Jackie Robinson

I think Major League Baseball has done a wonderful job this last week with the Jackie Robinson anniversary. It was great to see all the players involved. Some of the young guys probably didn't know who Jackie was until last week. I know we still have a long way to go to make things right in this world, but for us old guys I do have to admit we have made some progress. Growing up in the country in Mississippi 50 plus years ago, seeing and hearing the things that went on, lets just say it was pretty bad. And what's really sad is that it was every day life and no one thought twice about saying some real nasty things to people. Well it's getting better all the time, let's keep it up and make this world a perfect place to live.

What Jackie did sure got us started on the right foot.

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Church Baseball

Living in the sticks we had no organized baseball, they did have Little League in town but we didn't live in town. We did however have a church league that was for all the males from age 6 to 60. Church membership was so small we had to use everybody to field a team.

Three churches played each other, Tinsley, Oil City, and Bentonia. All three fields were nothing more than a pasture, no backstops, pitchers mound or dugouts

I was the only small kid on our team, the rest of the guys were old teenagers and adults. I played second base, just because in the event I should knock something down the throw to first base was short. The other teams showed me no mercy at all. They pitched to me just like they did the rest of the players. Hey it was a easy out. This is when I was 8, 9, and 10 years old. Trying to hit adult pitching was a hugh challenge. I did every now and then get some wood on the ball.

It all paid off later.



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