The Right Choice

Ray, people will come Ray. They’ll come to Iowa for reasons they can’t even fathom. They’ll turn up your driveway not knowing for sure why they’re doing it. They’ll arrive at your door as innocent as children, longing for the past. Of course, we won’t mind if you look around, you’ll say. It’s only $20 per person. They’ll pass over the money without even thinking about it: for it is money they have and peace they lack. And they’ll walk out to the bleachers; sit in shirtsleeves on a perfect afternoon. They’ll find they have reserved seats somewhere along one of the baselines, where they sat when they were children and cheered their heroes. And they’ll watch the game and it’ll be as if they dipped themselves in magic waters. The memories will be so thick they’ll have to brush them away from their faces. People will come Ray. The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it’s a part of our past, Ray. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again. Oh… people will come Ray. People will most definitely come. – Terence Mann from Field of Dreams played by James Earl Jones.

Good morning Vietnaaaaam.  Hello again everybody.  It sure is glad to be back writing again.  It was a long and very nice summer, but I must say that I really truly missed writing this piece for all whom it may concern.  I’m certain that you will all enjoy this next entry of mine.  I really enjoyed writing it, but first I have to do a little housekeeping.

I would like to take this time to thank Mr. Hawkins for letting me express my ideas on his blog.  I know it must be hard to post ideas that you don’t agree with all the time, and for that I commend you.  I plan to keep Jimmy’s Corner mainly an Op/Ed. section, and I would really appreciate all suggestions and comments from the reader.  Also, some people that know me have called me the king of useless knowledge, so to appease these people I have decided to start posting a trivia question at the end of all my posts.  The answer to the question will be reveled in my next post.  That sounds pretty fun to me.

I would also like to mention my special audience of one: Mr. Dylan Nice. He has started his own blog and I must say it is an impressive and a very funny read.  Dylan is possibly the single smartest person to graduate from Moshannon Valley High School.  Given that he went to Mo Valley, what he has accomplished so far in life is nothing short of miraculous.  If I can impress this man, I will consider Jimmy’s Corner a huge success.  I have my fingers crossed Dylan.

And now for something completely different.

Where Have You Gone Joe DiMaggio?

Since Commissioner Bud Selig has done everything in his own power to destroy baseball, November is now the time for the World Series.  What a perfect combination of hot dogs, beer, baseball and snow.  The recent decline in popularity for this nation’s greatest pastime makes me think back to the time that baseball was in its glory days, before all the big time contracts and multi-team trades.  Unfortunately, I’m thinking back to a time when I wasn’t alive, but just to think about a time when you know for sure that the game was better is still quite exciting.  It excited me enough to write this post.

Anybody that has known me for any period of time is well aware that I am a huge Chicago Cubs fan.  Growing up, my summers included playing wiffle ball in Morann in the morning, and watching Ryne Sandberg and the Cubs on WGN in the afternoon.  Just thinking about those days brings an incredible smile on my face.  My how I wish I could go back in time.  Baseball was and always will be a big part of my life, even as I sit here writing this knowing that my playing career is well over.

When I think of baseball’s finest days I think of one man, Joe DiMaggio (“Joe DiMaggio was the greatest all-around player I ever saw. His career cannot be summed up in numbers and awards. It might sound corny, but he had a profound and lasting impact on the country.” – Ted Williams).  It’s hard to disagree with the best hitter of all time, Mr. Ted Williams.  The key words in his quote are all-around player.  Joe DiMaggio was an incredible person on and off the field.  The man was an all-star all 13 years he played professionally and the New York Yankees won the World Series 9 times out of those 13 years that DiMaggio played.  I could go on and on about his playing career, but I find his personal life even more incredible.  He enlisted in the U.S. Air Force during World War II and reached the rank of Sergeant.  DiMaggio was married twice and divorced twice, and was linked to many of New York’s “it” girls of the 40’s and 50’s.  Needless to say, being a star centerfielder for the New York Yankees doesn’t allow for a monogamist relationship.  DiMaggio was even married to the charismatic Marilyn Monroe for a somewhat impressive 274 days in 1954.  On August 1^st 1962 DiMaggio decided that the next time he saw Marilyn he was going to ask her to remarry him.  Monroe was found dead on August 5^th 1962.  The interesting thing about DiMaggio’s life is that he tried to keep it as private as possible.  He refused to talk to the media about his private life.  So out of his fabulous and exotic lifestyle that we do know about, there are probably a million stories that nobody knows about.  He was baseball’s man of mystery.

While being a huge role model for kids in the 40’s and 50’s, he never changed his lifestyle.  DiMaggio tried to keep his partying and his fast women as private as possible, but still things leaked to the press.  DiMaggio just went about his business of playing Hall of Fame baseball during the day, and living the quintessential New York lifestyle at night.

If you have played any sport in your life then you know about dreams.  Every Little Leaguer dreams of playing professional baseball.  I like all the rest had that same dream.  I’ve never talked about it before, but I think now is a good time.  Whenever I started to grow older my dream started to get more specific.  I wanted to play 3^rd base for the New York Yankees.  Saying that now is quite embarrassing for a Chicago Cubs fan, but after finding out more and more about Joe DiMaggio, the more interested I became about New York.  That same lifestyle doesn’t exist in today’s game but it is still fun to dream what it would be like.  Even today after my baseball career is over I still catch myself watching a game and getting lost in that same dream.  I wish all of you to be as lucky as I am.

“I’d like to thank the good Lord for making me a Yankee.” – Joe DiMaggio from Yankee Stadium speech on October 1, 1949.

Trivia: What team did main character Roydeen Bream pitch for in the movie Pastime?