SUMMER GAME

On a sultry afternoon I remember a great game - the Dodgers are playing the Phillies – on South Third Street in Millville, NJ!  Wait! What?  How can this be?  Because I’m in the side yard at David P’s house and it was made for Wiffle Ball - the white plastic baseball that whistled and the yellow bat that whacked.  And we were playing the running game in our 3rd Street Wiffle Ball History. 194 innings so far.  Almost every day in the summer of 1959.  And what a great summer it was. 

David was an avid Dodger fan (I really couldn’t understand that – but math sharks are weird) Me, all Philadelphia teams all the way – even though it has been a terrible cross to bear.

Each of us pretended that we  played all the positions and not only were we all our hero players – we were the radio commentators too.  Passersby must have thought we were nuts as we announced our game of inches to the imagined masses.  

As we played the greats – Zimmer, Drysdale, Sandy Koufax and the Duke.  (BTW Koufax David P. pitched him every inning)  My beloved Phils – Robin Roberts, Richie Ashburn, Willie Jones and the infamous Ed Bouche!  (The only winner of a coveted Iron Glove Award for most errors in a single season) and famous for his usual  “tape measure” foul balls.  (In the real world the Phillies would have a record of 64 wins and 90 losses that summer.  The Dodgers on the other hand beat the White Sox’s in the World Series!  David knew a lot about  percentages)  But on Third Street the game was even – and we played until David's mom, insisted we quit for a glass of ice tea and warned us each and every day about “the dangers of heat stroke!” - so we rested briefly to satisfy her and then were back at it for another inning or two or thirty making great diving catches on our “diamond-less” diamond and hitting towering whistling drives into the street.  

At dinner time, as I rode my bike home for another day, I would think about changing my go lineup for tomorrow as it was Dodgers 87, Phillies a meager 74... and then wonder what mom made for dinner.