Friday, April 22, 2011

A Love of Writing and Baseball




It just occurred to me recently that I may have inherited my love of writing from my father.

He was a good man! He loved God, his family – and baseball. Never did we get together for a family gathering during baseball season that he didn’t disappear to my bedroom where he’d turn the radio on and lie on my bed listening to a ball game. We didn’t mind. It was his passion, and we let him enjoy it.

When he died and I inherited some of his personal belongings, I found a little book that had a lot of baseball stats in it, written in his handwriting. One read: Oct. 8, 1956  Don Larson pitched a perfect game in the World Series against the Brooklyn Dodgers. The Dodgers pitcher was Sal Maglie.

Another said: Tom Seaver pitched the first no hit game of his baseball career on June 16, 1978. It was also the first no hit game to be hit in Riverfront Stadium at Cincinnati,Ohio. He beat the Saint Louis Cardinals 4 to 0.

Yet another: The first World Series night game was played October 13, 1971 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh, Pa, between the Pittsburgh Pirates and The Baltimore Orioles. Pittsburgh won the game 4 to 3. Attendance 51,378.

There were many other interesting facts written in this book and three others. He recorded the deaths of family members and friends, right down to what they died of and the place and time of death. He wrote about the death of Elvis and other famous people.

He even kept a record of his favorite songs. On one page he said he first heard a song called Blues in the Night at 4:30 a.m. on the radio after building a fire in the coal stove and was waiting for it to get hot; then he would awaken my mother to fix his breakfast and lunch so he could go to work. He wrote, “I worked in the coal mines at Burnwell, W.VA in 1940, 1941 and 1942.”

He wrote about many more things, including the Charles Lindbergh flight across the Atlantic on May 20, 1927. He related every detail! And he did it very well.

I guess I never thought that my lifelong desire to write could have come from my dad. I’ve always known what a sensitive man he was, but never thought of him as a writer before.

I believe he left me enough information in these little books to write a great historical novel. And I wouldn’t even have to do research. It’s all here – in my wonderful father’s handwriting.

6 comments:

sam said...

You hit it out of the park with this one peg. Good post. sam

MJ said...

Those are good memories. I have my own baseball memories with my dad. He took me to Watt Powell Park from the time it opened. We came to Cincinnati when I was ten to see a Reds game. I still follow the Reds.. and miss my dad. I turn the TV off and listen to the radio.
Mother was the one who wrote in our family. It must be a Toney thing.

Peggy~ said...

It's so nice to hear from you MJ!
I guess it is a Toney thing. It gives me a good feeling to know that.
Daddy even had the scores of all seven games of the World Series of 1971. He played baseball at Burnwell when he was young. I have a picture of him in his uniform, with his team. The pic is in that book about the Paint Creek Flood.

Anonymous said...

I like this post peg. Memories of our parents are wonderful, aren't they? Sometimes that's all that keeps me going.

susan said...

This takes me back. My dad loved baseball to. Thanks for the memories.

ben said...

I'd like to see you write that novel peg. I'd buy it! I love your writing.