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Show i i.. ,, , i 1 s '''. : . i "'"v'k,l-. ..... ' ' ' j A SWING and a miss occurs as the Cubs' Joseph McLean fails to come into contact with the baseball, which was pit- -.v i V, i ' ' '" ' . v " " 4 4 -urn - . . - ' r ; . w ' - . 1 f. ,j . - . . ,. .s : . - I . . - r ....... r id' , ! ' I' ' " " mm - ... ' i - -. ; .- ( - k ... ! ' " ' " i .... -. ,.--. .V, .1 i ' x " .... . -- . YANKEE BATTER, Jimmy Strieker takes a swing at the baseball and hopes for a base hit. Bronco League baseball ched by a pitcher and not a pitching machine in Vernal. games are set for this week in the Vernal Bovs' Baseball Complex. ; - - - "- ..... f ' v' - I ! - mm y o--H THE CATCHER Troy Murray, wins as he captures the baseball and Jody Fitts misses the white obiect during, his time at bat. rcc y LitUe League, Pony League basebaU and girls' Softball programs are filled with fun and excitement, but the old days of backyard baseball were just as fun and proved to be a wild encounter of the baseball hitting kind. The ground rules were simple hit the ball and run as fast as your little legs could carry you. Teams consisted of anywhere from two to the whole neighborhood, but when a family of six has only four children the teams consisted con-sisted of mostly two and sometimes three if the next door neighbors were available for an afternoon of baseball slugging warfare. It was summertime and the days were hot and long and after a few hours of watching the square box known as the television set it was time to escape and play baseball in the back yard. Home plate was a bare spot on the grass and first base in the Rachele backyard was an old log, which was used mostly for sitting but had a different dif-ferent role in the baseball game of life. Second base was a rock and third base was a paper sack if the wind wasn't blowing up a storm. The batter was up to the plate waiting for the pitch to arrive and dreaming of being a great baseball star like Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron and Roger Maris. A swing was taken at the baseball and it sailed sail-ed over the fence for a homer. The batter bat-ter touched each base and beamed his Mantle, Aaron, Mays, Maris home run smile. Baseballers who slugged balls in the backyard were Rachele children, Orlie, Aldon, Steve and Kaye and the McClure brothers, Chad and Brent. Back in the 1960s the sport was mainly main-ly for boys, but with only three boys in the family sister Kaye became a baseball player and didn't have much of a choice in the matter. The team would have the batter lead off and the v' would either get a single or-and or-and would score on a mightvb' the fence or up the mid' number two hitter and runs'" producer. Sometimes the: would be stranded on the and it was time to steal thi the base was stolen it was ti' i the same thing at home p;s;' Baseball players on the tej many defensive roles fw;-would fw;-would serve as the pitcher a.-" also cover anything hit up tfel' The other player would plaVj-; outfield and would cover 'tC when two players were on " paths. The pitcher would alT first base on short bounce-' hurler. If there were three pv' each team, one person woii- ' ) pitcher, one baseballer would" infield and one person would outfield. Umpires were nowhere to and the person with the f-;ri was the owner of the basebaj was a bit of yelling, but fun-..' name of the game and once s X was made the baseballers re slugging the baseball. The baseball equipment antique style. One of the gfc' big, fat and flat and dated barj 1930s. The glove looked uv ' and youngsters of the tough time figuring out ho t was able to catch the baseball Two hands were required in glove and one-handed leaping were impossible. Another giov7-" back to the early 1940s andttf-was andttf-was thin and painful. The glcr, hand just right and was a gar-for gar-for catching a baseball, but tl padding made the catching ej a painful one. The best glove ;VJ was a 1960 model, which wars baseball slugging brothers iij League action, Aldon and 0iV: other fairly good gloves weres; green, girls' glove and tit-one tit-one was a lefthander's glow r was used by a righthander. Sos; soul got stuck with the sad cbee, ing the "how-do-I-use-this-gL-r: the "it-hurts-my-hand" glove Backyard baseball was over, day when the stars and the rat over the sky, when one team rr-to rr-to one as the other players ha: -:, of the game or the baseball kl through a window. |