most prized possession #2

Today is my late father's birthday, so I thought I'd write about another of my prized possessions, my first baseball glove.

I was eleven years old when I signed up to play in Jr. Optimist, a local baseball league similar to Little League. I got to play on the same team as one of my cousins, Darryl; our team ended up calling ourselves the Braves. Prior to the season, my father took me out to buy a baseball glove at a local sporting goods store called Big 5. They had a location for what seemed like forever across from Park 'N Shop on Willow Pass Road. I always enjoyed being around my father. I can still picture the part of the store where the shelf was with the baseball gloves, which way we were facing, etc. The glove that caught my eye was a junior-sized mitt that was blue leather. It was a Rawlings brand GJ 94, with a Mickey Mantle autograph (it's in my lap right now as I type this).

I also have memories of my dad and I playing catch in our backyard. He would use this really old-fashioned looking glove, like the type of model they might have used in the fifties, or even the forties. He seemed to enjoy these 'playing catch' sessions as much as I did. And one day, he brought out his camera and took pictures of me all dressed up in my Jr. Optimist 'Braves' uniform (as I recall, the sponsor of our team was Earl Goldman Insurance, sewn into the backs of our uniforms), the two of us coming up with poses for me to take: in my batting stance, fielding a ground ball, etc.

We had a decent year win-loss wise; I think we finished 9-8. Looking back, I don't know how I got through it though - during the season, my father suffered a massive brain hemorrhage (on the day of his sister's funeral, my Auntie Louise) and lay in the hospital for a long while. He died that summer.