Sports

March, 1991

Your Dad and I, prior to our marriage, took a test on compatibility that we found in a magazine. I failed in the sports area.  I couldn’t believe this! In my pre-teens I was the only  girl the boys on the block let play tag football with them. During ages 10 through 13 I was short stop and/or short center for our girl’s softball team.  Age 6 to 10 saw me enjoying roller skating. It was a favorite after school activity of mine. The skates were for outdoors and I lived and skated on a hill.  The skates had no brakes, so I had many skinned knees .  My badge of courage!  Our skates were worn with our regular shoes and held on by an ankle strap and clips tightened to the sole of the shoe front with a skate key. The key was attached to a string and worn around the neck while skating.    Wall ball and step ball were favorite solo or duo games.We played with a small rubber ball. The game remains today played against a large back board and with a 10″ all purpose rubber ball.

Without benefit of lessons we’d go up to the local park and play tennis on the free clay courts.  At gym class dodge ball was a great game.  It  consisted of two teams: One team formed an outer circle, the other team stayed inside the circle. The outer team threw the ball at the inner team members. If you were hit by the ball, you’d sit out. It became  thrilling to cheer on the final team member left.

I was never very good at ice skating, but my brother Dick was really a great skater. He was also a good swimmer. I generally stayed in the shallow water. (I never had any lessons.) I was a Girl Scout for a few years, but only got to go overnight camping once. In my early teen years we girls had a favorite hiking spot. We’d  ride to the end of the Manchester bus line (Kirkwood last stop), then walk several miles through the woods to the Meramac River.  Autumn in Missouri was a favorite season.  The air was crisp, fallen leaves crunched as we hiked and the russet colored leaves were spectacular to view.

High School sports available at our girl’s school were basketball, (1/2 court girl’s rules), volleyball, field hockey, and archery. At college I was too short to make any intramural teams, but as freshmen we had to take a class in modern dance…performed bare footed to the accompaniment of an Asian type gong! The teacher’s favorite expression was “now girls, stop giggling. This is serious dance!” Looking back I realize that my college age sports were influenced by boy friends. Bob F. encouraged my horseback lessons.   It was English style saddle: posting with body going up and then coming down to meet the horse. I hated the horses and I hated every moment of those lessons!

Mike taught me how to play golf on a 3 par course in St. Louis’s Forest Park and we enjoyed tennis doubles with friends. My child raising years were spent pushing baby buggies!

I bowled with the Newcomers Club because they provided baby sitting.  It turned out to be a happy ten years.   In fact I bowled until 2 weeks before Joe was born.

I spent 14 years on hard benches watching my boys play little league etc. I think I learned the techniques of swimming just observing years of family lessons.  At age 50 I finally took lessons at the Y and gained some swimming confidence. I took golf lessons in 1973 and played at Penmar 9 hole course with some girlfriends. They wanted to graduate to Fox  Hills 18 hole course, but that I was not ready for! I hate the way golf is scored.  One bad hole can ruin the good holes.

 

Then tennis really became popular. Four of us gals took lessons and I have really enjoyed the scoring of this game.   Your Dad and I won many trophies at mixed doubles tournaments.  We had FUN.   Now in the 90’s I play doubles with girlfriends at Rustic Canyon Park and Mike plays with some fellows at night at Pacific Palisades Park.  Upon occasion we still enjoy mixed doubles together at conventions or pediatric and optimist gatherings.

 

If someone asked me what sport has touched my life the most, I would probably say baseball. I have childhood memories of my Daddy taking us to softball games. (Those baseball sized ice cream cones on a hot, muggy St. Louis summer evening were so delicious.)  With the arrival of Spring our Lile Ave. gang played softball on the street outside our houses. Our grade school girls team played other Catholic grade schools. Sometimes we wouldn’t let Helen Liebe bat with us because she was left-handed and not too talented.  All her foul balls would break windows in the school building and we’d      have to chip in 50¢ to help pay for the new window panes. There were ten players on a girl’s softball team. I think that extra player was called short center.  My position was short stop and sometimes pitcher. I was a great short stop, but only a so so pitcher.

St. Louis had two major league baseball teams–the American League  “Browns”  and the National League “Cardinals.”  The Cardinals were the best and most  popular team.        Children could become knothole club members and attend the games free during the week (a gimmick to build future paying fans, I’m sure.)  My mother would and could with safety let us go to the ball games without an adult.      Richard and his boyfriends with little sister Elaine and her girlfriends would take three street cars to Fairmont Park.(It was in North St. Louis and we lived on the West side).   All girl knot holers had to sit in the far upper right side nearest to right field. The boys were directly across the field on the upper left tier. We girls fell in love with players like Mize (first base I think) and Medwick  and pitcher Dizzy Dean (he had a brother named Daffy!) I wonder how, after the game we were always able to find my brother and return home safely.

After moving to L.A. it seemed strange  not to have a major league team. I think they had some team at Gilmore Field in Hollywood near Farmer ‘s Market. That reminds me, all items like cars, furniture, etc. used to cost more west of the Mississippi River! To my delight Chavez Ravine became Dodger Stadium and the National League Brooklyn Dodgers crossed the Mississippi.

My sons grew into baseball and I became a little league MOM.  For 14 or more years I sat on those hard bleachers in the fog and cold of Pacific Palisades Park. Our Dicky was a short stop and also pitched (just like mom!) His team was named the Cardinals.   Emil Wroblicky was his coach and now that Dick is a priest Emil loves to tease him and say someday you’ll be a Cardinal again!

Joe was on the Padres team.    Since Joe matured early he had the height and stretch for first base which he played very well. He was a clutch hitter on CCS and little league teams. I even used  to watch Dick as he refereed  games and Joe as he coached some Little League teams. To this day mothers of boys he had coached come up to me asking about Joe and saying what a great influence he had been to their sons.

This doting grandmother has watched Vincent and Gerard belt that ball; traveled to Oxnard to watch T.J. play T-ball and even helped and encouraged Mario to learn. He has great sports potential. His Dad, my  son Jim was not too involved with team sports, but did much biking and camping on the road to his Eagle Scout ranking.

A little p.s. When my mother had her massive stroke and could not speak, she could watch and understand sports on T.V. She was so happy watching the St. Louis Cardinals the year they were in the World Series. If a similar fate awaits me, I hope my children will sit me before the TV, especially when the Dodgers play the Cardinals.