LETTERS: Baseball fan relates
To the Editor:
I enjoyed reading John Christensen's letter a couple of issues ago. John was the consummate St. Louis Cardinal fan in those days as we sort of grew up together. As I remember, John was the only kid I knew who had a Stan Musial baseball card. He had the whole early 50s Cardinal team as I recall.
I was a Brooklyn Dodger fan and many of us kids spent evenings at the old ball park east of Marion hustling foul balls in order to trade them in for nickels or bubble gum baseball cards.
I have no idea where all my Dodger cards and others I collected have gone these many years later. I'm sure a small fortune is lost somewhere, according to the market for such memorabilia in these days.
John's letter also reminded me of Al and Sadie Bernhardt's hardware store. This was the place "Santa" found my first Red Rider lever action Daisy BB gun. Like John and his prize baseball glove, I spent much time looking at that BB gun through the large front window. It was a prize of my young life for which I longed!
Every time I see the Christmas classic movie, "The Christmas Story," (the Darren McGavin edition, set in Indiana), I relive my own growing up years centered around that Christmas gift and the hours I spent in the woods around Mud Creek and Dogfish Dam shooting at snakes, rabbits, squirrels, etc., with that old BB gun.
Al and Sadie were very active in the church my family attended. Sadie taught me much in those Sunday school classes. Al, I think, sang in the choir with my dad, Fred. Good people who cared for all us kids in some really good ways.
By the way, John was a darn good ball player. That old glove, and others which followed, served him well.
Jan Hayen
Parsons
