Voices From the Past

What a great way to start a new year. First a message on my website's guestbook, then a phone call from three of my old ballplayers from the late 1940s. The message from Bob Greer read: "Bill Hershiser, Dave Hess and I all played on your baseball team when we were about 10 years old and spent many hours at your old hobby shop. The three of us are spending the day together and we all agreed that you had a very positive impact on shaping our character. We are just starting to read your book. Mark us as three admirers and friends."
It's hard to find words to express how much that means. The years slip away, you lose track of people, and when you look at the team photo on your office wall you can only wonder if any of the kids remember those days as vividly as you do. Where are they now, what have they done with their lives? Learning that three of them are still close friends is especially meaningful. That one traveled from Ohio and another from Florida to get together at the house of the third in Georgia makes it even more remarkable.
A couple of hours after I read that message they called on the phone and I was able to talk to all three. Then they sent a photo via e-mail. They all look in good shape but if I had passed any one of them on the street I would have just kept walking, totally unaware.
Bob Greer retired as a lieutenant-colonel after twenty years in the Army. I sent an e-mail thanking them for the picture but warning that if Bob and I ever met I would refuse to salute and call him sir.
But what the heck, maybe I would. Bill, Dave and Bob, you made your old coach very happy.
(Bill is on the left of the front row, Bob next to him. Dave is second from the right in the second row. Vic D'Andrea on the left of the second row is a retired lawyer. Phil Knopp on the right in the front row is deceased. The others I don't know about.)