Wednesday, March 6, 2019

Randy and his 1969 Little League Team -- Post 555 of (Not So) Wordless Wednesday

Several months ago, I discovered an envelope of small photographs saved when my mother died in 2002 - it was hiding in plain sight in the Genea-Cave! 

Included in the photo cache was this oldie-but-goodie - a Teamster Union newsletter article with a  photograph of me standing with my Little League baseball team in 1968 at a sponsor's evening meeting:

When I was 25, I "inherited" my father's Little League team in the North Park Little League.  My father started in 1957 when my brother Stanley was 10 years old, and managed three years in Little League, then three years in Pony League, and brother Scott started in Little League in 1964 when he was 8 years old.  In 1969, he was 13 and played in Pony League, and my father was the manager there again.  Through all of those years, I was a coach for my father and the scorekeeper.  

In 1969, with my father moving up to Pony League, I became manager of the Little League major team known as the Teamster's Union.  In May 1969, the sponsor hosted myself and the team at their dinner meeting, and the team said the Pledge of Allegiance at the meeting.  We were introduced and were accorded applause.  

This was a fun period in my life.  I managed the team from 1969 until 1973, and was the All-Star Manager in 1973.  I got married in the spring of 1970, and we lived in Chula Vista, about 8 miles south of the Little League field in Balboa Park.  We enjoyed this outdoor activity every spring and early summer, and Linda loved the kids, who were 10 to 12 years old.  We took the team to the Padres game every year (one year we went on a Sunday for a double header, and the Reds scored 10 runs in the first inning of the first game - it was a really long day!).  In the summer of 1973, Linda became pregnant and I retired from Little League baseball after the 1973 season.  

Our baseball careers didn't end in 1973 though.  In 1982, daughter Lori was 8 years old and started playing Bobby Sox softball, and I coached.  Tami started playing in 1984.  Linda managed and I coached the teams of our two daughters from 1983 until 1991, and we enjoyed seeing our girls, and their friends, grow up in a baseball/softball world.  

                                    =============================================

Copyright (c) 2019, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Share it on Twitter, Facebook, or Pinterest using the icons below.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.

No comments: