The Boys Of Summer

The Boys Of Summer is a terrific Sports Book written by Roger Khan in 1972 and Amazon describes it as “a book about young men who learned to play baseball during the 1930s and 1940s, and then went on to play for one of the most exciting major-league ball clubs ever fielded, the team that broke the color barrier with Jackie Robinson.”

I learned to play baseball a little bit after the 30’s and 40’s (only just mind you!) and I certainly never went on to play with the Brooklyn Dodgers like The Boys Of Summer did, but I wouldn’t trade my baseball life for any of them.

My late Brother Johnny introduced me to the game in Bendigo when I was about 8. Each Saturday afternoon he would sit me in the back seat of his old Humber Hawk and we’d head off to wherever Falcons were playing that day. No matter where the game was played, the day would conclude with me sitting in the car by myself outside the Pub with a lemon squash while Johnny downed a pot or 6 in the bar. My poor old mum would have been horrified if she knew but I loved it.

Now just over 60 years later I still love the Game as much as I ever have. A handful of my absolute best friends come from my years at the Essendon Baseball Club and this past week I’ve been blessed to spend another week in their embrace out on the Baseball Field. If it’s the last time we play together then this was a good week to finish up on.

We started playing Masters Baseball together in 1994 in the World Masters Games in Brisbane solely due to the efforts of Kingsley Collins and Ian Brain from Ballarat. The Goldiggers, as we were called, are still going strong today, 28 years later, and this week we played in the Pan Pacs on the Gold Coast. There are 3 of the original 1994 Team still going around which isn’t a bad effort.

Someone asked me during the week what it was like to hit a Home Run in Baseball and I attempted to explain how euphoric the feeling is. It really is hard to put into words but I think the former Australian Cricket Captain, Ian Chappell, managed to capture the power of that moment when you square one up perfectly, many years ago.

We played against Ian Chappell in our first Masters Tournament in 94 and he played catcher for a group of outstanding former Claxton Shield and Australian players. They were known as The Crocodiles then and subsequently evolved into Interport. We had some great games against them over the years and friendships commenced back in earlier Claxton Shield games were solidified over a beer in the Masters.

Anyway, shortly after that first Series against The Crocodiles, Ian Chappell was interviewed for a Celebrity Profile piece in The Age newspaper (it was actually a great Newspaper in those days – today not so much). He was asked the usual frivolous questions about his favorite meal, his favorite movie, who he’d like to be stranded on a desert island with, etc then they finally asked him something important – “What is the highlight of your sporting career?” This was a man who’d captained Australia to Ashes victories, scored centuries against all the Test playing Countries of his time and retired as Australia’s third top run scoring batsman behind Bradman and Harvey.

I am paraphrasing but he replied “you may not believe this but the highlight of my sporting life occurred just a few weeks ago when, for the first time I hit a Home Run on an enclosed Baseball Field and I got to jog the bases”. In other words, hitting a home run is more satisfying than scoring 196 against the “old enemy” at The Oval. That says it all really.

I like to think my brother’s passion for the game is the reason I still love playing today. Both his sons, Brendan and Mark played for our State, my son John signed a Professional Contract and played with the Minnesota Twins Organisation and my eldest Grandson, Mitchell, signed a Professional Contract and played with the Philadelphia Phillies Organisation. My second Grandson, 8yo Robert, actually won his first baseball trophy just last night with the Canberra Cavalry. Admittedly it was in an on field dancing competition but it’s a start.⚾️

Babe Ruth is supposed to have said “Never allow the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game”. It’s a good rule to live by – none of us should ever be afraid of having a crack. I like to think I never was.