"The West Side Story"
Gene Tamashiro
socalsporty@yahoo.com
I finished reading an interesting book called to my attention by a fellow skedder. This is a departure from what I normally read, which are typically autobiographies or biographies of sports heroes or teams. The name of the book is called, "Sandlot Stories" by Marcella Parsons and Steven Hayes Young.
This book is a gem to me. A collection of short stories by everyday people from different parts of the U.S. and a couple of stories from Japan, sharing their childhood experiences playing baseball on their sandlot. Remember the movie, "Sandlot"? Well, this book is like a collection of those stories, only real.
"Sandlot Stories" are the back lots, alleyways, streets, open fields, sandlot diamonds, etc. that gave them enough space to play baseball. "Sandlot Stories" are memories of childhood friends, of great moments at bat or in the field. The stories are memories of baseball heroes and of the writers emulating them on their sandlot.
"Sandlot Stories" took me back to the best years of my childhood, playing baseball on my uncle’s park league team with my cousins, Dave, Ken and my brother Rick. We learned and played baseball through my uncle’s coaching. The game I love, the game my kids have played and still play, and the memories I now have of them, are a direct result of my uncle. This book prompted me to write to Ken in No Cal, (Northern Calif.), to share what his dad had meant to me. My uncle has since passed on a few years ago. But every time I see a baseball game, or throw catch with my kids, or when I was coaching my kids’ teams, the memories of my uncle and me during the summer in the late 60's, come rushing back to my mind. Those are my sandlot stories.
BTW, Ken wrote back to me recently and agreed how much fun those days were. Ken had mentioned that it was great to hear how his dad had made such an impact on my life, but actually in also the many kids that he had coached over a 15 yr span or so. All of us have since grown up, moved many miles away. And as so often the case, the few times that I’ve seen Ken and his brother Dave has been when my uncle passed away and earlier this year when my aunt passed away. But we always seem to pick up where we left off. I never knew back then, but what meant a lot to me was that Ken and Dave had always considered Rick and I as their brothers. I did not know this. We sure played a lot of baseball during those summers. When we weren’t playing a league game, we’d get one going with neighbor kids and teammates.
"Sandlot Stories" is not just about the stories your read of others, but the memories it brings back to you. The childhood passions and memories of our own experiences playing America’s pastime.
I highly recommend this book. ...
Happy skedding everybody.
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