This fall I am taking a class on "The Literature of Baseball." I'm already immersed in the reading. I thought it was a good moment to publish again one of my favorite baseball stories.
Stranger to the Stands
My step-father Harry was a sweet man. He was a doctor who, during World War II, had been a Captain doing research in the Air Force. One of the men on his team had been the trainer for the Detroit Tigers. Grateful for not being in combat, he said to Harry: "When this mess is over, I want you to be my guest at a game. I'll roll out the red carpet for you."
When Harry found out I was a huge Tigers fan, he made it happen. We had great seats behind the dugout. I got to shake hands with some of the players. They autographed my ball. I was busy explaining the action to Harry when he drifted off to sleep.
Many years later when I was working at the American Medical Association, I looked up Harry in the archives. I found out that he had a distinguished career and had worked on the invention of ultra sound and the fetal heart monitor.
Harry had great stats. He is a member of my personal Hall of Fame.
I hope the course includes selections from "The Glory of Their Times" by Lawrence Ritter. This is widely considered one of the finest baseball books ever.
ReplyDeleteJoan, a man in my writing group recommends “The Church of Baseball” by Ron Shelton, about the making of the movie Bull Durham and about writing and about Hollywood. Said it’s great!
ReplyDeletePlease sign your comments. For some reason they show up as "Anonymous" and I can't reply. Of course if you don't want to reveal your name, that's okay too.
ReplyDeleteLove this story!
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