There\u2019s a good chance the husband has his Cincinnati Reds ball cap surgically attached to his head. It\u2019s that time of year.<\/p>\n
We were in the quaint historic river town of St. Charles, Mo., leaving a sidewalk cafe, when a voice yells, \u201cPete Rose, Joe Morgan, Johnny Bench!\u201d<\/p>\n
It came from an older man, wearing a red St. Louis Cardinals ball cap, sitting on a bench across the street.<\/p>\n
Without a split-second pause, the husband shoots back, \u201cI photographed them all!\u201d<\/p>\n
The two red ball caps meet in the middle of the brick street.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was a photographer for the Cincinnati Enquirer in 1974, a year before the Big Red Machine won two back-to-back championships in \u201975 and \u201976,\u201d my husband says.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy dad was a scout for the major leagues,\u201d the man says.<\/p>\n
Game on. I\u2019ll see you one, and raise you two.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy father took me to a ballgame and said \u2018I want you to see this man in the dugout.\u2019 The man came out and threw a couple of pitches. I said, \u2018He\u2019s just an old man.\u2019 Dad said, \u2018Yes, but he was one of the best players ever \u2014 Satchel Paige. But he couldn\u2019t play in the major league his first 24 years in baseball because he was Black.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
The man said that was the first time he realized what prejudice was.<\/p>\n
A driver taps his horn and the two move the baseball roundup five steps closer to the curb.<\/p>\n
\u201cHave you been a Cardinals fan all your life?\u201d the husband asks.<\/p>\n
\u201cLou Brock \u2014 nicest guy ever,\u201d the man says. \u201cHe walked into a restaurant with Mike Shannon and Ken Boyer. A man asked Lou if he could take his picture with his little boy. Brock said sure and held the 3-year-old right on his lap.\u201d<\/p>\n
Two women carrying shopping bags notice the conversation, slow their pace, lean in, and say to me, \u201cHe loves to talk baseball.\u201d<\/p>\n
They wave to the Cardinals fan and continue down the street. For all I know, the man just lost his ride home.<\/p>\n
Rapid-fire pitches and hits continue. My husband tells his new friend he photographed Lou Brock in St. Louis when he broke the base stealing record of Maury Wills.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was at that game, too,\u201d the man says.<\/p>\n
He and his wife bought tickets to every game so they wouldn\u2019t miss it.<\/p>\n
They\u2019re having a wonderful time recalling the greats and sharing baseball history. They never exchange names or introduce themselves to one another. They never mention if they are retired or still working.<\/p>\n
They never mention where they are from or where they are headed.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m no longer listening to the conversation. I am relishing the camaraderie of two baseball-loving Americans, standing side-by-side in the late afternoon sun, thoroughly enjoying the company and conversation of one another.<\/p>\n
Amid all the things that divide us, pit us against one another, and alienate friends and family today, baseball may be one of the last common threads still holding us together.<\/p>\n
Play ball!<\/p>\n
Lori Borgman is a columnist, author and speaker. Her new book, \u201cWhat Happens at Grandma\u2019s Stays at Grandma\u2019s\u201d is now available. Email her at lori@loriborgman.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There\u2019s a good chance the husband has his Cincinnati Reds ball cap surgically attached to his head. It\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":674036,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[363,185253,99,2628],"class_list":["post-674035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-mlb","tag-parenting-and-family","tag-sports","tag-things-to-do"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=674035"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674035\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/674036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=674035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=674035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=674035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}