They announced today at Lutheran Central that it was National Cheeseburger Day and I felt obliged to follow their lead.
After an IXL tutoring session from Andrea McKinley, I headed to Mom’s where I met my brother David and we got the trash out. While we were out front a couple came walking by and the guy paused as we spoke and said he recognized me. I probably had not seen Mark Haskett in 40 some years. It took me a moment or two of scrolling, but I did find a baseball team picture of us when we played for the Seymour Pharmacy 🐻 Bears back in about 1973. From our memory, we had one heck of a good team.
When Mom and I got to South Poplar Street Manny Valverde and Curt Nichols were sitting nearby and we again relived some Little League and Teen League baseball days at Shields Park.
Seymour Pharmacy Bears
Front Row: Bat Boy: Dan Weaver, Dick Durham, Scott Ude, Bob Brock, Mark Haskett, Bill Bohall, David Weaver, and Walt Wintin
Back Row: Coach Walt Wintin, Tracy Diggs, Assistant Coach Scott Brown, Rick Stickles, Ron Zike, Shawn Sunbury, and Assistant Coach Bill Weaver
Classic story about this team. We tied for the League Championship with the Jackson County Bank Rockets. We then met them in the Championship game of the tourney. We lost in a close game. Maybe we didn’t think some close calls went our way and some of the players were a bit emotional when the trophies were passed out.
We received two 🏆 trophies. League Champion and tourney second place. Jim Heyne was passing out the trophies at home plate of the little diamond at Shields Park and I was right behind Shawn Sunbury. Jim handed the runner-up trophy to Shawn, he looked at it, paused, and threw it as far as he could down the right field line. I was in awe of that move as I had never witnessed such a rebellious, yet justified act. As dry as drought, Jim Heyne said, “Nice throw, son.”
Shawn has been a hero to me ever since.
Walt’s Diner 