Jim | Writer | Page 84

In a land far away long ago that no longer exists, there was a wonderful place for a young boy, nine years old to be exact about his age, who experienced youth at its best. He grew up in a small country town about an hour from the capitol of Tennessee. He walked to school. He rode his bike everywhere. And in the fantastical summer of 1954, he played baseball in the first organized youth baseball league as he recalls.

They called it the “Pony League.” He doesn’t remember the team’s name.

They had matching tee shirts with pockets, or at least some of them had them, and a few had matching hats. They played on the field at the back of the McClain Elementary School. He rode his bike just over a half mile to practices and games. He was selected to be the catcher, and that became one of his most frequent positions when he played from then until he finally stopped in an “Over 33 League” when he was 46 years old. In looking at the one home movie showing him playing he still thinks he didn’t look very athletic.

The next year, the town’s Kiwanis Club sponsored the first “Little League” at the new ball park just shy of two miles from his home. His mother or father would drive him to practices and games.

He did well in Little League, Babe Ruth League, high school, and American Legion ball, never the star but he held his own.

He doesn’t remember most of that first season. After all, it was seventy-one years ago. But he does remember loving it and will love it for the rest of his life: the smell of the glove, the feel of the ash wood bat, the sound of his bat hitting a ball, the dust, the awkward feel of wearing shin guards, chest protector and the catcher’s mask that never stayed put.

The photo below is one his mother saved. She wrote on the back the names of the players and coaches she knew:

“Top Row: 1&2 unknown, 3 Joel Martin.” The fourth one she named “Bucky Hesson,” but i’m pretty sure it was Bucky’s older brother, Bobby Hesson. “5 unknown, 6 Cullen Collingsworth, 7 unknown.

“Bottom Row: Coach unknown, 2 unknown, 3 Jim Jewell, 4,5,6,7 unknown, Coach Dennis Sircy.”