Late yesterday afternoon, your Mom and I got to see Grandson Tommy play Sheboygan Youth League Baseball (we used to call it “pee-wee” league) Tommy got a hit. He drove in a run. He scored a run. His team lost 10-2. But hey, the baseball experience is priceless.
Pee-Wee League for my brother Jack and myself was different. Our Dad was the coach (remember he had a Major League “try-out”). Practices were organized drills. Fungo bats hit balls to outfielders for practice. Batting practice permitted only “so many swings”. Infield practice was orchestrated precisely. “Around the horn” meant something. If a player didn’t show up for practice, he didn’t play in the next game. Well, it ain’t like that any more. There is a problem with getting enough players to show up for practice and the game. Everybody plays through a rotation procedure and drinking plenty of fluids is an “artform”. If any player from our Pee-Wee league team drank water while my Dad (the coach) was talking to the team, that player would now be orbiting the earth. But I guess the bottom line is happiness. Happy even if you lose 10-2.
The big story yesterday was that the game was in Sheboygan. It was bright sunshine. Temperatures around the State were in the mid-70’s. Winds were brisk out of the northeast. Remember I said we were in Sheboygan. Game time temperature was 67 degrees with a cold chill coming off Lake Michigan. Damn it was cold. People were huddled in jackets and sweatshirts.
For 18 years our family lived in Sheboygan 6 blocks from Lake Michigan. We experienced the cooling effect of the Lake many times. Then we bought a cottage 15 miles “inland”. We would leave home where in the morning when it was 65 degrees and arrive at the cottage where it was mid-80’s. Really? Really!
There are places you can go in the Summertime in Wisconsin that are not 67 degrees. I have experienced it! Really!
Love,
Dad