“Say the secret password, and a duck’ll come down and give you fifty dollars.’ — Groucho Marx, host of the game show “You Bet Your Life.”I was once selected to throw out the first ball at a game between the Chicago White Sox and the Baltimore Orioles, played in Milwaukee. It was 1968, and there was no major league baseball team in Wisconsin. The Chicago White Sox played nine home games in Milwaukee, to keep Major League Baseball interest alive in the Badger State, and perhaps sell some tickets too. The Sox played nine home games at Milwaukee County Stadium that year, and they sold a lot of tickets.
At the time I was a patient at Great Lakes Naval Hospital, in Waukegan, Ill., a little north of Chicago. The Marine Corps has never had their own medical branch, and used Navy facilities and Navy medical professionals. I was recovering from wounds incurred in combat in Vietnam, and over several months had become ambulatory.
Great Lakes worked very hard to have many diversions for us, both for bed patients and for those that had become more able to get around. There were several different kinds of recreational activities, many of which afforded the opportunity to interact with others. I took advantage of many of the activities.
We went to the Playboy Club. We saw a new movie: 2001, A Space Odyssey. We went to Jimmy Wong’s Chinese Restaurant (Jimmy Wong had a photographer memorialize the event, with Jimmy himself posed with a herd of wounded Marines). We went to a blues bar for music and way too many refreshments. The Waukegan Lions Club put on a huge bash for us, with dinner and drinks, music and dancing, and went so far as to have 20 single young women, bank tellers, to dance or talk with the Marines. Some events required the attendees must be over 21. I turned 21 at Great Lakes. I signed up for a lot those activities that specified “over 21”.
When we got to County Stadium in Milwaukee, we were shown to our good seats along the third base line. One organizer asked if any of the Marines were from Chicago. A dozen or so hands went up. He looked perplexed. Then he asked if anyone was from Baltimore. I was the only one to raise my hand. “You,” he said, pointing to me, “will throw out the ceremonial first pitch.” Fun, I thought. I’d never lived in Baltimore. But I wanted to help out that organizer. He had to pick someone. I made it easy for him by raising my hand.
I was taken to meet a few players. I talked with Boog Powell a bit. A power hitting first baseman, I remember him as being a very large, and friendly guy. There was still a lot of time to wait around, I thought, and I was getting thirsty. And I was, as I’ve said, of legal age for buying a beer. I got up to the mezzanine, and found a long line at the beer concession. The line seemed to be moving quickly, and I thought I was OK. Just as I was nearing the front of the line, I heard the PA announcer report that a young wounded Marine from Chicago would be throwing out the first pitch. Oops.The guys hooted at me on the bus ride back to Great Lakes. My chance for fame and celebrity had plumb escaped me. But, though I don’t remember what kind of beer it was, it sure did taste good. We were in Milwaukee. Maybe it was Blatz.
From Wikipedia : Chicago White Sox. In 1968, the White Sox played nine home games in Milwaukee County Stadium (usually called County Stadium) in 1968. In an effort to return Major League Baseball to Milwaukee after the departure of the Braves, local businessman and minority Braves owner Bud Selig brought other teams to play at County Stadium, beginning with a 1967 exhibition game between the Chicago White Sox and Minnesota Twins. The exhibition game attracted more than 51,000 spectators, so Selig’s group contracted with Sox owner Arthur Allyn to host nine Chicago White Sox home games at County Stadium in 1968.
Selig’s experiment was highly successful – those nine games drew 264,297 fans. Those games took place on May 15 vs. the California Angels, [14] May 28 vs. the Baltimore Orioles, [15] June 17 vs. the Cleveland Indians, [16] June 24 vs. the Minnesota Twins, [17] July 11 vs. the New York Yankees, [18] July 22 vs. the Oakland A’s, [19] Aug. 2 vs. Washington Senators, [20] Aug. 8 vs. the Boston Red Sox, [21] and Aug. 26 vs. the eventual World Series winners, the Detroit Tigers. [22] In Chicago that season, the Sox drew 539,478 fans to their remaining 72 home dates. [23] In just a handful of games, the Milwaukee crowds accounted for nearly one-third of the total attendance at White Sox games.
Basura
Fame does have a way of escaping us…but in retrospect those with you at the time…. can say you chose the best beer of the time over a possible errand pitch to the plate.
Although I do not know you, I don’t believe achieving fame is a priority for you.
I might have been able to get it near the plate. I once won the Eli Grba Award for Pitching Excellence, which our esteemed editor will recall. Maybe you know me a little bit, Harry. You could be right about not taking too much too seriously. Thanks.
I sure do enjoy your stories, Basura! How you maintain a bright attitude after all you’ve been through is a testament to your basic good nature!
Readers’ Digest used to publish a column called Laughter is the Best Medicine. Maybe they still do. My late, beloved, brother-in-law would have been shaking his head at my folly, but I thought it was funny. I try to find humor where I can, which has been increasingly difficult lately. Read more humor, I say. What was it Jane Austen said, something like: “What are we hear for but to make sport of our neighbors, and, they, in their turn, to make sport of us?”
Basura,
Jane Austen may have been correct, but in my family we live by the words of another great author, Kurt Vonnegut, who said “I tell you, we are here on earth to fart around, and don’t let anybody tell you different.”
We spend our days farting a lot! (hee hee)
I love that quote. Words to live by. Vonnegut’s character, perhaps it was Eliot Rosewater, one met the Creator of the Universe, and asked “Why were we put here only to suffer and die?” The Creator of the Universe said, “Why not?” I think that was in Venus on the Half Shell.