Why Can’t We Go Back To When We Were Great?

I was born in 1944, which means I became aware of the world around me beginning in the 1950’s, and what helped me understand the names and places of countries outside the United States was because I collected stamps and had a pretty good stamp collection until my mother got sick and tired of seeing all the torn envelopes all over my bedroom floor and one day threw the whole goddamn collection out.

I didn’t really mind my mother’s decision to consign my ‘priceless’ stamp collection to the garbage, because by that time I was playing baseball in the local little league and going down to Griffith Stadium to watch the Senators who were, in the immortal words of Shirley Povich, ‘first in war, first in peace and last in the American league.’

Actually, in 1955 the Senators finished 5th in the American League, or what was the top of the 2nd Division. Which meant that every member of the team got a World Series share, which amounted to $16 bucks.

I also remember a Friday night game at the stadium, which was preceded by a home run hitting contest, and because the Yankees were the other team, the stadium was packed to see if Mickey Mantle would hit one of those ‘tape measure’ home runs.

To the crowd’s dismay, it was announced before the game that Mantle had stayed in New York for therapy on one of his bum…