The Card Store

It was a rainy Saturday in the pacific northwest. I spent most of the early part of the day cleaning the house, vacuuming, folding laundry, mopping floors and bagging up clothing to take to Goodwill. I know I'm a wacky funster with no limits on what I'll do for a good time. Just as I began to get bored I decided to take the two mile walk from my house to DJ's Sports Cards. It was like a return to the summer of 1957 for me walking to the baseball card shop with a couple of bucks in my pocket and big dreams in my head. It was almost like my boyhood friend Dave Appelbaum was right there by my side pounding a tattered baseball into his Spaulding glove. Dave taught to me to bat left handed when I was seven years old. I started as a right hand hitter but he convinced me I'd be more effective if I could bat lefty as well. It paid off handsomely in my teenage years when I became one of the better Wiffle ball players in the state of Connecticut.

So I'm walking to the sports card shop on a rainy Saturday thinking about the old days, Dave and Wiffle ball. Thinking about the hour I spent on our gravel road in my home town hitting small rocks into the woods with an old baseball bat. I'd call play by play like Mel Allen the Hall of Fame yankees broadcaster of the 50s and 60s. When Mickey Mantle came up I'd hit lefty if he was facing a right hand hitter and vice versa. I spent entire summers living an imaginary life as a big league ball player. The only thing missing was the chewing tobacco. I substituted Bazooka Bubble gum. I couldn't spit worth a darn but it tasted a lot better than tobacco.

My mind wandered to the time I hit a grand slam homer off Bob Feller at the old Yankee Stadium. Actually it was a rock I tossed to myself and it was on Newsome Lane. The rock flew deep into the woods, squirrels scattered, birds retreated to the neighbors yard, the crowd roared. It was the longest home run of my career. I think the rock I hit is in the hall of fame.

As I approached DJ Sports Cards on Saturday I realized that I am a grown up now, my child hood was decades ago, I really should face reality. On the other hand I think I'll go down to the river and hit some rocks. Bob Feller is 90 years old now I think I can hit another long one off "Rapid Robert."