mikerofone;877 wrote: ...they were my home run balls I hit that year playing for Bowman Electric. I think I led the league in home runs that year...it was all downhill for my sports career after that....
Sorry for the off-topic response, but it somewhat astonished me that, though it's been 28 years since I worked at the Corte Madera post office, seeing the name "Bowman Electric," I immediately conjured up their PO box number. Now if I could only remember where I put my regular glasses five minutes ago...
I've lived in Oregon for about that last 30 years, but I recently discovered 6 old baseballs in my dad's garage in Corte Madera...they all had handwriting on them and were dated 1971...they were my home run balls I hit that year playing for Bowman Electric. I think I led the league in home runs that year...it was all downhill for my sports career after that....
Let's not forget the mighty Optimist Club team! (minors) We had the smallest, most unlikely to succeed looking bunch of kids on that team, but we kicked butt! We had great coach named Greg Rossoff (a young rookie police officer)- he and his girlfriend Faith taught us the true power of teamwork and hustle. Ill never forget the pride of winning games not because we had star players and fast pitchers, but because we worked TOGETHER! What ever happened to Stu Phillpot? Rob DeMartini? (my co-pitcher) I can't remember all the names, good times.
P.S. Mikezee did you have sister named Molly? My last year in Marin was '71- I was in 6th grade with her.
Cat, I remember Paul very well. I recall that he was pretty quiet. Of course, at 3 a.m, who had much to say? When I tried to tell Kelly that missing one house out of four hundred wasn’t bad, he would say “Paul goes weeks without missing even one house”. That pretty much ended my argument. It’s nice to know that Paul's hard work gave his family something special.
Yes, how did we survive without all those gadgets that we can’t live without today? In 1971, the big debate among the teachers at Neil Cummins was “should we let kids use pocket calculators on their math tests?” It was pointed out that we were already using slide rules (remember those?), so why not? - I guess within a year they had conceded defeat – wonder what they would think of cell phones??? I think this was the same year that girls could wear pants to school - you can see 1971 was a real breakthrough year!
Everyone thinks Marin was always a hip progressive place, but even as late as 1971, in our 8th grade math class, we would have to sit in the order of how we had done on our most recent math test score. So after each test, we would all have to stand up and out math teacher would call out the order we would now be seated in, and those would be our seats until the next test, and so on. Can you believe that? Try that today, you’re skipping your bail hearing and going straight to jail! The crazy thing was, nobody’s parents ever complained about what was a degrading public humiliation for someone's kids – it was “the way it was” – even here in marvelous marin.
My dad was Paul Streett. He did that morning route for many years. I remember him grumbling a couple of times because he had to go back to re-deliver a paper that had gotten wet. He drove a green 58 Chevy, then later some kind of green Buick, for his route. He would have been in his 40's, with a dark crew cut. He worked that second job so that we could have things like our summer house in Clearlake, and our boat. Looking back, I can't believe how hard he worked. At least when he came home, he was home. No cell phones, computers or pagers. How did we all survive without those?
I had a Chronicle route in Kentfield/Kent Woodlands in '73 and our shack was on/near Industrial Way Greenbrae. Those hours were one thing but seven days a week, that was too much.
Cat, I was one of those drivers for Kelly, who owned the Chronicle route for Tiburon in the sixties and seventies. His 3-4 drivers would gather at that spot off Magnolia around 3 a.m and load up about 400 papers each. Before he got the Magnolia shed, the drivers used to meet at a shed close to where Big 4 rents is off Paradise drive. The move to Magnolia was done around 1976. Driving was great because you could deliver all the papers in about an hour. Each morning, Kelly posted a list of houses a driver had missed delivering a paper to. Try as I might, I invariably missed ONE house, and rarely did the other drivers miss any. For awhile, I tried blaming it on a dog, only to have Kelly tell me that particular house didn't HAVE a dog. The problem with missing even one house was that Kelly would then have to deliver the paper himself later that morning. One sunday morning, I finished up the route at 4:30 a.m, then, as only the foolish and in love do, I drove a young lady all the way to UC Santa Barbara for the start of the school year, then drove all the way back in time for the next morning's paper route. After being up for 40+ hours, and in a sleepless daze, I delivered the 400 papers as fast as I could, then went home and slept all day. When I showed up for work the following morning, I was sure there would be a long list of homes I had missed - I was afraid to even go in. Alas, for about the only time, I missed....none!
Before I was a driver, we would do "inserting" on Sunday mornings at that shed on Paradise. Kelly would hire about 3-4 of us 14-year olds, and we would be there from 2-6 a.m assembling the Sunday paper for later delivery by the drivers. Then, with our $5 pay, we would go celebrate our payday at Denny's....
Kelly was old-school but big-hearted. Once my team came out on the short end of a pickup football game at the town park. I hated losing, and I walked off the field with tears in my eyes. Kelly saw me, and I felt more than a little embarrassed to have a grownup see me cry. But he said "show me a good loser, and I'll show you a loser." I always loved him for that.
Minor teams I remember besides those mentioned, Chinese Kitchen, Friend's 76 Union, I was on Friend' Union in the minors my first year & during the parade they gave us a carton of those styrofoam 76 Union orange antenna balls to toss to the crowd from the flatbed truck during the Little League Parade. Charlie Molineaux coached Chinese Kitchen then & they always did well.
I don't know if anyone remembers, but back then, even in seemingly peaceful, placid Corte Madera, if you were around 9-12 years old, and strayed more than a block or two from your own neighborhood, you chanced an unhappy (and very one-sided) encounter with kids who were very territorial about their turf. Walking the dirt roads in summer was particularly hazardous - lots of bored kids just waiting for someone to discharge their aggression on. Nowhere was this more feared than the railroad tracks leading to Joe Wagner, which were rumored to be rife with kids hiding in the thick bushes just waiting for some poor kid on his way to a ballgame. The stories were passed along in low voices - so and so had gotten "jumped", "pantsed", or been the victim of a "super-wedgie". (not to be confused with the atomic-wedgie of Seinfeld fame). The wise always walked with a friend along the tracks to Joe Wagner....
They don"t announce the games anymore because the residents don't like it???!!!! How typical is that of Marin today. Those residents are not Marinits nor will they ever be, no matter how much they try. I played in two all-star games there in "61 & '62 and they announced all the games, as they did at our field, which was Castro Field in Santa Venetia. It was part of being a Little Leaguer to hear your name announced. I do know that both of these fields were the best fields anywere. They were our Field of Dreams. Luckey for you, you still have your field, something about maintanence and liabilty closed Castro Field, probably annoyed residents, not neighbors.
Great memories! Joe Wag was right down the street from my house. Every weekend and evening you could here the kid announcing..."now batting...
That was a huge part of my social life, hanging out at Joe Wagner and watching the games with my friends. I remember a girl named Lisa Lerner, who was one of the first girls to play Little League in Twin Cities. She was good, too.
They don't use the announcing booth that often anymore. Just sometimes on the weekends. Neighbors don't like it. My older son played, and now my younger son is starting Minors this season.
They might still give out free sno-cones for foul balls, but I'm not sure. I'll have to check.
Remember the concrete bridge? A certain few daredevil kids used to climb to the top of the arch. As a parent, now, I shudder to think about that.
Harold Kelly was a friend of my dad's. Kelly also delivered the Chronicle in the mornings, as did my dad. (maybe Harold managed the deliveries, I can't remember). They used to meet to pick-up the papers behind the auto shop on Magnolia, near LCM. (Marin Primary).
Only a few of these busniesses are still around...
It cost only $6 to sign up at the old fire station in Corte Madera...The season was underway with a parade when all of the teams gathered on a Saturday morning in April around the Union 76 station on Tamalpais Drive, with each team riding in the back of someone’s flatbed to Joe Wagner Field for the season opener. Mr. DeGregory drove the Koch luggage team… If you snagged a foul ball at Joe Wagner, you turned it in for a snowcone….games were sometimes broadcast over a tiny radio station by Mr. Pasquanelli. Corte Madera Lions was coached by Harold Kelly, an ex pro ballplayer and long-time volunteer fireman - the mighty Louis George team went 20-1... I didn't get a hit all year, but our coach, Charlie Molyneoux, made me feel like a million bucks anyway...
