Quote:
Originally Posted by ajjohnsonsoxfan
Whenever I meet an old timer (someone that's over 80 years old or was a kid during the war etc.) I always like to talk to them about baseball and see who they got to see or met. Last night at a holiday party I met my friends dad who was in town from Michigan. He was 19 in 1944 and went into the Navy and saw action in the south pacific. As a kid growing up in North Carolina he told me about a Red Sox farm team that was close to his hometown and he and his friends would catch home run balls that would leave the park and try and sneak into the stadium using the balls a ruse to get in. He said during one of these outings he got to meet Jimmy Foxx and he was the most impressive ball player he ever laid eyes on.
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Great story! My late father in law, 17 in '44 and a Navy vet too, told great stories about who he saw growing up. But being LA in the 30s and 40s it never included stories of baseball--though he was a big Dodgers fan after '58. But he sure could recall Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, and Kay Kaiser!
Your story is a great encouragement to talk baseball with these men. My bro teaches a WWII class and brings these men in for class stories and interviews. I might need to stop in and talk baseball too! They are a fleeting generation sadly.