A photo find from my own family - Sandy, Jackie, and a Chair
 

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 :)

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...bd7c15ab_z.jpg

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.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...5a12eb9869.jpg

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.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...f03be56a40.jpg

What a treat to discover these! Talk to your older family members, you never know what you might learn.

Only word that comes to mind is WOW!

Holy shi.... those are some killer snaps.
Amazing story and connection! Some Great memories she must have.

dude 41 isnt middle age....you got some some 'youthful' years left.......

rather have those years versus any baseball card!

Amazing.

And you're right, if we assume that life is divided into three parts : young, middle age, old, and if you will live to be 120, then 41 is the 1st year of your middle age.

Years 1-15 really dont count, you are embryo for 95% of us.

16-45, you really take your health for granted. So you dont really start at 1.....you start at 16 or so....16-45 45-80+ each about 30 or so years.

post that comment in about 5 years..

Average lifespan for a male in the United States is about 77-79, so 40's is definitely middle age.

No one is living to 120 Doug........unless you are an Asian lady who's lived her whole life on rice & seaweed.......and collect Dodgers memorabilia.

This thread has really taken a turn.

Very nice photos Dan.... Love to see those old pics... Thanks for sharing....

right but mid 40s.. he is 41 anyone regret anything they did from 1-8 etc.

really the early years we are not self aware..so i guess its technical middle age versus real life middle age...like technical rescession versus real life!

Those snaps are awesome. And your cousin was a beautiful woman back in the day. Definitely some Marissa Tomei action going on there.

Nice pics, but where are the autographs. Lol

Awesome! Thanks for posting these pics! :cool:

This was moved to the front page. Wow, those are great family photos ! Thanks for sharing
.

That Ebbets Field seat is awesome.......wonder what the family did with it.

Cool pics but the Sandy one would have been better with his LEFT arm around her! I kid. Great post and pics!

Yeah, I think I love that color photo of her with the seat and pennant the best.

Beautiful

Great pics and stories Dan. Just learned my friend used to live in Jackie's old house out East...specifically because they wanted to live in his house...and that Jakie's daughter, Sharon, used to babysit them for a year!

Dan those are amazing pictures, thanks for posting them

Incredible! Thanks for sharing.

I love Sandy's outfit. It's like Mr. Rogers meets a priest or something.

Great photos—thanks for sharing. A different time when baseball players lived in the neighborhood.

Love this! Great story and thanks for sharing the details.

Bill

Wow awe and some! Thanks for sharing these great photos!

Ricky Y

Great story, Great pictures....Thank You

Wow so very cool. Thanks for sharing! I too am bummed you didn't get to talk to your gramps about baseball in the 20's. He must have seen some cool shit.

Nice :)

Edited because my snarky note about age sent us in a weird direction, and I was about to make another one, sincere apologies to the OP.

Those pictures are AMAZING.

First, great story, the pics are still a family treasure, and won't you forever wonder what happened to that Ebbett's Field seat!

Doug, no harm, as I read through the thread you had me doing math on my own age... 41 seems quite young to me at the moment.

Mr. Koufax... he seems gracious there, he looks young, and he chastely has his arm behind her, but isn't putting his hand on her. That pitching arm is safely distanced from her.

Don't you know that lady had determination in chasing down those Dodgers and the ballpark stuff. Roller skates to move the seats; anyone else here ever use a skate board to support a heavy box we were trying to heave around years ago? I did.

Thank you, Dan, for sharing the family history.

Thanks Leon for deeming this front-page worthy :) And thanks so much to all who posted. I wasn't sure whether others would find this as compelling as I did, but I'm glad that you all have shared my excitement. I'll certainly treasure these and pass on the family stories.

Absolutely amazing pics! I have always thought it was young boys that went to games and pulled off stunts like that - I now have a paradigm shift! The chair on roller skates is a killer! She is/was/probably always be a very beautiful lady.

Thanks for sharing!