It was 50 years ago that I joined the other boys my age to tryout for the towns little league. After the town's draft we learned what team claimed us for the next four years. The league's teams were the Cardinals, Dodgers, Astros and Giants..... I landed on the Giants.
If you are thinking we had these cool black and orange uniforms....you would be wrong. Nope our Giants team was sponsored by Mirly Truck Sales, everyone knew because those three words were printed across the back of our jerseys. The team caps and jerseys were navy blue, and the logo was just the basic letter "G," I guess MTS was too much......
I thought "G" was the greatest logo of all time.... of course a C, D or A would have been my favorite if one of the other teams would have drafted me. A couple decades later I would find myself head coach of the Cardinals,.... I quickly learned "C" looked pretty good too.
Looking back it is impossible to say which day I most enjoyed.... the day I became a Giant, or the day I drafted a team full of kids to be the Cardinals. Both days were memories to last a lifetime and both had the common factor of an old army duffle bag.
As a coach I was given an ole duffle bag tagged with the letters U.S. Army and from it's appearance the old duffle bag must have seen some of the worst battles of World War II...... Rips and holes that could easily have been made by bullets permitted the pounds of dirt from the field to seep out finding a permanent home in my car's carpet.
I dumped out my equipment excited to see what we would be working with, spiders seem to swarm in a dozen different directions and dirt dobber's nest clung to a couple of the bats. White cotton like material I believed to be made spiders poked out of the ear holes of the helmets and the balls were probably white at one time or another....that day the balls were closer to the color of chocolate milk..... hmm, that might be a little harsh, but the color beige is fair to say.
A lot has changed in the decades since..... I have not seen an army duffle bag in a dugout in 20 years at least..... I also haven't seen a coach supply bats.... or catcher's gear..... or uniforms...... Hmm, umpires are always on the lookout for a few balls to start the game, but otherwise coaches don't seem to need a duffle bag. That's a shame.... a memory lost to time that fathers and sons once shared over the love of a faded green bag.....
You know what else they miss? An entire season covered by a $50 bill. Today uniforms are $500, bats and gloves run $400 each, cleats are $120, $110 buys a decent helmet. Quick sit down, down a shot before I mention team fees range as high as $5,000 per player. But Amazon will sell you a dozen balls for just $52.95.... and delivery is free with a Prime membership. That ole green duffle bag seems pretty good me.......
