Thanks to the mayor for his wonderful story from 1975. That is the kind of stuff we’d get to listen to for hours at JBoys after IWA shows. The Mayor rules.
My first baseball glove was a Keith Moreland addition Rawlings. The great right fielder for the 1984 Cubs. He would catch the ball and then flip it out of the glove into the air and then grab it with his barehand and throw it back to the infield. Needless to say, coaches of 7 year olds don’t like seeing kids fielding in such a manner. I think that is why I ended up playing catcher most of that season.
Perhaps it could have been due to the stellar play at third base that I had. We (the Astros) had the best team in the league. Went undefeated and only had one game that was close. The rest of games were in the area of 30-8 blowouts. I had 2 of Scott Spiezio’s cousins on my team that year (Scott being the World Series Hero for the Angels last year for those of you living under a rock). I was at third base for one particular game but can’t remember the opponent. The kid hit a hot smash to third and it took a wicked bounce right before it got to me. As any good fielder would do, I stayed in front of the ball in order to at least knock it down and keep it in front of me. Unfortunately, it bounced higher than me (I’m short now so imagine me at age 7) and landed right on the bill of my ball cap. I didnt know that it was there so it spun on my hat long enough for the kid to get to second base. Of course, the bases weren’t far apart so just about any hit could get you to second base (at least that’s my story and I’m sticking to it).
The next game, I was at catcher and thus a huge fan of Jody Davis for the rest of my life.
Good Day
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