My First Professional Game in 1959

In 1959, my father, John Sr. and I would listen to the radio broadcasts of my Pittsburgh Pirates. Many summer nights as I drifted off to sleep the soothing voices of Bob Prince and Jim Woods would carry me off to dream land.  On Saturday July 18th I would attend my first game, at Forbes Field in person. Now some of the young people reading this may believe that since it was 1957, it actually was at the Roman Coliseum as the Christians faced the lions, but it really was a game between the Pittsburgh Pirate and the San Francisco Giants. I have never anticipated an event like this before or since. When my father parked the car, we made our way across Forbes Ave. toward the ballpark. I stood looking at the outside, which appeared to be an office building. Where was Forbes Field? We made our way through the crowds surrounding the field. I lived in a town with maybe fifteen thousand people and here I was, one of maybe 30,000. There where more people in that ballpark then in our whole town. We entered the gates and a man took our tickets, but I still wondered where the playing field was. When we found our area, we went up the ramp to our seats and there it was. The greenest grass I had ever seen, the playing field at Forbes Field. I looked out to left field and the ivy covered wall, with the museum on the other side. There was right field where Babe Ruth had sent a record shot over the stands and onto the street. In or near the batting cage was Roberto Clemente, Bill Mazeroski, Bill Virden, Smoky Burgess, Bob Skinner and the rest of my baseball heroes. I also saw in my first game, the great Willie Mays, but my attention was on the Pirates. The smells of hot dogs, popcorn and roasted peanuts engulfed us as we prepared for the upcoming game.  There has never been a gourmet meal that can compare with a hot dog during a baseball game. I watched intently as the teams went through batting and fielding practice. Soon the umpire shouted out, "Play Ball".  I could have stayed there forever, but soon the nine innings had slipped past and it was time to head for home. I wish I could say that the Pirates had won, but they lost 4-3. It really didn't matter that much. The following year the Bucs would win the World Series.  As my father drove along the river toward downtown Pittsburgh, the night sky was bright red from the glow cast by the steel mills that were in full swing. The steady hum of the tires on the concrete roadway, caused me to drift to sleep, where I would relive my own, "Field of Dreams."  I have had opportunities to attend and enjoy many sporting events in my life, but none will ever compare with that first trip to Forbes Field.

Changes to "Old School Sports"

When I started to develope a new blog, "Old School Sports" , there was a struggle to find how to make something new about sports and talk about current issues, but I also wanted to find a way to talk about past times in sports. I believe going forward the focus of my blog will be about times in our memories. I want to talk about my first trip to Forbes Field in Pittsburgh to see my Pirates play. I also want, you, to talk about your first visit to the ballparks that you cherished as a kid. I want to relive the glory of Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell and Bill Mazerowski. I will take us down the road with Willie Mays, Hank Aaron and Bob Gibson. The days of listening to games on the radio, because so few were on TV. We will look at the NFL when it was in, infancy and still behind baseball in popularity. The great players I grew up with were Jimmy Brown, Bart Starr, Paul Warfield, Jim Ryan and even a Steeler or two, like Paul Martha and Bill Saul. In basketball I watched Bill Russel and his match up with Wilt Chamberlain. Arnold Palmer and a young Jack Nickolas ruled the links. These are the sports heroes I read about and grew to warship. I want to hear about yours. This is how I am taking "Old School Sports". It truly will be old school. See you soon. John.