Yes, I arrived there nearly 3 hours early. Yes, I “adjusted” my itinerary so I could make it back in time. Yes, it was selfish, self centered, but maybe in a few minutes you will understand why.
But first, I need to digress.
Our next door neighbor was a former minor league ball player named Jack Gilbert. Mr. Jack had once played ball at Luther Williams field for the Macon Peaches. His son Ronnie was 4 years older than me but invited me into his backyard at the age of about 4 to play baseball. I was immediately hooked even if I didn’t have a glove, a problem rectified by Santa Claus the following Christmas. In my tutelage as an up and coming major leaguer (I was to be the left handed version of Phil Niekro), it was a common occurrence that “Mr. Jack” would arrive home from work only to be handed a ball and bat and “coerced” to hit pepper to us kids. The pepper game would go on until an uncontrollable force of nature (supper or sunset) caused its end.
Let me digress further.
Luther Williams Field (named after the Mayor at the time, circa 1929), is hallowed ground for the baseball enthusiast, and in the summer of 1968 it was no different. It became-- in my mind anyway-- THE place where my “love of baseball roots” are planted. Mr. Jack played there. Ronnie was the son of Mr. Jack and introduced me to the game which was then enhanced on a daily basis with the aforementioned pepper game. Easy math.
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One Day I would get married and have a son and hope he would love baseball as much as I did--and perhaps he would get a chance to play baseball in Luther Williams Field in my hometown on a beautiful spring night with a full moon and it would be Norman Rockwellesque…
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Someone did the right thing and scheduled 3 of the Howard Huskies ball games at this grand historic venue. The second oldest minor league ballpark in the nation. Where my next door neighbor and Macon Peach Jack Gilbert, as well as some others— Henry Aaron, Pete Rose, Tony Perez, Chipper Jones--and even a barnstorming guy named George Herman Ruth.
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I have a photograph. It is of little Joe Fisher, my son, AKA “Mans Best Friend” when he played youth ball. He is maybe 8 years old. Our team was the one that got to go on the field with the “then and since moved to Rome, Georgia” Macon Braves. Little Joe is standing on the field next to the "Real" Macon Brave. He tells me years later that he thought he would get to actually play that night rather than to just run out on the field and hear the Star Spangled Banner. Regardless, on that hot summer night all those years ago a Dad saw his son run out onto the field and thought it was awesome. Maybe one day the prophecy would be fulfilled.
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Little Joe Fisher is now big Joe Fisher, sometimes referred to as “JoeFish” by his teammates and Coaches. His Mother and sisters are the only human beings in the universe that call him “Joey”. I have always thought the name “Joe” is a good baseball player name.
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The Howard Huskies play Jones County in about an hour. I have walked around the ball park taking photographs, inhaling as much ambience as I can and to get my “baseball on”. It matters not who wins the game. I just want to watch the kids play. The other parents feel the same way. The sky is blue, the weather is better than perfect.
My son and his teammates are about to play BASE BALL in Luther Williams Field.
Babe. Hank. Chipper. And now a kid with a good baseball name-- Joe.
Yes, I'm about to pee my britches.
Huskies outpace Greyhounds 3-2
By Kerrell Goolsby
"In the first meeting between Howard and Jones County, it was a one-sided affair that favored the Greyhounds 11-3 March 1st in Gray. Fast forward to St. Patricks Day in Macon at Luther Williams Field and the Huskies held Jones County in check offensively and got the go-ahead and winning run on a fielding error by third baseman Eric Coleman to take a 3-2 win Thursday evening.
Brandon Spivey of Jones County (5-3, 2-1 in Region 3A-AAAA) took the complete game loss, going 6 1/2 innings with eight strikeouts and a pair of walks. Howard's Brandon Leigh took the complete game win, giving up only one earned run in the contest.
The Greyhounds took a 2-0 lead in the fourth on a single by Coleman, who drove in Sam Kent with one out in the frame. Jones would add their second and final run of the game when Coleman scored on a Dylan Holmes error. A double by Holmes scored Matthew Fitzgibbons in the bottom of the inning after Fitzgibbbons reached on a double with one out in the fourth. Howard would tie the score in the bottom of the fifth on a pair of singles by Joe Fisher and Davey King and a sac fly by Matt Mahoney.
Howard managed to hold Jones County in check in the seventh inning after the Greyhounds had a scoring threat in their half of the frame when Fisher reached on a single with one out. After King struck out, Atkinson singled Fisher over to second and Mahoney's grounder to third was mishandled, allowing the winning run to cross the plate.
Fisher led all Husky hitters, going 3 for 4 with a pair of runs scored. Fitzgibbons went 2 for 3 with a run scored while Holmes was also 2 for 3 with an RBI. Kent was Jones County's top hitter, going 3 for 3 with a run scored....."
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At home, Joe came up and we went over the game like we have done a hundred times previous-- I told him it looked like he went out on the field like he had been playing on it his whole life. “Dad, I told Coach Slaughter, I’m so FREAKED out I have goose bumps!”, and Coach said “I do too.” Then Joe said “I saw his arm, Dad-- he really did!”
To cap off one hellaciously wonderful night, I posted my Facebook status before I went to bed:
Dear Joe;
Great time tonight buddy. I've been waiting since you were born to watch you play ball in that park--it was everything it was supposed to be..hope you boys enjoyed it as much as your parents did
Love, Dad
Before I placed the Blackberry on the nightstand, I just “happened” to check Joes’ Facebook status—this is what I found:
“Luther Williams-- no words can describe the feeling or the mood the park lays upon you as you walk on to the field.”
Joe, you said it better than I ever could.
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