LITTLE LEAGUE

When I was 11 and 12 years old, I played baseball in the Norwood Little League. We had great fields where I lived and a well organized league. At 12, I was the shortstop for our team. There were sixteen teams divided into National and American League. At the end of the season, they chose an All-Star team for each league. The two teams would then play a seven game series with the winner going on to play other leagues in the hopes of getting to the national World Series.


When our All-Star team gathered, we discovered that we had three shortstops and no third basemen. One of the best decisions I ever made was to jump up and say I would like to play third. I played every inning of every game. I led the team in hitting with something like a .500 average. My National League team beat the American League team and we went on to play away games in Milford, Maineville and Hamilton before we got beat. Traveling to play games, even those short distances, was pretty big back in 1957. We even got to eat in restaurants. I remember it as a great time.