The First Ball Game

When dad told me this story a couple months ago, I was holding on to it, because he wanted to have me do a talky blog with it. He thought it would better explain his experience. But, we've both been so overly busy, I haven't been able to get any new stories. So, I figured I might as well post it and do a talky blog about it later to add more of his ideas to the story. Here is dad's recollection of his very first major league baseball game experience...

As many of you know, by 1959 Dad was deeply in love with the sport of baseball. He had started getting into it a couple years previous to that. So, by 1959 he was obsessed completely with the game. He was a HUGE Phillies fan and listened to every game on the radio, cheering on his favorite players and occasionally getting to watch a game on their little b/w tv. On Aug 18, 1959 dad was invited to go a Phillies game at Connie Mack Stadium with David Wallace, Phil Musumaci, and the David's dad Ben. Ben paid for everything in fact, so that my dad could go. Now, Philadelphia is known as the city of concrete and steel. You drive into it and it's not particularly pretty. There are smoke stacks and buildings and it's fairly dirty. Not a lot of grass and plantings around. Well, they arrived at the stadium and walked in on the ground level, having to climb up to get to Grand Stand level. He said what happened next was perhaps the most sensual experience of his life - and by "sensual" he means "sense-heightening". Don't think I didn't raise my eyebrow when he said that. ;-) Anyway, when he walked out into the stands, he was immediately greeted by massive color. Green lawns, red uniforms (they were playing the Cincinnati Red Legs, so they had red uniforms too), browns dirt, etc... The players he had loved and watched on his small b/w tv were now it full form, in living color, right in front of his eyes. The smells of the stadium like cigar smoke, hot dogs, all permeated the air. The feeling he had inside as he looked around and experienced this whole arena was indescribable. You have to remember that his life was centered around baseball. He lived and breathed the sport. No one he knew loved it like he did. Collected full baseball card sets like he did. And, here he was living his dream basically by sitting in the stands at the ball field, ready to see his heroes play in front of his eyes. The game started off being very exciting. The Phils were up 8-0 very early in the game, but eventually lost 14-11. Though the outcome wasn't what he had hoped, the experience of that very first ball game is seared into his senses and as real today as it was then. He's been to many ball games since, but none quite as amazing as his first back on that summer day in August of 1959.