#5. Talking Baseball

We're Talking Baseball...

We never know when the nostalgia  bug will hit us. For me it recently hit as I was driving along and listening to one of my favorite Sports Talk radio stations. As I listened to the story about “Mr. October” (Reggie Jackson - named for his World Series heroics in October), my mind flashed back to growing up in New Orleans and how we would spend a typical Sunday.  It would include heading off down the railroad tracks to Sunday School and then staying for 11 am church service. The next stop would be back home to Sunday dinner sitting around our dining room table to a tasty and hearty family dinner prepared by our mother.

Later, Daddy would often take us on a Sunday family outing in the hot New Orleans summer. On those days that the outing was a trip to the baseball park; l might have been the only one jumping for joy. For even way back then, I was a sports enthusiast. I would run and play at  the ballpark with my sisters, and eat hot dogs, candy and popcorn; but I would also definitely watch the game on the baseball field.

We were young, the three of us with our large satin bows on our heads, just having fun running around the ball park, up and down the stands; kids having fun. Little did we know that we could have been a part of baseball history. We might have been watching a game between teams in what is now the very heralded Negro Baseball League.

The radio station mentioned that Reggie Jackson played in the Negro Leagues before he was called up to the Major Leagues; where he went on to become a legend. Maybe we were there on a Sunday when Jackson’s Birmingham Barons team played the New Orleans Black Pelicans team in Pelican Stadium. Or, maybe we saw Satchel Paige himself when his team played at Pelican Stadium! Wow, that would have been neat! But, it’s more likely that we were at a stadium across the Mississippi River on the West Bank where several semi-pro teams played. We were probably enjoying the play and antics of local stars like: “Suitcase” Simpson, “Big Train” Barrow, and Herman Roth from teams like the New Orleans Midgets and others.

Yep, it seems even more appropriate to take that walk down baseball memory lane now, as we near the end of the baseball season and are starting the World Series. A new World Series Champion will be crowned: Yankees or Dodgers! Given the unprecedented home run hitting by Freddie Freeman in this 2024 Series, I wonder if we’ll have a new “Mr. October” too!

Lest I forget before I go, I’ll share a piece of baseball trivia I learned from the same sports station I alluded to earlier. Baseball Trivia: There is only one woman in Major League Baseball’s Hall of Fame. Her name is Effa Manley, an African American! Daddy would be smiling! I am too!