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Youth sports:
Jul 8, 2020 12:48:42   #
eugenehinds
 
Many years ago my 3rd grade son came home; "Dad, can I play knothole baseball"? Yes of course. I ended up helping coach. Since the team is basically centered around a pitcher you gotta find one.. Who's the pitcher. About everyone's hand goes up, but if 3 or 4 point to one kid then you know you've found your pitcher. You build the team as a family. You try them out to see what each can do best then assign positions. You never chew anyone out for a mistake. If we lost we got together after the game and asked "why did we lose". OK, now we know what we must work on. We won the league championship after which the league president bought tickets to see our minor league team, the Lookouts. Comment from one of our guys; "You mean we gotta sit with those other guys"? Coach; "Look, son we just wanna beat these guys, we don't hate them". MEMORIES. I think I may have learned more from this team than they learned from me. I have a lot of stories about them, one was when we had to pull in our left handed 1st baseman to relieve our pitcher. He did so well that we started him in a few games and he came up with a no-hitter. I have more if anyone is interested.

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Jul 8, 2020 14:59:06   #
SteveR Loc: Michigan
 
There is a group on fb for my hometown. Some time ago somebody poised a question about what were the best things about growing up in our hometown. Undoubtedly, the guys mentioned the youth baseball program. I, like many of them, lived for summer and baseball. We not only played with our teams, but played pickup games all summer and would just hit fly balls to one another when we weren't doing that. Baseball. What else could be better?

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Jul 8, 2020 18:02:00   #
eugenehinds
 
Another story; Knothole was a little different than regular "youth" baseball in that we played on 90 foot bases earlier and could play off and risk pickoff. Also if a small school showed up with 7 players they could pick up up to 2 players (not a pitcher). Once our opponents were 1 player short so we volunteered one of our benchwarmers to fill in. This kid played the game of his life and I thought we were going to lose because of one of our own players. But I was happy for the little guy--I know he was thinking---"I'll show 'em".

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Jul 8, 2020 20:42:33   #
SteveR Loc: Michigan
 
eugenehinds wrote:
Another story; Knothole was a little different than regular "youth" baseball in that we played on 90 foot bases earlier and could play off and risk pickoff. Also if a small school showed up with 7 players they could pick up up to 2 players (not a pitcher). Once our opponents were 1 player short so we volunteered one of our benchwarmers to fill in. This kid played the game of his life and I thought we were going to lose because of one of our own players. But I was happy for the little guy--I know he was thinking---"I'll show 'em".
Another story; Knothole was a little different tha... (show quote)


I'm not sure how early you played on 90 foot bases. In our program, 11 and under played on a softball field. There was no stealing. In my experience, that sped up the game (no stealing). The smaller field led to player development. 13 and under played on bigger fields and stealing was allowed. Teams were set. There were playoffs of the top four teams in each league. Both 11 and under and 13 and under had leagues which consisted of the better teams and then the B leagues. Starting with 13 and under, and up, the city champion would go on to play in playoffs leading up to the state championship. I was fortunate to make it to the state championship game with my 18 and under team. All in all, it was pretty competitive baseball.

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Jul 9, 2020 07:19:34   #
jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY
 
SteveR wrote:
...what were the best things about growing up in our hometown. Undoubtedly, the guys mentioned the youth baseball program.


Right! Baseball was a big part of my life in the summer - both organized and "disorganized." We played a lot of stickball in the road, too, using a broom handle and a pink Spalding rubber ball. For solo, there was stoopball, too.

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Jul 9, 2020 08:08:36   #
Collhar Loc: New York City.
 
jerryc41 wrote:
Right! Baseball was a big part of my life in the summer - both organized and "disorganized." We played a lot of stickball in the road, too, using a broom handle and a pink Spalding rubber ball. For solo, there was stoopball, too.


I grew up in Hells Kitchen, NYC 40's and 50's. The boys played stick ball and stoop ball.

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Jul 9, 2020 08:15:23   #
jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY
 
Collhar wrote:
I grew up in Hells Kitchen...


Isn't that a TV show now?

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Jul 9, 2020 08:18:32   #
Collhar Loc: New York City.
 
jerryc41 wrote:
Isn't that a TV show now?


Is it?? I don't think I have heard of it.

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Jul 9, 2020 08:19:04   #
jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY
 
Collhar wrote:
Is it?? I don't think I have heard of it.


Well, it should be.

EDIT: Yes - with Gordon Ramsay.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell%27s_Kitchen_(American_TV_series)

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Jul 9, 2020 08:27:50   #
Collhar Loc: New York City.
 
jerryc41 wrote:
Well, it should be.

EDIT: Yes - with Gordon Ramsay.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell%27s_Kitchen_(American_TV_series)



We left in 1960 for Brooklyn. I met this man dated for two years got married in 1969, still married. He worked for Morgan I worked for Merrill Lynch. I and a girl friend left after 5 years and started our own business. My husband always worked for Morgan. He grew with the company. He retired, My girl friend and I sold the business.Always remained friends. Still in the city, just a little further North. Now a brown stone in the 70's. It might as well be a different planet.
Thanks for the link.

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Jul 9, 2020 09:37:55   #
eugenehinds
 
Our Knothole program was backed by the United Fund and was school against school A 4th grade team (going into the 5th) 11 years old . a kid who had failed one year might be 12 and if born before
sept 1 could play but not as a pitcher. Playing off was a mixed blessing for stealing on the long 90 foot bases was easier but a line drive anywhere and a throw to 1st base and a double play. The big down side to this program was that a large school could overpower the smaller schools, more to pick from.

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Jul 10, 2020 13:20:22   #
SteveR Loc: Michigan
 
Collhar wrote:
I grew up in Hells Kitchen, NYC 40's and 50's. The boys played stick ball and stoop ball.


As I recall, Yogi and Joe Garagiola grew up playing stick ball in St. Louis.

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Jul 10, 2020 15:42:57   #
eugenehinds
 
I remember Joe saying; "For me the catcher never gave signals, he just yelled to the pitcher what to throw".

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Jul 11, 2020 22:01:02   #
SteveR Loc: Michigan
 
eugenehinds wrote:
I remember Joe saying; "For me the catcher never gave signals, he just yelled to the pitcher what to throw".


In his own way, Joe was as funny as Yogi.

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