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My Dad and My Baseball Glove My Dad at 10 in his baseball uniform and my A2000 Wilson Glove I was born in '49. Growing up, baseball was the dominant sport in America especially in the 50's. I grew up on Long Island in New York. For most the of 50's we had the Yankees, the Giants, and the Dodgers all in NYC, each team with its star centerfielder: Mantle, Mays, and Snider respectively. Baseball was big in my family. My dad's dad played minor league ball. He was primarily a pitcher. He also played 1 st base when not pitching. My dad was the shortstop for his high school team and he also pitched, usually in relief. He played a little baseball in the military as he was on the base team. Base commanders took great pride in their baseball team so you had to be a pretty good ballplayer to be on the team. Those teams frequently included professional ballplayers. I loved baseball. My dad and I would often have a catch together after he got home from work. However

Meet The Beatles I n the fall of 1963 I was 14 and a freshman at Walt Whitman High School.  A new extension had just been completed basically doubling the size of the school.  We were going to be the first freshman class to attend the high school.  Even though we would be the youngest kids in the school I was happy to be in the high school.   T he prior school year I had met my friend Eddie who I would spend a lot of time with and much of that time we listened to and talked about music.  We both really liked what was referred to as “Soul Music”.  I had grown 10 inches in the past year, 9 of those during the previous school year.  That's right, I started 8th grade at 5' 0”.  I started 9th at 5' 10”.  I got detention that year for wearing pants too short at school.  Public schools still had dress codes back then.  Short tight pants were a style that was discouraged by the school system.  Those that dressed that way were considered “hoods” and juvenile delinquents by the schoo