Buckets of Buds
Sure signs of spring have arrived. Golfers are out in droves, advertisers are extolling the virtues of the latest gardening gadgets and products, and the “Boys of Summer” are back at it doing their best to whack baseballs out of the park or prevent the other guys from hitting them “where they ain’t.”
For me, spring always sets off a bit of reflection back to the days when I served as Sports Editor of the Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune. Spring meant a new crop of young pro baseball players would arrive to start a 124-game schedule in the Midwest League. Covering the team, a farm club of the Minnesota Twins, was my primary task until falling leaves signaled the end of summer. The local club played home games at Witter Field.
Witter Field was a nice ballpark, but no one would mistake it for Yankee Stadium. The press box perched atop the roof over the stands directly behind home plate resembled an enlarged chicken coop.
The box was clean, but far from fancy. It included a counter across the area beneath the two open windows and a few folding chairs. Bill Nobles and Dave Van Wormer joined me there on many summer evenings. They served as public address announcers, and broadcast most of the Class A minor league games for radio station WFHR. They occasionally asked me to fill in some dead time with a statistical report. Those moments probably set radio announcing back quite a few years.
Equipment perhaps unique to our press box occupied one corner. A pail tied to a lengthy coil of rope stood ready for a midway point in the game when one or all of us usually got thirsty. The beer stand was directly below the press box.
We would put two dollars in the bucket, lower it to the beer dispenser, and wait until he tugged on the rope. We then reeled up three Buds and our change.
Our radio broadcasts and newspaper reports didn't suffer. We almost always confined ourselves to one Bud per game. For young Wisconsin men, that hardly amounted to anything. Fans near the beer stand often greeted the appearance of our bucket with a cheer, so we thought we were making a worthy contribution to fan entertainment in addition to slaking our thirst.
Ah, springtime at the old ballpark.
7 comments:
Interesting memories. Reminded me that when I was employed at an Ohio TV station we had box seats at the local Pittsburgh Pirates farm team stadium. I think they were called the Columbus Jets. If the Sales Dept. or station management weren't entertaining advertisers I could use the tickets. My husband, a high school and American Legion team player in the years before we met, and I enjoyed frequent leisurely weekend afternoons watching the games.
Thanks for being a new commentor on my blog. I did go back and read your entry about Liz Taylor and enjoyed it a lot. You might get a kick out of my 4/16/08 entry where I tell about my encounter with Gregory Peck.
You've got a great blog ... I'm glad to have found yours and will check you regularly.
When I was younger we attended the local double A games. Our local team was the Hi-Toms because the stadium was located half-way between High Point and Thomasville NC. We got a thrill when we saw the guys in town on Main Street. I played softball in those days, and was the girls sports writer. One time I had to write an article about how my own team lost the championship game. Bummer. Of course I wrote it in such a way I mentioned the losing team more frequently. We were young once....
Nice story. It reminded me of visits to my cousin back in the 70's, and visiting Rochester N.Y.'s local 'farm team' (Did I get that right ?). I believe they were called the 'Redwings'. As a Brit I enjoyed the game, much better than our bloody cricket. :-)
Yes, John, "farm team" is correct. The players aspired to be promoted to the major leagues, or big leagues, where rewards are great. Fans used those terms; the players at the time stated their goal as "making the bigs."
Another reader asked if I saw any future stars while covering Midwest League games. Yes, I did. Craig Nettles, who became a top third baseman with the New York Yankees played second base one season at Wisconsin Rapids. Sal Bando, another all-star third baseman, played for the Burlington, Iowa, Bees the next season. He played in the "bigs" for many seasons, most of them with the Kansas City Athletics.
Without beer professional baseball would collapse and we'd all go watch Little League games instead.
Yes, baseball and nostalgia go together for those of us 65 and older. Dave Frishberg (born in 1933, like me) wrote a whole song consisting of nothing but the names of baseball players of the 1930s-50s. Frishberg grew up in Minneapolis-St. Paul; he was and is a pianist, singer, and song-writer. The song I mention was titled Van Lingle Mungo. You can hear it and see photos of Van, Whitey Kurowski, Johnny Gee, and all the rest by googling YouTube Dave Frishberg Van Lingle Mungo. It'll take you back.
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