Wisdom ( Write this one down )

" Sometimes the best deals are the ones you don't make. "

BILL VEECK

My little Bill Veek story . . .  ( It's VEECK like in WRECK )
I would suggest for anyone out there who does not know about this flamboyant major league baseball owner to google him . . .

Being raised in Tucson, Arizona, I remember when about in the 5th grade, I attended Roskruge Junior High School, which was just two-and-a-half blocks from my house and I distinctly remember Bill Veek Jr., who was about one year younger than I lived in the house directly across the street from the school, on Fifth Street.  Bill Veek Jr. was a lanky smart nice kid and sported glasses.  His father, Bill Veek Sr. at the time was the owner of the Cleveland Indians, and Tucson was the winter home of the Indians.  So the family would move here for the winter warm up season every year.  I didn't know him well, but I do remember playing a little softball in the schoolyard with him.

The city of Tucson therefore was home to the minor-league Cleveland Indians franchise team: " The Tucson Cowboys ".   I went to hundreds of Tucson Cowboy games, and I also saw a few Indians Exhibition games and back in hose days, they would let you climb the wall and sneak in free . . nobody said nuttin' . . . but those days are gone, now the police handcuff and arrest you.   It's a whole new ball game ( pardon the pun ).

I remember getting Lou Boudreau's and Satchel Paige's and Bob Lemon's and Larry Doby's autographs. Usually on the back of a Hershey Bar wrapper or popcorn box . . . most of them would give you a dirty look . . . reason was that the majority of the kids had nice autograph books  . . . I remember Bob Lemon saying looking at the Hershey bar wrapper, You're not going to throw it away, are you ? . . I said, of course not, Thanks !   He said, You're welcome.

Phoenix was the winter spring training camp sometimes of the then Brooklyn Dodgers, and I got to see a lot of baseball legends who came in to play the local Cleveland Indians.  Lots of fond memories . . . I remember back then, about in 1950 is when I saw Satchel Paige up close . . Hell, he looked about 60 then, and he went on to play for years after that . . . Back to the drawing board.

Nuf sed, as Lew Card used to say.