Last Updated on July 13, 2018 by Terry
It’s baseball season and the Major Leagues are pausing for their all-star game this weekend. So let’s talk baseball. I love it. This was my sport. And I played on some good teams. I always believed that one of the reasons our team was good is because I was on the team. And if you don’t mind I will stand fast in my beliefs.
I was involved in two perfect seasons while playing baseball. As children this was our most important sport. Everyone in our area played baseball. There were organized ball parks and also there was sandlot. There were several locations that a group could “get a game up” about any time you wanted to.
Starting out, I played at Rosedale Optimist Club on Asher Avenue. The ball field is located just east of Barrow road. Back in those days, there were 4 age groups. Teeny league was 7-8-9, little league was 10-11-12, pony league was 13-14-15, and American Legion was 16-17-18.
I forget the name of my early teeny league team but when I was 9, my last year in teeny league, there was a small group of boys left over after the teams had been made. And yes, I was one of these boys. Since these parents had paid the joining fee, someone had to step up and coach this team. One of the local mainstays of the community was Gene Calvert. His son Bobby was also one of the leftovers. Some of the leaders of the park did their best to make Gene feel bad enough to say yes to coaching the misfits. He finally agreed.
There was one more problem, after several practices and the season beginning soon, someone mentioned that the left out boys had no uniforms. In those days, teeny leaguers only had tee shirts and hats. We had neither and it looked as if no sponsor would be found.
The ladies of the Optimist Club heard about our problem and got together and sponsored us. We had bright green shirts and hats. We did not understand the sponsor’s name and would not have asked if the boys on the other teams weren’t always laughing at us. Finally someone explained our team name to us; we were the “Optimisses.” Thanks ladies!
It was a tough year. I mentioned at the beginning about two perfect teams I played on, yeah this was the first one. We were perfect, 100%, we lost every game! I mean, how can 8-9 year old boys get motivated to win if you are named after girls?
We had two 9 year olds on our team, Lee and me. So, one game I would pitch and Lee would catch and the next game Lee would pitch and I would catch. Apparently Lee and I weren’t very good at pitching. I’m sure we did the best we could. By the way, we did not receive any participation trophies and knew that we did not deserve one. Trophies are for the winners, learn to deal with it. I know we did.
And then there was Scotsman’s Ice. At the beginning of little league, as I had turned 10 years old, I was picked up by this team. The coach was Mr. Wise. His son was on the team. They were loaded with 12 year olds and one of them was the catcher. We’ll call him Mike P. The pitcher was Ron W. Shortstops name was Archer I believe. I think Allan G. (AKA “Campboss”) was also on this team. We did not know each other at the time. Mr. Wise knew he would need a catcher for the next couple of years and drafted me.
The outfield were all 10 year olds; I was in centerfield, Mike M. was in left, and Larry S. was in right. We weren’t too bad and won over half of our games. The coach even let me catch and Mike pitch in our last game of the season. He knew that we would be the difference makers for the next two seasons and wanted to get us some action on the big stage.
The next year we came in second in the league. Mike and Perry D. took turns pitching. I caught every game, even a few with popsicle sticks taped to one of my fingers as it had been broken by a foul ball. Actually after the game it was broken in, the doctor took the sticks off and fixed it up so I could play the rest of the games. (I really did finish the game with my finger taped with sticks) Here’s our team pic when Mike and I were 11.
Front row (L-R) Ray Gunther, Donnie Gill, Mike McNally, Bobby Lemur, Martindale Kid
Back row: Coach wise, ?, Dale Stalnaker, Perry Duncan, Torres, asst coach ?
When we came back for our last year of little league, Mike and I were 12 years old and fired up. We felt we had a very good team and could play with anyone, even the team that had a future Razorback baseball player on their team. There were 5 teams so we played the other 4 three times each, a 12 game season. And yes, another broken finger and finishing the game with tape and popsicle sticks! I must have remembered that cutting edge medical treatment as I have duct taped myself together many times since then.
When the dust settled, we were 12-0! A perfect season, but this time by winning every game. Undefeated!
This is the team picture of the Rosedale Optimist Club Little League Champions, 1966.
Front row: ?, ?, ?, Bobby Lemur, Steve Mosely, Jimmy Allen
Back row: Coach Wise, Martindale Kid, Ray Gunther, Dale Stalnaker, Darrell Tackett, ?, Larry Small, Mike McNally
We earned a spot in the state tournament but didn’t fare so well. I think we stayed out too late the night before drinking and chasing girls.
