Simple Times...

Last night we (the boy and I) stayed up all night working security at a local festival with the Boy Scouts. It is an annual event and the Scouts enjoy an UP ALL NIGHT project where they walk the perimeter with a police officer to "protect" the food booths. As with all Scout activities there were at least 2 adults there. One happened to be me and the other our Scoutmaster.

Well we talked and hung with the boys well into the early morning. When they went out on patrol we just sat and talked about life and growing up and baseball. See the Scoutmaster loves baseball and grew up in Minnesota during the 50's and 60's. He worked at the stadium there as a kid selling pennants and got to see his heroes up close. He told a story of a double header with the Yankees. In between games the staff and team would run across the street to this hotel to have lunch (stadium food not so good). So he was sitting at the counter eating a burger and fries when in walks Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris and some other Yankees. The place was pretty full so the M&M boys sit on either side of the 14 year old kid (our Scoutmaster) and proceed to eat lunch and talk to him about life, the universe and baseball. He got up to leave and there was Yogi Berra, and he loved Yogi and asked for an autograph. When Yogi asked for a pen and some paper he told him he didn't have any, so Yogi pulled out a dollar bill and signed it for him. He has since spent that dollar and is kicking himself. The best thing he said was that Maris and Mantle were just regular nice guys, oh and the year was 1961. Roger would go on to beat Babe Ruth's Home Run record that year.

Think you would run into Barry Bonds at a local burger joint...