The South
By
Ken Schlapp
July 14, 2003
Mickey Mantle Exhibit
- Grove, OK
It is the all-star
break, so I have three full days to explore baseball sights and take
care of necessary car maintenance between Texas and Florida, before
my next game in St Petersburg on Thursday.
In effect, my tour
all-star break began with a trip to Yale, Oklahoma to see the Jim
Thorpe House. I know Jim Thorpe was more famous for his exploits as
a football player and an Olympian, but he was a professional
baseball player as well, notably with the New York Giants. The
house that he lived in from 1917 through 1923 in Yale is open to the
public as a shrine to his life. Many of his sports awards and family
items are on display. The only problem for me was that when I got
there, the sign indicating that it is open on Mondays-Saturdays from
10-5 had the Monday covered with a Tuesday sign and today happens to
be Monday! Therefore, today I couldn’t hit the curveball and am at
strike two after swinging and missing a Nolan Ryan Center fastball
yesterday. The difference here is that I am much less likely to
make my way back here again and will have to miss out on seeing this
shrine.
I figured that I
might as well take care of maintenance issues after that and get an
oil change for the car. I stopped at Curtis Tate Tire & Service in
Grove, Oklahoma and ended up having a good time talking to the owner
about my trip. Just telling people about what I was doing and
getting to meet people from all over the country was a great part of
this trip. The interesting part here was that he had played minor
league baseball, so I was able to talk baseball during the whole
time I was waiting for my car to be finished. Even when I try to
step away from baseball for a few hours, I find myself drawn back
in, and happily.
Once my car was all
finished, I headed out for the last leg of the Oklahoma portion of
the tour in Grove, Oklahoma at the Hollywood Video Store. The
owners of this video store, Terry and Valerie Hembree, were
long-time friends of Mickey Mantle. They had helped him with
various marketing and charity events over the years and in doing so,
accumulated loads of memorabilia as gifts from their famous friend,
from both his childhood and his playing days. They share this great
treasure with everyone that comes to their store, whether it is to
rent a movie, or to simply come see their mini Mantle Museum. I was
amazed at all of the items they had on display. I walked in to look
around, and briefly spoke with the woman behind the counter, that I
wasn’t smart enough to ask if she was the owner/friend of Mickey
Mantle. She was very nice and was happy to know that I came to the
store to see the exhibit and did not mind that I was taking pictures
(I did ask permission first). After a four-hour drive, my final
resting place for the day was in Little Rock, Arkansas,
July 15, 2003
Mississippi
Sports Hall of Fame & Museum – Jackson, Mississippi
Today, I continued
to make my way East with a 5-hour drive to Jackson, Mississippi,
where I would cross the mighty Mississippi and spend the day and
night. The main baseball attraction for me today, is the
Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum. My initial target was
the Dizzy Dean Museum, but that had recently closed, with much of
the displays and memorabilia donated to the Mississippi Sports Hall
of Fame.
This was a fun
experience from the start. A man named Art, who was a local
resident, and a very nice and jovial man greeted me at the
entrance. He was excited to hear about my adventures through the
country and even more proud to show me around the museum. This
museum has many interactive machines to test your skills in various
sports. Since I was there on a baseball trip, Art led me over to
the pitch speed machine, which was unique from others I’ve seen in
the past. After throwing a pitch, you learn whether it was a ball
or strike, in addition to how fast, or slow your pitch was. Art
told me plenty of stories of how all the blow-hard throwers come in
with tales of their high 80s fastballs, only to register in the
50s. I made no such promise, but threw a 60 mile-an-hour strike!
After that, I went
on to view the Hall of Fame plaques of baseball stars such as Dizzy
Dean and Cool Papa Bell, the displays geared to hitters and hurlers
(pitchers) and many other fascinating displays. While walking
around I noticed a display on the Jackson Mets, which used to be a
minor league (AA) affiliate of the Mets from 1975 to 1990 and
Jackson Generals, an AA affiliate of the Houston Astros from 1991
through 1999. Both teams played their games in Smith-Wills Stadium,
which is now home to the Jackson Senators of the Independent Central
Baseball League. There were team photos, including many players I
grew up watching play for the Mets later on in their careers.
I even looked at
the non-baseball stuff too. I mean, I am not just a baseball fan; I
like the other sports too. I finished up with a private showing of
a movie on famous Mississippi athletes narrated by Robin Roberts,
which run by my new friend Art. I loved every minute of this place
and nothing more than sharing experiences and stories with Art.
Since It has
already been two days since I last saw a baseball game, I needed a
baseball fix. Luckily, for me, Smith-Wills stadium was just across
the street, where a local baseball tournament was going on that I
sat and watched for a couple hours. My plans from there were to sit
at a bar or in my hotel and watch the 2003 All-Star game. The only
problem with that was that Jackson, Mississippi does not happen to
have the FOX network as one of their standard channels. I learned
the hard way the FOX is not available throughout the country and
that I take some things for granted in New York. Which means that
during my big baseball journey, I could not watch the All-Star
Game! I was relegated to listening on the clock radio in the hotel,
while I wrote my notes.
This was also the
somewhat historic first All-Star game that would decide which league
would gain home-field advantage in the World Series. Another
interesting tidbit in this game was that Eric Gagne came in to pitch
the 8th inning for the National League with a 6-4 lead.
He promptly gave up a one-out double to Garret Anderson, a single to
Vernon Wells to plate pinch-runner Melvin Mora to make it a one-run
game. Then Hank Blalock hit a dramatic, two-out go-ahead home run to
put the American League up 7-6, which ended up being the final score
giving the American League Champion home-field advantage. Gagne did
not blow a single save during the entire 2003 season, yet he was the
losing pitcher of the one game I saw in Dodger stadium and he blew
the save in the all-star game and took the loss. Some serious irony
here, but that is the beauty of baseball.
July 16, 2003
Hank Aaron
Stadium – Mobile, Alabama
 The plan today was
to make the long 11-hour journey to Florida to see the Ted Williams
Museum in Hernando, than the Devil Rays game in St Petersburg
tomorrow. However, I decided to take an hour break by visiting Hank
Aaron Stadium in Mobile, Alabama. Hank Aaron Stadium is located in
the hometown of the great Home Run King it is named after. It also
happens to be the hometown of four other hall of famers; Ozzie
Smith, Willie McCovey, Billy Williams, and Satchel Paige, and it is
located near Satchel Paige Drive. There are plaques honoring each
of the five hall of famers and a great gift shop that was open,
although the stadium was not. From the outside, this seemed like a
beautiful old-style baseball park, which is the home of the minor
league Mobile Baybears. Too bad, I was not able to see a game
today; I had to drive another four hours to Williston, Florida to
rest up for tomorrows activities.
Bottom line – Even
though I was without a Major League Baseball game for four days
(including my Sunday tour of the Astrodome), I was able to enjoy
several baseball experiences in the South during my journey from
Texas to Florida.
Basic trip facts:
-Old Stadium Sites
visited – None (Total – 10)
-Under construction Stadium Sites visited – None (Total – 1)
-Miles traveled – 2,080 via Car (Totals: Driving – 12,989, Subway -
20, Air - 3,196, Total – 16,225)
-States, provinces and/or commonwealths passed through – Oklahoma,
Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida (Totals: States
– 36, Provinces – 0, Commonwealths - 1)
-Attendance – 1
-Lodging – Little Rock, Arkansas (7/14), Jackson, Mississippi
(7/15), Williston, Florida (7/16)
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