Cooperative Living August 2019 - 42

Rural Living | by Margo Oxendine, Contributing Columnist
It's summer and that
means ... baseball!
N
ow, I am certainly not a sportster.
I don't play. I don't watch. I don't
really care.
Then again, I somehow managed to fall
in love with baseball of the professional
sort when I lived in San Francisco. I
wasn't at all thrilled to discover my
boyfriend and his family were big Giants
fans and had a slew of box seats for the
season. Nonetheless, I went along.
There's something about a professional
baseball stadium, or whatever the proper
name is. It is exciting just to walk through
the portals. And, once you're inside, people
are charged up. You can't help but catch
the feeling.
There are vendors walking around,
shouting about their hot dogs, their popcorn,
their cold drinks, their beer, their big
foamy " Number 1 " fingers, their 3-footlong
inflatable plastic bats.
At some point, someone even bought
me a Giants cap. I don't like caps, but was
forced to wear it, and smile.
Baseball is a very exciting game, if you
are, indeed, at the game. I never understood
how folks got riled up listening to a game
on the radio or watching it on television.
But lots of people do.
I think the baseball fever got to the point
where my boyfriend bought me an actual
leather baseball glove. And one for himself,
WhatzIt?
Each issue, we will publish a photo of a
familiar but unidentified object. You are
invited to make your best guess and submit
it in writing, along with your name, address
and phone number. Either mail to Whatzit?,
c/o Cooperative Living, P.O. Box 2340,
Glen Allen, VA 23058-2340 or guess online
at co-opliving.com under " Contests. "
The deadline for this month's entries is
Aug. 20. Correct entries will be placed in
a drawing and the winner announced in
the October 2019 issue. The winner will
receive an Amazon gift card for $25. n
40 | Cooperative Living | August 2019
of course. And an official Giants baseball.
We'd walk over to Golden Gate Park
and toss the ball around. Imagine the
shock when it was discovered that I had a
" great arm! " I marveled at the fact that,
for the first time in my life, I was liking,
and sorta good at, a sport.
I was, don't you know, the school kid
who was always chosen last for any team.
I expected nothing more. All I wanted was
for recess to be over. During my school
days, I managed to get my nose broken by
a ball thrown way too hard by one of the
mean boys. Or girls. Gender didn't matter.
These kids were out for blood, and they
got mine.
Another time, I apparently stood too close
to the batter and, when he tossed the bat
after a hit, it slammed into my face. It's a
wonder I don't look like a washed-up
boxer today, what with all the hits I took.
But back to the San Francisco Giants. We
lived in the heart of the city. We had a car,
but it was only used for grocery shopping.
Even then, since I didn't drive, I'd ride my
bike to the far-off Safeway, load up my
handlebars with unwieldy bags of groceries,
and heave and wobble toward home.
So, no way would we attempt to fight
traffic down the freeway to Candlestick Park,
find a parking space, and then trek to the
stadium. Nope. We took the " Ball Park
Express. " It was a fleet of city buses that
we'd hop aboard down on Market Street
and ride to Candlestick. It was always
packed to bursting. I don't think I ever got
a seat, just stood in the aisle, crunched up
against a stranger who was as happy as I.
My favorite memory of the Ball Park
Express was the day I started humming to
myself, " Take Me Out to the Ballgame. "
My tune grew in volume until I was
joined by an entire bus full of fans, and we
were belting it out. I just love the final,
" One, two, three strikes you're out, at the
old ball game. " But that's not the end. No.
You must then shout, at the top of your
voice, " Play Ball! " The whole bus full of
us was gleeful and giddy when we arrived.
My favorite thing about going to the
ball game was Polish sausages, which I
was coerced to try at Candlestick. Yum!
There's never been another sausage that
could come close.
It's summer. What I wouldn't give to be
in a big city, crammed onto a bus full of
baseball fans, headed to a major league
ballpark. Just hand me a smoked sausage
and the binoculars, and I'll be happy. n
To order Margo's book, " A Party of One, "
call 540-468-2147 Monday-Thursday 9-5,
or email: TheRecorderOffice@gmail.com.
The June
WHATZIT
was dandelion
seeds. Timothy
Kitts of Catawba
was our
$25 winner.
Congratulations,
Timothy! n
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Cooperative Living August 2019

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