Parental complaints nothing new in high school baseball
One factor you can always be assured of in sports is that the more things change, the more they stay the same. Times may change, but some factors are always constant.
Like parents complaining that their kids don’t get enough playing time in games, their sprouts should be starting ahead of somebody else because (in parental eyes) they are better players. You name it.
One complaint heard constantly over the years has been that “my boy is a senior and he’s on the bench while some sophomore is playing ahead of him.” Never mind the fact that “some sophomore” is a better player now than their kid ever will be. Or you might hear that somebody gets mentioned in a game story and their kid doesn’t. Forget the fact that the guy mentioned got the key hit, made a game-saving play, or had a great pitching effort, etc.
But if you think those complaints are of recent vintage, guess again. They are as old as high school sports.
That was discovered while browsing through some old microfilm files, gathering notes for writing our weekly Out of the Past columns, dealing with local sports history. Let’s go away back to this week in 1946, and see if the words might not have a familiar ring.
Jimmy Gismondi was then sports editor of The Morning Herald, and during this week in 1946, he wrote the following words in a column:
“We don’t like the ideas expressed by some persons about high school baseball, and if we can do anything to combat it, we will. Some like to find fault with the large squads most coaches have at their disposal, claiming the over-packed rosters mean some chaps on the field never get the chance to show their wares. In the first place, the main purpose of a high school team is to afford as much recreation and benefit to as many students at one time as possible.
“One fellow we know keeps hitting away at the idea that baseball will never draw here. We do not subscribe to this unfair attitude. In fact, we will predict the stands at Bailey Park will be crammed should the Uniontown High School nine win a game or two once the league season gets under way. The great turnout for the exhibition game the other day will grow in proportion once the locals show they are capable of playing good ball.
“Another griper hammers away at the senseless argument that the shortened season does not give the high school player enough competition to prove helpful after school days are over. Bosh!! Any amount of competition will aid a youngster in preparing him for future athletics.”
Does all that sound familiar?
The complaints of which Gismondi wrote occurred 60 years ago, yet they are as familiar today as the game itself. Try working this sports desk for a week, and you will see.
But just two days later, in direct rebuttal to Gismondi’s correspondent claiming, “baseball will never draw here,” was the sports page story about a high school baseball game.
It was noted that “close to 1,500 fans were in the stands to see Uniontown nip South Union, 2-1, in their Section 12 opener at Bailey Park. Bud Schrock and Melvin (Moe) McCoy locked up in a real mound battle through six innings, then Uniontown won in the seventh.”
Pinch-hitter Bill Yankovich doubled home Pepper Poprocky to give UHS and Schrock the edge. The Raiders led 1-0 in the first when Bill Zeleznock was aboard on a fielder’s choice, advanced on a passed ball, stole third, and ran home as the SU pitcher wound up. (Can’t you hear some of today’s coaches if their pitcher was winding up with a runner on third!).
SU tied in the fourth when Ed Guyton singled and Bill (Puddle) McBride doubled him home.
Zeleznock had two hits for UHS, while Guyton hit a pair of singles and McBride a double for SU.
How about those “1500 in the stands” and the close game they saw! Indeed, the more things change, the longer time goes by, the more things do stay the same.
Jim Kriek is a Herald-Standard correspondent