Even before we had plans for the estate sale; I was wondering where my Cardinals Baseball Scrapbook was and if it was still around. I'd made it during 1966, when the Cards were World Champs. I'd been very proud of it growing up, but then brought it back to Ferguson for Dad to keep in his baseball room. Wandering through the rubble of the estate sale one morning, there it was just laying on the floor. I scooped it up. The binding was gone, but all the pages were there. I was interested in one page in particular-the autograph page. There they all were: Bob Uecker, Tracy Stallard, Julian Javier, Dick Groat, and my favorite-Steve Carlton.
One of the local car dealerships on the corner of Chambers Road and West Florissant, was having a promotion with the Cardinals there to sign autographs. I was standing in line at the autograph table waiting my turn. I see it like it was yesterday. Steve Carlton was at my corner. He dropped his pen. I scooped it up for him and he said: "Thank you." I was in love.
I took the book over to Dad to see one more time before I took it back to New Orleans with me. I left it with him and retrieved it the next morning. He told me how much he enjoyed it, but that there was one thing that really stood out to him: there were only two division back then and the team standings reports were really tiny. We also had a good giggle one more time over the fact that the Cardinals sent Carlton back to the minors and eventually traded him. I enjoyed seeing his meteoric rise to fame as a major league pitcher...just NOT with the Cards.
Everything changes, and not always for the best. There's that grand rationalization-it's just different.
Merry Christmas Eve to All!
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