Little League Memories 1958

Wednesday, September 30, 2015

A friend of mine who is writing a book of little league memories from the old timer of Douglas asked me to write my favorite memory from my little league days. As I wrote my memories I realized that those things that we do as kids, those things that happen to us when we are young impact us through out all our life. They influence who we are, and what we become. It is for this reason that I am including these memories of little league as a posting in my blog, "Luciano Is Being Seventy." 

Little League Memories 1958

Luciano Ramirez

I am writing my Little League memories at the request of Hector Leon from Douglas, Arizona. I really appreciate the humongous effort that Hector is undertaking  in making us, old little leaguers, dig into our memory banks and try to extract those memories that happened to us more than half a century ago. My memories are probably a little distorted and maybe a little embellished. What I am writing here is the truth as I recall it.

I started laying Little League with Paul’s, a team sponsored by Paul’s Jewelers, when I was 10 years old. I am not entirely sure why I didn’t play when I was 9 years old. The league allowed kids to play from age 9 to 12. Let me just insert here some comments  about Mr. and Mrs. Paul Whelan and Freddie. They were just great people! I have such fond memories of the fantastic way that they  treated me, a poor, skinny little kid from the barrio. I never forgot it. When I went away to college and then moved to California, I never forgot Mr. Whelan and Freddie. Every time that I came back to Douglas to visit my mom, I would always go visit Freddie and Mr. Whelan at the jewelry store. He and Mrs. Whelan were always so cordial.

I don’t remember much about my first year in Little League but I do remember that I got a baseball cap with the letter “P” in the front. For some reason or other I went to Fairs sports store in downtown Douglas and bought the letter “J” and affixed it to my cap. My cap said PJ for Paul’s Jewelers. I have team pictures with that cap on.

I loved putting on a baseball uniform. I felt like superman when I changed into the Paul’s blue and white uniform with the blue and white stockings. (Were those colors correct?) I always made sure that my uniform was washed and neatly ironed with the creases down the middle of the leg. If the crease was off a little bit I would re iron until it was just right. We all wanted to be Mickey Mantle or Roger Maris or Yogi Berra. Those players were a few of our heroes.  I don’t think that I played a lot my first year because there were some big, older kids with a lot more playing experience. So my experience of my first year in little league is a blur. My second year when I was 11 years old is pretty much a blur also. I don’t think that I played much. Now my third year experience, as a 12 year, is a whole different ball game. I was much more successful as a 12 year old. I was much bigger and stronger.

Freddie, Manny or Mike, please correct if I am wrong, I believe that I led the league in the summer 1958 in home runs with 8 home runs. I was just connecting with the ball. I guess all that practice at the “taste” the sandlot on First Street and F Avenue finally paid off. Right behind me was Manny Del Rio with 6 or 7. I think I am right with that number but you have to remember that time plays tricks on your mind.

We had two leagues in Douglas Little League. The  National League Teams consisted of:  Lone Star; Fairs;  Elks;  Arizona Drug; Paul's;  and Purity Dairy. The American league teams consisted of : Phelps Dodge;  Posten's;  CYC;  Grand Theaters;  Levy's;  and Flores s : Pauls' ended up in 2nd place (National) in 1958 with a 13-6 record. Fairs was first place 17-3, but lost the City Title to Theaters (Dulces Gonzalez)  of the American League by a 5-4 score

As a 12 year old and in my final year in little league, I had a very successful season as a hitter and as a pitcher. My memory is a little fuzzy about the All-Star games at the end of the season. Here is what I remember and what I was able to extract from newspaper clippings. We, the Douglas National League All Stars beat Davis-Monthan  12-3 on Wednesday, July 23,1958. I pitched a 4 hitter. These were the kids from the air base in Tucson. This is the game  where  Manny, and Freddie and I homered. The win put us in the championship against Douglas American.

I recall that the champion ship game between the Douglas teams was played at the 8th street park. That game was rained out with Dulces' team leading and Dulces pitching. We were losing badly. We played them the next day at the 15th street park and this is where we beat them. In this game I hit a 3 run homer and our team won 7-1. . For some reason or other Dulces did not pitch this game. We went on to Coolidge to play in the state championship  

Sports, for me was a transformative process. Beginning with Little League baseball, Babe Ruth Baseball and ending with baseball, football and track at the high school. It took me out of my comfort zone, my little barrio  and introduced me to places that I had never been to and introduced me to people that I never would have met. Such was the road trip to Coolidge in the summer of 1958 to play in the state Little League Championship. I don’t remember the specifics of that game, I know that we didn’t win the championship  but I do remember a side trip that we took to Florence and the Arizona State Prison. Arizona State Prison was an old school-Alcatraz-San Quentin type prison. It looked like a prison out of a Hollywood movie where they sent the really bad guys to rot away. Where George Raft would have gone  or maybe Edward G. Robinson would have spent his last days there.  This was the Arizona  State Prison.

We were taken inside the prison by our Little League coaches, Mr. Jack Murray, Mr. Louis Pope and Mr. Paul Whelan. I can still see the high gray walls of the prison as we approached it from the road. I believe that some of the prisoners talked to us about their life inside the prison. . I can still see the prisoners leaning against the cell bars as we walked down the halls. I believe that most of us were scared shitless, to say the least. “This was one place that you do not want to end up in,”  the prisoners told us. Right then and there I made a promise to my 12 year old self, I vowed,  that I would try not to do anything that would get me into a prison. And to this day, I am now 70 years old,  I have thought about that trip into the Arizona State Prison. Thanks Jack Murray, Louis Pope and Paul Whelan.