Summer Rains

I watched a summer rain today and recalled how these downpours used to fill up the outfield at Willard School during the dry months of summer. The outfield of the big baseball diamond had patches of grass and some areas where no grass would grow because of the foot traffic from school children. A summer rain would create shallow puddles as there was no drainage system, other than the parched grass and weeds. These puddles made playing the outfield a comic ballet at best and treacherous sometimes to say the least. I was a pitcher and could only empathize with my teammates who had to play in the muck and mire.

It's comforting to me now that because of The Internet and sites like FaceBook I am now in touch with most of the summer softball team I played with during the Summer of 1973. They are a joy to remember because for two years we were undefeated. They would all understand very clearly what I say about the old outfield at Willard. It was literally "creekmud" at times for the outfielders like my brother Don, who patrolled Center Field and was credited with the final out of our 2nd consecutive Championship season.

Statistics and headlines were not a part of our games in those days. If a couple dozen people showed up to  watch we felt honored. I compare this to the current scene where RHS Football games are filmed and broadcast on Cable Television. Our games remain only in our memories, and thank goodness a mere summer rain can make me reflect upon those games, which were free of secondary complications like how handsome we would appear on TV. This is not to say our field would not have been telegenic, despite the patches of grass in the outfield. Before the home games at Willard, during our undefeated Championship reign (14-0) in 1972-73, we would lime the base paths, rake the infield, and plant the American flag in deep center field. This all took hours of effort which only made the victories that much more sweet. I have no regrets that no pictures exist of this time because I saw it all again today in my mind after the summer rain had stopped and the sun began to shine.