[tedzan]

You will be pleased to know that I kept close tabs on your St Louis Cardinals as a kid in the late 1940's and early 1950's.
One of my best friends, Gary Morit, was an avid Cardinals fan. We would buy The Sporting News everyday and read up
on our favorite BB players and all the teams. Growing up in Hillside, NJ, we had quite an eclectic group of fans....my next
door neighbor John Sharkey (Phillies fan), Kurt Laughinghouse (Indians fan), Ron Jacobson (Giants fan). The Dodger fans
were Joe Kelleher, Charlie Cohen, Larry Shenven and Billy Brokaw.

And, I was the lone Yankees fan......and mind you, Phil Rizzuto lived just 2 blocks away from us. As early as age 10, we
knew all the stats and history of our respective teams. It was great, because we would engage in (sometimes heated)
discussions comparing our favorite team and ballplayers.

When we were not "Talkin BaseBall" we were playing it from morning till dark. Sometimes Stick Ball, sometimes Hardball.
Other times we would ride our bikes to the Newark Bears Stadium....and once, we even decided to peddle our bikes to
Ebbets Field (20 miles to the Hudson River and then a ferry boat ride to Brooklyn). But, that's a long story that I'll leave
for another time.

Best regards ole buddy,

TED Z