The Blog

Some time ago a friend of mine had suggested that I go down and paint at City Stadium in Glen Cove, NY which is the town I grew up in and is not far from where I now live. As I have been excited about trying some night painting I got to thinking that it might be a good idea to go down and paint the kids playing under the lights.

What an experience this turned out to be!

Understand that I was not a good Little League player by any stretch of the imagination! I never spend much time fondly recalling my years spent down at the Stadium. In fact, I never really think about it at all.

However, I was amazed to learn that City Stadium simply has not changed one bit in the forty years since I was last there, so much so that walking into the main gate was like walking into a time machine. I was surprised to feel so much warmth and to suddenly feel overwhelmed by so many memories that I never would have thought made any difference to me at all. The sound of the cletes on the paved sidewalks, the weird echo the ball made off of the corrugated metal fence when someone caught it. I could see all the old faces and hear the same sounds and smell the same smells. I do not think I have ever met one person who was there yet every person I passed smiled, waved or said hello. It was as if I was a small boy in my uniform walking with my ice cream cone in a very familiar, safe and innocent place once again. What a gift!

As I said before, I was not a good ball player. In fact, I was awful. I think I bunted once and got to first base on an error and that was as far as I ever got on the bases. As I was walking around looking for a good place to paint I found myself coming down the left field line toward home plate at field 3 which was not being used that night and was totally uninhabited. Yet the lights were on and the bases were still in place and I could not resist the urge to quicken my stride (though I did not run) reach out and swipe third base with my left foot and continue down the line to stamp both feet on home plate. And so, at the age of 53, I scored my first run at City Stadium and raised both arms to acknowledge the roar of the crowd which only I could hear.