[matty6]

One of my favorite stories...

I went to the Atlanta National a few years back and decided to get a hot dog and a coke. Got my food and looked for a place to sit outside. There was an elderly couple sitting down at a table with an open seat. I asked if I could sit down, and they cordially agreed.

We got to talking and the gentleman asked me my name. When I said, "Andrew Parks." He said that's our last name, too! He introduced himself as "Dallas Parks." I looked at him and said, "There was an AL umpire with that name." He said, "Yeah. That's me." Earl Weaver was signing at the convention and he said he came to see him!

I asked if he saw him yet and he said that he had. He added that "Earl said the nicest thing he ever said to me" that day. I asked what that was and looked at me dead in the eye and said, "He said, "'How ya doing, Dallas?'"

That was it! I laughed so hard, I about peed myself. Earl always did hate umpires. Also, it was during the time the umpires went on strike. I asked him about that and he said, "It's bull shit. We never would have thought to strike."

Later I skipped outside to have a smoke and while I was standing there this elderly woman walked up to me and asked me for one. We got to talking, and I asked if she was enjoying the convention. She said that she was and explained she was there because she used to play in the All-American Girl's League! She was a Rockford Peach! I asked her what she thought of the movie A League of their Own, and she said, "All the girls loved it. It was 95% accurate." Very cool!