I spent the weekend with my Dad in Modesto, California. Because we used to live so far away, and after a point in time Dad quit traveling, I started to spend a week with him every May 6 or 7 years ago. For me that was an important week. I would stay out in the motor home, which was a great place to stay, and then spend the week with Dad. We watched softball, baseball, or whatever was on television. It rarely changed. The important thing was that we spent time together.
My favorite photo of Dad, taken in 1992.
Now that I live closer we can get up to Modesto 3 or more times a year. We have moved from the motor home to my sister's extra room and it puts less stress on Dad.
I went up to talk about his future. He is 89 and beginning to feel his age.
As we were sitting in the living room on Sunday afternoon he started talking about playing American Legion baseball in Clarinda, IA. That had to be about 1934-1936, or in that time frame. He was pretty good, according to him, and of course I believe him. He played pitcher, catcher, and shortstop. He told me that he never lost a game as a pitcher, at least according to the Clarinda newspaper box score. In reality he lost a number of games. There were 3 pitchers, Dad (Don), Don McNeal, and another fellow he couldn't remember. Don McNeal never won a game. That wasn't true, but since Don McNeal was African-American, the newspaper would never report a win for him or a loss for Dad. Today, we know that is unfair, but in those years he was lucky to even be able to play. Iowa is and was different from the south, but was not unbiased.
Dad told me that the pitchers would rotate during the game. He would pitch for an inning or 2 and then play catcher while McNeal did the same, then they would rotate positions. Obviously the rules were different then. As catcher he could see what pitches were working and when he went back to pitch he could adjust.
Dad actually thought he might have a chance to play baseball professionally, but they moved to Des Moines his junior year in high school and he found out that good in Clarinda was only average in Des Moines. I still think he was probably pretty good!
It was another something I didn't know about my Dad.
