"At the entrance, my bare feet on the dirt floor, Here, gusts of heat; at my back, white clouds. I stare and stare. It seems I was called to this: To glorify things just because they are.
Czelaw Milosz
Flickr
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Hazleton Pennsylvania Coal Slag tales my father told Jack Barnosky
“Mules and Whorehouses”
Babe Ruth
Cranberry Field
Every year after the baseball season had ended the big league ball players would barn storm across the country. They always had two teams, the Bustin Babes, led by Babe Ruth and the Larrapin Lous led by Lou Gehrig. They would travel around and play against each other and then play a game against the local all star team. Every little town in our area had a team. Good ball players. Some even made it to the major leagues. They were playing the games at Cranberry Field, I remember it was a friday and the place was packed. held about 15 maybe 18,000. It cost a quarter to get in and I didn’t have a quarter. There must have been 200 other kids hanging outside the gate playing hooky from school, trying to sneak in or just get a peak at the big league players. There wasn’t a quarter in that whole group. This was in 1926, I think so I was 10 years old. The local all star team had Johnny Nezgoda from Kelayers, Mutt Widalis from Hazleton and Yonchy Grey from Mcadoo. Yonchy Grey was a pitcher and just the year before he had struck out two of the Bustin Babes.
That whole group of kids was getting restless. The game was going to start and we were on the outside. Just before the game started we saw Mr. Budnar coming toward us along with a player in his uniform. Mr Budnar always organized these games and the player was Babe Ruth.
“What are kids doin out here”? said Babe
“We just want to see the game, Babe but we got no money”
Babe Ruth stepped aside and talked with Mr. Budnar. They were very animated. They had practiced this. They came back to the group and Babe said
“I talked to Mr. Budnar here and he says you might be able to go in if you promise to behave. Think you guys can do that?”
We just yelled “Yea Babe, Yea.”
Then Babe Ruth picked me up, put me on his shoulder and took me into the stadium followed by all the kids that were out there. When the crowd saw this they all stood up clapping and laughing. We watched the game from the outfield, but when I got home that night I got a good lickin from my mother for playing hooky. It was worth it.
Felix Barnosky told to Jack Barnosky
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