fastcar
06-26-2006, 07:58 AM
I have never been a big fan of baseball. Especially now, when it seems that it is more of a business than a game. But this anecdote I heard from my Dad's cousin Joe this past weekend was something of a great old baseball story that sprang from talking about 50's medicine.
Back in 1955 Joe was playing around with an old tricycle. He was riding with his feet on the step and pulled on the handle bars and fell off, cracking his skull. At the time, cranial pressure wasn't treated like it is today. Now, you would drill a hole into the skull to relieve the pressure. Back then, they put you on bed rest for 8 weeks, no sitting up. During this time, he had nothing to do but bounce a baseball off the wall above his bed and bounce it into his mitt. Years later it was discovered that his family could never get paint to stick to that wall because of the amount of oil he would put onto his mitt.
During his weeks of bed rest, his grandfather decided to do something to cheer him up. His law office was at 215 Montague street in Brooklyn. Some times they drew up wills and other legal documents for baseball players and would get various baseball related items as small gifts. One particular gift was passed onto Joe. It was a baseball. Unfortunately, he didn't have it very long. After his bed rest was over and he was able to resume his outdoor activities, the baseball went missing.
You see as boys grow up, their moms don't always understand the intrinsic value of certain things in their room. Over the years baseball cards and other objects tend to disappear, some lost forever, only to be explained as frivolous toys that you were no longer important to a growing young man. Other things in Brooklyn also disappeared. But they weren't lost, they just relocated. It was about this time Joe thought his grandfather had a friend named Thatgoddamned. Because he would always hear him say Thatgoddamned O'Reilly this and Thatgoddamned O'Reilly that. He didn't realize that O'Reilly's first name was Walter.
Some thirty years later, Joe, who is now an oral surgeon in Oneida, got a surprise. At his home there was a box on his desk and in this box there were two things. One was a note. The other was a baseball.
The note read,
"Joe, I was looking for something in the attic and I found this ball. I was going to keep it but once I realized what it was, I figured I should return it to you."
The baseball read,
"Gil Hodges, Peewee Reese, Roy Campanella, Duke Snider, Don Newcombe, Jackie Robinson" to name a few.
It turned out that one of his relatives was clearing out some old things at his boyhood home in Long Island and came across a baseball, still in perfect condition considering it spent 30 years in a NY attic, signed by the 55 Brooklyn Dodgers.
Back in 1955 Joe was playing around with an old tricycle. He was riding with his feet on the step and pulled on the handle bars and fell off, cracking his skull. At the time, cranial pressure wasn't treated like it is today. Now, you would drill a hole into the skull to relieve the pressure. Back then, they put you on bed rest for 8 weeks, no sitting up. During this time, he had nothing to do but bounce a baseball off the wall above his bed and bounce it into his mitt. Years later it was discovered that his family could never get paint to stick to that wall because of the amount of oil he would put onto his mitt.
During his weeks of bed rest, his grandfather decided to do something to cheer him up. His law office was at 215 Montague street in Brooklyn. Some times they drew up wills and other legal documents for baseball players and would get various baseball related items as small gifts. One particular gift was passed onto Joe. It was a baseball. Unfortunately, he didn't have it very long. After his bed rest was over and he was able to resume his outdoor activities, the baseball went missing.
You see as boys grow up, their moms don't always understand the intrinsic value of certain things in their room. Over the years baseball cards and other objects tend to disappear, some lost forever, only to be explained as frivolous toys that you were no longer important to a growing young man. Other things in Brooklyn also disappeared. But they weren't lost, they just relocated. It was about this time Joe thought his grandfather had a friend named Thatgoddamned. Because he would always hear him say Thatgoddamned O'Reilly this and Thatgoddamned O'Reilly that. He didn't realize that O'Reilly's first name was Walter.
Some thirty years later, Joe, who is now an oral surgeon in Oneida, got a surprise. At his home there was a box on his desk and in this box there were two things. One was a note. The other was a baseball.
The note read,
"Joe, I was looking for something in the attic and I found this ball. I was going to keep it but once I realized what it was, I figured I should return it to you."
The baseball read,
"Gil Hodges, Peewee Reese, Roy Campanella, Duke Snider, Don Newcombe, Jackie Robinson" to name a few.
It turned out that one of his relatives was clearing out some old things at his boyhood home in Long Island and came across a baseball, still in perfect condition considering it spent 30 years in a NY attic, signed by the 55 Brooklyn Dodgers.