a neat story

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Posted By: jim sexton

Twenty eight years ago my Father died. After the funeral I was going through some of his personal effects and found an envelope containing four ticket stubs from the old Lexington Avenue ball park here in St. Paul. The tickets were dated 1923 and 1924 with one undated. My dad was 21 at the time. I kept the stubs as a great remembrance of my dad who had attended those games.

Fast forward to last week when I was looking through the current SABR publication, NATIONAL PASTIME. One of the articles was about the 1924 Junior World Series between the St. Paul Saints (my home) and the Baltimore Orioles.
(Each year the pennant winner of the American Assoc. and the International League would face each other) It was scheduled as the best out of nine games, which ultimately went 10 because of a tie that had to be replayed.
The first 5 were played in Baltimore, the balance in St. Paul. St Paul won it in ten.

The article reminded me of my old ticket stubs. I pulled them out, and sure enough there was a stub for game nine. The starting pitcher for the Orioles that day was Lefty Grove. My dad never mentioned he saw Lefty Grove play, probably because he had no reason at the time to remember the name of that pitcher.

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Posted By: Dan Bretta

That is a neat story...thanks for sharing it Jim. That must have been strange to see that article.

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Posted By: Mike H

Memorabilia is the truest sense. Thanks for sharing.

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Posted By: Rhys

Jim

My father is 74 years old and getting weaker and weaker each year from diabetes and a stroke. I take him out to lunch and help him run his errands every Wednesday and I have been using the time to ask all sorts of questions about his childhood and early life so that I can have those when he is gone. I think the baseball tickets are really cool. I have 2 tickets to the Oklahoma v. Texas Football game that and my Mom went to right after they were married in 1957 and that is the closest I get. Those are neat remembrances of your Father and it is cool that you have them.

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Posted By: Jeff Schwarz

Great stories, guys. My Dad is 88 now and really starting to slow down. He had an interesting life also. He went to the Kelloggs Baseball School and Tris Speaker told him "You can play!" After graduating from Schurz High School in Chicago, he played ball at Wright Junior College. The Cubs asked him and a number of local standouts to come down and workout with the Cubs in 1939. Gabby Hartnett was teaching him how to catch and he got to wear Stan Hack's hand-me-down jersey. He then attended the University of Illinois where his coach was former Yankee Walter Roettger.
During the war, his baseball playing ability kept him from going overseas as each CO at his assigned base wanted him on the camp baseball team. He played against Ted Williams, Van Lingle Mungo, Bobby Doerr, Satchell Paige, and with Dizzy Dean.
After the war, Dad finished school at Northwestern where his coach was Hall of Famer Freddie Lindstrom. What stories he has to tell!
Since 1982 at the National in Chicago, Dad and I have been gung ho on collecting. We were regulars at every Chicago show and dealers would tell me how great a guy he is, and I concur. I then brought my young sons to the shows with us for 3 generations of collectors. He has not attended a show in years, but his face lights up any time I find something from his wantlist and bring it by.