As I slip into middle age (41yo currently), I become more amazed at the nuggets that you can find in your own family's history. My grandfather grew up going to baseball games in New York in the 1920s and 30s, and I hate that I never talked to him about those experiences before he died ten years ago. I just found out last week that another family member saw Jimi Hendrix in 1967 and met Janis Joplin a few weeks before she died. Who knew?!
A couple days ago, my parents were chatting with one of my dad's cousins, and somehow the topic of baseball came up. The cousin took out some old photos, which my mother promptly sent to me. Apparently my cousin, who was born in 1943 and lived in Brooklyn, was a big Brooklyn Dodgers fan and used to go to lots of games with her girlfriends. One day when she was 16 years old (1959ish), she and her friend found out where Sandy Koufax lived and waited at his house after a game to meet him and get his autograph. They succeeded in their quest! The friend took a photo, which my cousin put into an album where it sat for decades. Apparently she was quite excited about Sandy's arm around her
She also had this - what an amazing photo to have in my family history. I'm pretty sure it was also taken when she was about 16, which would have been a couple years after Jackie retired. I assume it was taken somewhere around Ebbets Field, but I'm not really sure.
When Ebbets Field got torn down the following year, she and her friend "lifted" two chairs from the site, put roller skates on the legs, and wheeled them home. Here she is with her haul
Unfortunately she doesn't have the chair anymore.
What a treat to discover these! Talk to your older family members, you never know what you might learn.