Larry’s story of the baseball in the park got me thinking of a few
stories from that same field. I remember watching Don Egbert playing in
a game and what happened to him is still real clear in my mind. Don was
up to bat and was wearing the normal batters hardhat for those days. It
was just about like a baseball cap and had no ear and side protection
like the newer ones have. There was a fast pitcher and he whipped one in
that caught Don right on the left temple. Don dropped like he had been
shot! I helped butcher here at the farm and saw how animals drop so this
made me think he was a goner! The coaches game on the run and both teams
ran to the plate but poor Don just laid there for a minute or two.
Pretty soon he started to move and got up and stumbled over to the
bench, much to my relief. In another game a couple years later there was
a car parked directly behind the catcher and a foul ball went over the
back fence and came down on the roof of the car. The guy in the car
backed out of the spot and headed for a safer spot along the west fence.
Ernie Gottbreht came driving in, in his dad’s copper colored ’60 Olds,
and saw the perfect spot to park–right behind the catcher. He hadn’t
even shut the car off when a high foul ball came down over the fence and
landed right in the middle of that big windshield. There was a ‘spider’
from top to bottom and both ways to the side. It seems I didn’t really
understand all the terms Ernie was muttering about the mishap!

There was another time when there were several teams of softball
players made up of local guys who played in the evenings. Lots of us
kids would walk or ride bikes down behind the city park to watch. I
remember a game when Bobby Pigeon was playing in the outfield. He was a
guy who looked like the ‘Fonz’ on the TV show called ‘Happy Days’. He
had his hair combed back and was wearing a white T shirt and we thought
he was cool! Someone hit a high fly over the snow fence and Bobby took
off toward the fence and jumped it and caught the ball. The people were
blowing their car horns like crazy for this amazing feat. A few innings
later there was another high fly over the fence and my old buddy Lowell
Leonard took off to catch it like Bobby Pigeon had done. He jumped the
fence but only got one foot over and landed straddling the fence—not
good! He pulled the fence over and landed on the ground in agony. I
still remember how he pulled his leg off the fence and let the fence
stand back up and then had to lay behind it while all the people were
blowing their horns and laughing! Poor Lowell!

One more memory of baseball. In a Babe Ruth game in the park, Don
Mongeon was pitching for Dunseith. He was a good fast pitcher and put
out lots of batters. He wound up and sent in a fast pitch and the big
guy batting hit a line drive right back to Don’s knee cap! It hurt
everyone that saw it, including Don! Thanks Gary!

Dick