The good ole days were wonderful, and we lived at a slower pace before technology took over.
But I also remember times as a teenager (late 50's) when the 'older generation' was very worried about us, and our future.
We were getting "too wild" with our choice of music (R&R) especially, souped up cars, and the dating scene, and the clothes we wore.
The thing is, the kids today think they are the greatest generation, with everything that is going on in their world .... things we didn't have.
Traditions continue to evolve with time.
Back in the 50's we had little league baseball but it was different from now.
On game day, we would meet at the field a hour or so before the game. Only half of us usually showed up, so we would ride around on our bikes, starting with the houses of our best pitchers and try to wake one of them up. Pitchers had to have natural talent - there were no coaches, instructions or parents for that matter. 'Sleepy', or "Sleep" for short, was our best pitcher but hard to wake up. He was big for his age and could throw hard which forced a lot of bad swings. Another pitcher was Davey who threw side-arm which scared the heck out of batters.
Once we got a pitcher up, we rode around until we got a full team and then worked on our route to the ballpark. We all had bikes but never wore a protective helmet. If it was an 'away' game we worked out the best route to take that avoided trains (the major industry), area bullies (we never reported these problems because no one cared), hills, and bad roads (many).
Once at the park we waited for the opposing team. If nobody showed, we won by default and played 'Indian ball' for a while until it got too hot. Sometimes teams were just short a few players so we swapped players around to even it out and then played.
For the games, we had to supply our own ball, bats, gloves, bases, umpires, scorekeepers, etc. We didn't have protective equipment for catchers or batters which we really could have used because the pitchers had no training or coaching and wild pitches were common. Getting hit with a pitch was a 'ball' in the ball/strike column, not a walk, otherwise there wouldn't be any actual baseball. We didn't have uniforms either. If fact, some kids missed games because their sneakers were not useable.
We frequently loaned or borrowed fielders gloves because not everyone had them.
Many a game was called a tie because the ball was hit into the weeds and we couldn't find it. And nobody had another one.
Before the game started, the captains found various things in the trash can or in the weeds to serve as bases and home plate. We also chose an umpire from each team to call 'balls/strikes' for the other team ( half inning). If the 'ump' made a bad call, we just did an 'over' and ignored it. Occassionally there was a quarrel but not as many as you might think. It was usually exciting for everyone when a ball came near the strike zone.
In the 4 years that I played, I never once saw a parent or interested adult. I never even saw an adult drop off a player or pick him up. Also surprisingly, I never saw any player get seriously hurt - maybe a bruise from a wild pitch but that's it.
After the game we went home where we split into our local groups, sat in the shade, trading and reading comic books and drinking Kool-aid (actually consuming a refreshing drink, not discussing dystopias)
I miss those summer days...
Every once in a while in the summer, I make some Kool-Aid from a old package we bought for the grandkids and I sit in the shade on the porch with the best adventure author, and my favorite author, Wilbur Smith.
But the flies and mosquitos!,
Kool-Aid has a chemical taste!,
It's too hot/humid/noisy!
And I so go back inside and flip on the TV.
Seriously, the flies and mosquitos and noise? We never used to have them, did we?
