.

Gordie
MC

[Scout]

Never heard of screenball. We played corkball. A friend in NYC told me they played 'half ball' which was a rubber ball cut in half. I suppose each part of the country had a different version.

[harpskiddie]

Scout:

You can find a brief description of our screenball game on Jason Kendall's Facial Hair thread, this board, page 2, if you are of a mind to look.

Gordie
MC

[Scout]

So Clemens wife was injecting steroids? There going to end up exposing this bum for what he is...I've said so from day one, but does anybody listen to the scoutman? nnooooooooo....

[Tricia]

I have three words. Repeat after me.

[shadow=red,left,300]FUK U DOME. FUK U DOME. FUK U DOME[/shadow]

And for those of you who want to pile the hate on Roger Clemens: www.slate.com/id/2103760/

Strike up one for goodness and niceness. And kindly pry that Be-dazzler out of Madame Clemens damn hands.

[crzhrs]

I ain't repeating "those" words.