here I be, Aaron.
I loved watching players from the other team seeing it for the first time. WTF is where they started.
LFers had an easy time. CFers had to attack it straight on.
i vividly remember a TCU fielder try to scale the wall, get near the top, then fall off.
he didn't hurt himself fortunately, but our hitter took the tour.
i also remember a smaller guy hit one of the longest homeruns to right i've ever seen. i think it was a second baseman named Bobby Clark. he caught a fastball just right one day and absolutely launched it. the right fielder never even turned around, just dropped his head. he hit it way high and got it up into the wind. the wind was out of the north that day too and i'm pretty sure that ball cleared not only the fence but 22nd street behind it. had to have been 450 feet if it was an inch.
got my first souvenir foul ball at Clark Field. in those days, you weren't supposed to keep the baseballs, but i was sitting near the top of the stands one day and a batter fouled one over the top of the stands near where i was sitting. there was a small tributary creek to waller creek that ran behind the stands and i turned to watch the baseball and saw it hit the far bank of the creek and roll down the bank straight into a discarded soft drink cup. i kept watch for awhile and never saw anyone get the ball even though i saw some kids looking all over for it.
on our way out of the game at the end i told my Dad, "hey, let me check something" and i ran down the bank, jumped the creek and found the cup with the baseball still in it.
in my excitement, i accidentally forgot to return it. Imagine that.
Hey, I was 12 years old and needed that baseball.
h34r:
