Commentary by Jeff Mayfield
Baseball welcomes LDN with open arms

Baseball’s in my blood

[AUG. 31, 2000]  Back in January when I agreed to write some sports features for the Lincoln Daily News, little did I know where my stories and interviews would lead me. My friends suggested that becoming a journalist would be a great way to get press passes for sporting events. It hasn’t been that easy. I decided to use my annual baseball trip to gauge how successful my work with the LDN would actually be in procuring media credentials. I would have never guessed that of all teams in all sports that my first press pass would come from the New York Mets! Even writing that name makes me shudder. At any rate, while I was on vacation, I saw four games with serious playoff implications involving eight teams. In order for me to tell you that story, I need to tell you this one first...

I saw my first baseball game with my dad when I was only 3 years old. I’m told that most people don’t remember things at that early an age. I guess I’m weird. I remember my dad putting me on his shoulders and carrying me into the Los Angeles Coliseum to see the Dodgers play. I remember sitting a long way from home plate, and I remember a huge screen in the outfield. Years later (actually it was just a few years ago) I saw some film footage showing a game in LA that pointed out the big screen in the outfield. I guess I remembered more than you thought I could!

 

At any rate, my dad had no idea of what he set in motion on that fateful night. I didn’t just enjoy being with my dad. I didn’t just enjoy going to a baseball game. I totally loved it. And I loved everything about it. I loved the sights, the sounds and the smells. My dad pointed out to me that no matter how sophisticated TV gets (and it’s come a long way in those 40 years), watching the game at home will never be as good as watching it live at the ballpark. My dad was wrong about a few things in life, but he was not wrong about that! There is nothing better than being in the stadium on game day, period! So, if you think I’m nuts for wasting time and money going to baseball games, take it up with my dad when you get to heaven. He made me like this.

 

As a boy, my dad took my brother and me to dozens of games in Los Angeles and Anaheim. He also took us to a lot of minor league games in San Diego (they did not get a major league team until years after we had left the area).

Just before I entered junior high, my family moved to the San Francisco bay area. It was there that I began to craft my lifelong baseball strategy. If you ever saw the TV show the "Wonder Years" or the movie "Sandlot," that should give you a good mental picture of my childhood. I was a sports fanatic, a sports junkie...but at least in those early days, baseball was my first love.

My dad began to take my brother and me to games in San Francisco and in Oakland. I took mental notes of how we got there, how we got tickets and anything else that I thought would be important to my future quest.

The late 60s were a tough time in this country, and the bay area probably was not the safest place in America to grow up. I did not let that deter me. I came up with a brilliant idea one lazy afternoon. I made my brother go into the neighborhood alleys with me and pick up every pop bottle we could find. If you were industrious enough back then, you could find a lot of them. I even had the brainstorm of going door-to-door and asking people if they’d like to give up any of their pop bottles. Believe it or not, sometimes people would just give them to us.

 

Then it was time to pop the question. But, there was no way in the world that my parents were going to go for it, especially my mom. I did not let that deter me. One night at dinner, there was a lull in the conversation. I figured that God had provided me with a once-in-a-lifetime (have I mentioned that my wife hates that phrase) opportunity. I had carefully rehearsed what I was going to say for days, and beating around the bush was not going to help...so I just spit it out.

I asked my folks if I could take my brother (Ken) to a game in San Francisco on Saturday. Keep in mind that I was still a few years away from a driver’s license. My mother thought that it was a ridiculous idea and wondered how in the world I could get us there and back.

(To top of second column in this section)

Never underestimate the power of a kid who loves baseball! I was light years ahead of them! I was country before country was cool! I was baseball tonight before Chris Bermann was even dreaming up SportsCenter! Earlier I mentioned how I took mental notes at every game I ever attended. One night when we were walking from the parking lot to the stadium, I saw a line of buses approaching the stadium. It was something like the San Jose Bee-Line bus lines. There was an ad on the bus advertising bus trips from the San Jose area to and from Giants and A’s games. I knew it was a sign from God. I also noticed that one of the pick-up points was near my neighborhood in beautiful Sunnyvale, Calif.

Back to the dinner table...I simply explained to my folks that Ken and I would take the bus. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. For $3 you got a round-trip bus ticket and a seat in the bleachers...is that incredible or what? You can hardly get a hot dog at the Lincoln Art and Balloon Fest for $3 nowadays.

My mom was flabbergasted...and when my dad looked up from his dinner plate and matter-of-factly said, just take good care of your brother, I knew that Ken and I were on our way to Candlestick by ourselves! What could my mother say...she protested vehemently...in fact, she’s played the rest of our lives under protest! My dad (back in those days, men wore the pants) had spoken. And what a pronouncement it was.

 

That Saturday my brother and I went to San Francisco by ourselves for the very first time. We had the time of our lives. I don’t remember much about the game that day, which is unusual for me. Even though I’ve seen a few games in my life, I can usually remember something about every one of them. This day was different. It was special. My brother and I were unleashed on the world. We would never be the same.

I don’t know at what age a boy becomes a man. I don’t know if there’s an event or a ritual that you must go through to reach or attain manhood. All I know is that on that day, I felt like a man!

Since that day, I’ve been on a quest to go to different stadiums around the country. Because when I visit a new ballpark, in some real way I recapture the feeling I had that fateful day in the city back in 1968.

 

This trip down memory lane doesn’t do much to tell you about my most recent baseball trip to the East Coast, and for that I apologize. But I felt like you needed to know my baseball pilgrimage in order to appreciate my writing for the Lincoln Daily News.

In my next piece I will report on my recent trip to New York’s Shea Stadium and Yankee Stadium. I will also report on my trip to Boston’s Fenway Park. Many of you wouldn’t think of wasting your money on such a frivolous pursuit. For me, baseball has helped see the country and the world.

Thanks, Dad, for passing on to me the keys to the baseball kingdom. You would have been excited to know that you now have a grandson to initiate to the baseball world. I know you will find a way to show him the magic that you gave to me.

[Jeff Mayfield]

ILLINI BANK
2201 Woodlawn Rd. in Lincoln
1-888-455-4641 or 735-5400
Ask for Terry Lock or Sharon Awe

Ask about our 6.9% APY
11 mos. CD

Claire's Needleworks
and Frame Shop
"We Frame It All"
On the square
in downtown Lincoln
217-732-8811
M-F 10-5  Sat 10-4
cmstitches@aol.com

Meador Investigations
michael@pi-pro.com
217-376-3255

IL License # 115-001499


Click here to visit your local Private Investigator
www.pi-pro.com 

Back to top

 


 

Top Stories | Sports News | Sports Talk | Area Athletes in Action | Out and About | TechLine | Weather

A Day in the Life | Milestones | Obituaries | Diaspora

Business & Ag | Organizations | Events | Good Neighbors | Honors & Awards | Ombudsman | Law & Courts

Crosswords | Games

The Arts | Home and Family | Spiritual Life | Health & Fitness | Teaching & Learning | Book Look | Movies & Videos

the em space | Where They Stand | How We Stack Up | By the Numbers

Letters to Editor | About LDN | Corrections | Happy Ads | Classified Ads | Quick Coupon Clip-Outs