Memories Of Ballparks Past
Took a drive today.
It turned out not to be a sightseeing tour, but instead a trip down memory lane.
Not that I haven’t driven these roads around McDonald County for nearly 50 years, but without a destination in mind, or for that matter, anything else in mind, I looked at my county in a completely different light.
On Route EE, west of Lanagan, I saw an abandoned house. At one time many years ago, this was someone’s dream home. What happened over the years for this home and so many more to become just an eyesore on the landscape? Where did the people go? I have no answers.
I circle around the west side and come back to Noel. I see River Ranch Resort. What started out as a canoe industry has transitioned to rafts and kayaks as evidenced by the rows of yellow boats lined up like dandelions gleaming on wet grass.
I don’t remember anything special on my float trips from my past (I’m a landlubber). Instead, I think back to the early 1960s and of the Village Inn Restaurant that at one time occupied this location next to Lake St. Claire. The “lake,” formed by the dam just downstream on the Elk River, was once the popular spot for paddle boats, but those too are lost in time.
The Village Inn, the Cove and Ginger Blue were three “Sunday after church” restaurants. Men wore ties and women wore their best dresses.
I remember the fried chicken at Ginger Blue. The homemade bread at the Cove. The salad bar where I could get all the black olives I wanted at the Village Inn.
You might think what does this trip down memory lane have to do with sports?
Well, while in Noel, I went by the Noel Elementary and Junior High School. No one my age can drive by the school and not think about the baseball field that was once there before the school district decided a new school was more important than a baseball field.
Thinking of the old field got me thinking about other diamonds where I spent nearly all of my summers from age 5 until 18 or so.
My home field was in Anderson, but it also has been replaced. It was on land owned by the National Guard and like the school district, the Guard had better use for their property (though I am not sure either new use was really better).
There was no such thing as travel ball back then — at least none of us knew about such a thing.
As youth, ages 5-10 or so, we were divided up on teams (Yankees, Dodgers, Cardinals among others). High school football and basketball coaches took the role as summer baseball coaches to earn a few extra bucks.
One of those coaches was Mickey Heatherly. He was just as intense with a group of Tadpoles and PeeWees as he was with high-schoolers.
One feature of the old Anderson park was a water hydrant that had enough pressure to shoot water 40 to 50 feet. Coach Heatherly thought the hydrant had enough pressure to wash out the eyes of a peewee baseball player so he could see the ball better and therefore hit better.
The coach had a good arm. His toss of a bat at a first baseman who had missed three or four grounders in a row during infield practice came with the instructions of “See if you can catch this.”
Pineville’s park back in those days wasn’t the palace that Tim Neale has created today. I remember Anderson once beat Pineville 48-0 in a tournament game, but I wasn’t there. It seems like my parents thought I would enjoy getting bit by a copperhead on the Illinois River instead of playing in a baseball game.
Also at Pineville in a tournament, a Pineville player came to bat with no shoes on. A pitcher from Rocky Comfort thought that was too big an invitation to pass up so he hit him in the toes with the first pitch.
Another Pineville memory is when a friend and I were coaching some younger kids. We had a runner on third and the Pineville catcher threw wild trying to pick off our runner, who raced home only to be tagged out by the catcher.
It seems the “wild throw” was a potato that the catcher hid in his uniform until he threw the spud into left field. There were always good times when Chick and Trey Shaddox were across the diamond.
Southwest City’s park is about the same. We would screw ourselves in the ground trying to hit one to the road.
Rocky Comfort had a chicken house in centerfield. In Babe Ruth one year, we were beating Pineville in the championship game by several runs.
Pineville had two runners on so I told our pitcher not to give Pinevlle’s best hitter (RIP Roger Carlin) nothing but curve balls in the dirt. Our pitcher said he thought he could sneak a fastball past him. The ball cleared the chicken house, but we still held on to win.
Goodman’s park was maybe the most famous, or shall I say infamous.
Moms had to watch their Tadpole players closely. The mosquitoes back then were big enough to carry off a small child.
I don’t remember many of the wins or losses from those days. I remember the fun and that is certainly the most important. I hope kids today realize that.