Gary helped me break out of that mindset, in a lot of ways, but the first was to introduce me to both professional sports and then baseball cards. My family never watched sports, either in person or on TV, so I was unaware of them.
In comments on some other blogs, I have mentioned that my first card memory was of a friend giving me a 1980 Topps Frank White. That friend was Gary.
I was impressed by this card as an 8 year old boy, mostly because he was an 'A.L. All-Star'. I didn't know exactly what that meant, but it sounded good. Gary noticed that I had more interest in that card than his others and kindly gifted it to me along with a mini-lesson on how to get more of these cool cardboard treasures. I don't even think I have a copy of that card anymore, maybe I should add it to my wantlist.
As my interest in cards and sports quickly rose, Gary was always there to show me new things to add spice to my life. The one I want to talk about today is simulated baseball games. Here's how we did it, and I am sure many of you did similar things:
Step 1. Make lineups for two teams. We did this by choosing the teams and copying the players from the box scores in the local newspaper. Then we determined for each player whether they were right handed, left handed or switch hitters. That matters later!
Step 2. Set up the 'field'. Ours was usually at the end of the road that Gary lived on. It was a dead end into a grassy field. At the end of the dead end, a short barrier separated the field from the road. That was the home run fence. About 5 feet short of that we drew a chalk line that marked the triple line, and further in, a double line and single line. You see how this works?
Here is basically what the 'field' looked like.
Step 3. Then we played the game with a wiffle ball and bat. You had to throw and hit for each player, and use the correct hand to throw or hit with. We rarely started lefty pitchers, but we used all the batters regardless of which side of the plate they were on.
We kept statistics religiously, so the games went pretty slow, since we stopped to record the results every plate appearance. But all that work made it so we actually knew what Mike Schmidt's batting average (and everyone else's) was in our little league. That fed into my life long love of statistics. And when a power hitter was up, we swung extra hard. Gotta make it as true to life as possible, I guess.
Anyway, that is a lot of background to what I actually want to talk about. As time went on, we each gravitated to certain teams for certain reasons. Gary loved the Cardinals, and I liked the Mets, and for a short time, the Padres. The main reason for my infatuation with the Padres was Kevin McReynolds. It started with us both having the same first name, and him looking like he might become a star. But what really made the connection for me was that in our simulated games, I could always hit better when I was being McReynolds. I was a small kid, and it took time for my athletic skills to blossom. Gary always won our games. But when I was channeling Kevin McReynolds, I hit more home runs than for any other player. Was it real? Or did I just see the world through little kid glasses? Really, I don't care! It is a beloved childhood memory, and I will remember it how I want.
Now let's take another turn...
Recently, I was working on my wantlists, as they are a challenge for me. I was trying to think of cards I loved as a kid, but didn't have anymore. (Like the Frank White above!) One that came to mind was the 1984 Fleer and Donruss Kevin McReynolds RC's. I added them to the wantlist. But nothing came of it.
A week or so later, Daniel of the cool blog It's Like Having My Own Card Shop posted an offer to those who had commented on his blog recently to send them some cards for free if we would give him a few reasonable options. I told him a couple of cards I needed to complete some sets, and since it was fresh in my mind, the McReynolds RC's. You probably can tell where this is going...
A week or so later, a PWE showed up at my house. As always, I was excited, but when I opened it, I was blown away. Here is the card that Daniel sent, along with a note:
I don't know why this affected me as much as it did, but all the memories came flooding back. I collect cards for a lot of reasons, but the feeling I had when I opened that envelope has got to be the biggest one. Thank you Daniel!!!!! And even though you aren't reading this, thank you Gary for getting me into a world I might have never found on my own.
