When you can’t take them out to the ballgame
Former organist entertains seniors at retirement home
Former Astros organist Jim Connors and team mascot Orbit perform a seventhinning-stretch show Thursday from the esplanade along North Braeswood Boulevard to six floors of cooped-up seniors at the Village of Meyerland.
On what could have been a dismal day with no baseball games to enjoy, the upbeat strains of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” offered memories of days at the ballpark and hopes of better days to come on Thursday for residents of a southwest Houston assisted living center.
Jim Connors, the stadium organist for Astros games at the Astrodome in the 1980s and ’90s, played the familiar anthem and other ballpark tunes as Orbit, the Astros’ green-upholstered mascot, helped direct the singalong.
It’s a song that Connors, 62, has played and sung thousands of times, but never like this.
His 238-pound organ, fortified by a 200-watt speaker, was perched at the edge of North Braeswood Boulevard’s center median, separated by two lanes of traffic from the Village of Meyerland, which provides assisted living and memory care service to about 85 residents in their 70s, 80s and 90s.
As Connors played the National Anthem, “Deep in the Heart of Texas,” “God Bless America” and other favorites, about 20 residents and staff members stood on the six-story building’s balconies across the street, singing, clapping and waving to the musician and mascot below as others watched from their windows.
Connors plays each month at the Village, one of several dozen locations around Houston where he regularly entertains seniors and other groups. This, though, was his first outdoor, socially distant concert.
“This was a great joy,” Connors said. “You could hear the folks singing, and I could see them clapping, and the expression on their faces, even from so far away, was delightful. It was heartwarming, you know.”
Thursday’s show — shows, actually, because Connors offered a similar program for residents whose rooms faced toward Brays Bayou — was part of a sportsthemed week for residents.
Texans cheerleaders called bingo games on Tuesday, and the staff passed out rocket-shaped popsicles on Rockets day. Astros day, however, offered the most elaborate presentation with the outdoor concert and Orbit’s visit.
Filmore “Filly” Cohen, 92, the president of the center’s residents association, said Thursday’s show brought back memories of past days at the ballpark.
“It’s a beautiful day, and Jim did a good job,” said Cohen, who for years owned Filly’s Men’s Formals on Main Street. “We’re kind of battened down here. They’re protecting us, but I wish this was all over. I’m sure everybody does.”
While he waits out the COVID-19 shutdown, Cohen is ready for baseball to continue.
“They’ve still got the nucleus of a good team, but their bullpen is terrible,” he said.
Beverly Arnold, 81, said she attended games as a child with her father, who taught her to keep score, and later went to Astros games with her family.
“It was absolutely exciting,” she said. “I had the best time, and it reminded me of going to games with my family. It was a great day.”
Connors, wearing an Astros rainbow-shouldered jersey from the late 1980s and early ’90s, plays a Lowrey Virtual Orchestra keyboard, which offers other sound effects along with traditional organ songs.
His repertoire Thursday included “Hey Good Lookin’,” “Tiptoe Through the Tulips,” “Side by Side,” “Always,” “On the Road Again” and other songs that resonated with an older audience.
As he concluded, he said, “I miss you all so much. I can’t wait to come back and play for you again.”