I came across this photo from about 1957. Taken on the ball diamond at Mt. Tabor School in New Albany, Indiana.
I had tried out for the team that year - seems like there were a lot of boys trying out - and I was lucky enough to make the cut. Then they found out I wasn't old enough to play in Little League - I was all of seven years old. You had to be eight. So they made me bat boy.
The team was sponsored by the plumbers union (local 605).
I don't remember the coaches' names but my brother Steve is to my immediate right, holding a catcher's mitt. He played the catcher's position throughout Little League and Babe Ruth and was great at it.
The only other player I recognize is Greg Sullivan, Brenda Scharlow's brother, 2nd row - 4th from the left. He and I became good friends that year and hung out doing what young boys did back then.
It's funny the things you remember. I can recall one day Greg was riding his bike down McDonald Avenue with me on the handlebars, and we were singing "The Purple People Eater" by Sheb Wooley (1958, I think) at the top of our lungs.
A long time ago. Great fun. Great memory.
Steve later found himself on Monkey Mountain near Da Nang in South Vietnam in 1968. Did his duty, dodged daily rocket and mortar attacks, kept his head down, served honorably, made his country proud, and came home and went to work at Pillsbury there in New Albany. He later signed on with R.J. Reynolds in Louisville and was employed there for many years till he retired to his home in Lanesville.
I still have the baseball glove, by the way. Very small by today's standards, it's battered and dried out. The inside is cracked and peeling. On the thumb the name JERRY FUHRMAN is written in block letters. My mother somehow thought I'd lose it and she did the ink work. I haven't lost it. 65 years and counting.
