Check another item off the bucket list

[Vegas Halo Fan]

As I have mentioned in the past, my late father and I bonded mainly over baseball. When I was eight years old, my father took me out of school to go to a spring training game between his beloved Cardinals and the Phillies. Stan Musial played in that game prior to the final season of his career, and I got an autograph after the game. For decades, details of the game eluded me. Despite me being able to determine the exact date of the game, I got no assistance from the newspaper, who referred me to the public library. When I contacted the library by phone, I got no direct help then either.

This morning I returned from a two week trip to visit my sister. One of my planned stops was the main public library, where the newspaper archives is located. An employee in the archives took particular interest in what I was doing, and she located the microfilm that included the date in question: April 6, 1963. In the two days leading up to the game, there was surprisingly little in the sports section. Then I reviewed the sports section on the day after the game. Jackpot. A full page of coverage, with photos (including one of Musial), multiple stories including a full game review, and a complete box score. I found out that Phillies great Richie Ashburn also played in the game.

A mere 59 years later, this eight year old boy found a written record of one of the most significant days of my youth. I was given a flash drive with my selected articles saved to it. My sincere thanks to the Newspaper Archives Section of the Jacksonville Public Library. They could not have been more gracious or helpful.

[Lou]

31 minutes ago, Vegas Halo Fan said:

As I have mentioned in the past, my late father and I bonded mainly over baseball. When I was eight years old, my father took me out of school to go to a spring training game between his beloved Cardinals and the Phillies. Stan Musial played in that game prior to the final season of his career, and I got an autograph after the game. For decades, details of the game eluded me. Despite me being able to determine the exact date of the game, I got no assistance from the newspaper, who referred me to the public library. When I contacted the library by phone, I got no direct help then either.

This morning I returned from a two week trip to visit my sister. One of my planned stops was the main public library, where the newspaper archives is located. An employee in the archives took particular interest in what I was doing, and she located the microfilm that included the date in question: April 6, 1963. In the two days leading up to the game, there was surprisingly little in the sports section. Then I reviewed the sports section on the day after the game. Jackpot. A full page of coverage, with photos (including one of Musial), multiple stories including a full game review, and a complete box score. I found out that Phillies great Richie Ashburn also played in the game.

A mere 59 years later, this eight year old boy found a written record of one of the most significant days of my youth. I was given a flash drive with my selected articles saved to it. My sincere thanks to the Newspaper Archives Section of the Jacksonville Public Library. They could not have been more gracious or helpful.

I absolutely remember you posting about trying to find the boxscore from that game.  Happy to hear you found some information.

Dads and baseball - just wonderful.

[Vegas Halo Fan]

One detail that eluded me until last week was that Ken Boyer, one of my own heroes from back then, had a home run in the game. Musial did not have a hit, but that scarcely matters. I haven't looked over the box score in detail yet, but I may find a few other gems in there.

[Stradling]

I love it.  Great stuff VHF.  

While I don’t think I “bonded” with my dad over baseball, he did introduce me to the game and took me and my brothers to a game or two each year.  I think my brothers bonded with my dad over baseball, I am bonded with my brothers over baseball.  We would go on family night when the prices were affordable for all of us to go.  I remember the upper deck (400 and 500 section now) all being general admission, but I don’t know if that was every night or just family night.  So as soon as the gates opened, we would run up the ramps to get seats in the lower section of the upper deck.  

I remember being at Chuck Finley’s debut game, he pitched out of the pen.  It was a slow night at the stadium and you could hear the ball hitting the catchers glove in the bullpen.  My memory told me it was a double header, but looking back at the box score that wasn’t the case.  My dad would buy tickets for double headers because back then it was one admission price for both games.  

I’ve mentioned this before, but my dad drove cab in Anaheim for years when I was growing up.  A handful of times a year he would pick up a player from the stadium, which I doubt ever happens now.  He brought me home something autographed by Ron Guidry’s, after a game where he had given up a home run to Reggie Jackson.  There were a couple of times where my dad would let my brother take me to a game then after the game he would pick us up in the taxi.  We were probably 7 and 15 years old.  

I don’t remember my first game, but I remember my son’s first game, it was when he was 6 months old, home opener, 1994, that was the Bo Jackson season.  The Angels lost.  We haven’t missed an opening day (minus Covid season) since he was born.  

[Dtwncbad]

My father and I did not bond over baseball. He was a good dad but baseball just wasn’t his thing.  He also traveled a lot for work, pretty much the stereotypical traveling salesman/sales manager throughout the 60s/70s/80s.

Baseball pretty much skipped a generation on my dad’s side.  My grandfather was born in Cleveland and was a maniac for the Indians.  But it didn’t catch on with my dad.

BUT!  My mom was “all-in” with me in my love of baseball as a kid.  She would take me to as many games as possible starting in the late 70s and continuing even after we moved to San Diego in about 1980.  Basically any time I asked if we could jump in the car and go to the Angel game she said “let’s go!”

So I attended literally hundreds of games with just my mom.

I don’t really recall what year they started playing “Calling all Angels” by Train before games.  But that is particularly heart tugging for me since the montage is filled with games I either attended or watched with my mom.  And that is also a song that I quoted from when I spoke at her funeral.

“I need a reason for the way things have to be.  I need a hand to help build up some kind of hope inside of me.”

Anyway, the collision in my mind of watching those highlights, hearing the song, and the song’s place in my mom’s eulogy is a bit overwhelming.

My mom did legitimately end up loving baseball.  But I know for certain that she started her relationship with baseball strictly out of loving her son and simply wanting to join me in something I loved.

 

[Vegas Halo Fan]

The most significant piece of information that I found was a scan of a complete spring training pocket schedule from 1963. Finding the exact date of the game allowed me to significantly focus my search. My sincere gratitude to the unnamed individual who took the time to post it. Box scores abound for regular season games going back many years, but there is almost nothing on spring training games.

Edited October 27, 2022 by Vegas Halo Fan

[Vegas Halo Fan]

After looking for the source, I found that it came from the online archive of the Florida State Library. I sent a thank you note.