Hello, For us and a million other kids, baseball is as old as Apple Pie. The 4th of July, Summer, and baseball season in full play. What more could an impression be put on a little kid? When we moved from our small trailer to a real house with a large fenced in white picket fence yard in 1948, there was plenty of space to play some catch, actually hit a ball and run in a small diamond scraped into the rear grassy yard. The front yard was used as a “teaching” place by our dad for the two brothers. When I was given a bat, this is how I grabbed the bat and that felt right. Of course, the grip was modified for a better swing and power. I was a born “righty.” Catch left throw right, was the mode of the day, with hit right and also kick right as a kickball athlete. Much later, for some reason, when I learned water skiing, I was not a right foot stand up on one ski. The left leg seemed right and felt correct for single ski action. Who would have known? The odd thing was, I could hit a ball as a lefty, too and that amazed my dad. He was a lefty, but could hit it as a lefty, but ended up playing as a right hand batter and throwing with his left hand. It was confusing when the ball came at me from his left side, so he reverted to pitching it to us right handed. Then he decided to make me hold the bat right handed as I could throw well right handed. His goal was not to confuse me as I got better in baseball. Lefty/righty-righty/lefty was confusing. Later, as an older kid, I tried for the whole summer hitting left handed and did well, but, the right hand batting went a little farther and was more consistent in our playground games. Jnaki We read our dad’s newspapers and saw all of the photos of baseball players from the USA teams. One of our favorites was Stan Musial. In our early games, when I approached the home base stance, I looked like a tiny Stan Musial. The bat was up in the air and I was leaned over in a semi crouch. The funny thing was, it confused the pitcher whether I was a lefty or a righty. It was the Stan Musial stance that was shown as awkward to the young pitchers. Note: When we played on a diamond at an elementary playground, the right field building was a lot closer to the field. A building hit was automatically a home run. So, I did try a lefty swing a lot. We tried our best to copy his stance and swing. But, for us little kids, his stance was not for us. The bat swing was too angular to come down from being pointed upwards to the level of the incoming ball. It took too much time for us to swing and make the bat level with the speeding ball. The bat position was much better if it was closer to the level of the strike zone for a quicker top to level motion. It worked well for us. In 1951, Mickey Mantle had a powerful stance and swing. YRMV NOTE 2: On the 4th of July, our dad took us to the circular Rainbow Pier to see the Long Beach fireworks. It was much safer for our ears, as it was not as close to the Cyclone Racer beach area where in the previous years, we had to cover our ears as the big guns shot the fireworks up into the air. It was as close to being in an artillery big gun display as we got and it was too loud. Happy 4th...
Courtesy of the New Jersey State Archives This Fourth of July formation in the shape of the Liberty Bell was made up entirely of Fort Dix soldiers in 1918.
Courtesy of the Camden County Historical Society Members of Little League teams marched along Eerie Street in Camden as part of this 1954 Fourth of July parade.
These four paintings have their own special story. During the war, Norman Rockwell, like Tex Avery, Walt Disney, Charlie Chaplin, Frank Capra, Ernst Lubitsch, Clark Gable, and Arthur Szyk, participated in the war effort. Thanks to these four paintings that travelled America during World War II - the “War Bond Shows” - 132 million dollars were raised. Norman Rockwell painted them - not without some difficulty - in 1943, at the height of American military involvement in Asia and soon in Europe. 1. Freedom of Speech, 1943 Norman Rockwell (1894-1978) To illustrate this freedom, Norman Rockwell was inspired by a scene that he had recently witnessed: during a town-hall meeting, a man stood up to speak about a topic on the agenda. It was regarding the closing of a school. He did not obtain the agreement of the room, but the other citizens who were present listened to him respectfully, without interrupting him. Rockwell used one of his neighbors as a model for this man, who represented freedom of speech. His leather jacket will also be on display. 2. Freedom of Worship, 1943 Norman Rockwell (1894-1978) "Freedom of Worship" represented a real challenge for Rockwell, for religion was a deeply personal subject for him. He wanted to produce a painting that would express values of unity and offer the vision of a world without religious discrimination. His original plan was for a scene in a barbershop in the country. He found this approach too stereotypical and not satisfying. So he abandoned this earlier version. The painting that we know today deals with the act of faith. The painting shows people of different beliefs in a moment of reflection, emphasizing the idea of an American community. Norman Rockwell believed that, after facial expressions, hands went a long way to communicate emotion in a painting. The painting “Freedom of Worship” is an illustration of this principle. 3. Freedom from Want, 1943 Norman Rockwell (1894-1978) In this painting, a well-off family shares a Thanksgiving meal. On the left side of the table, we can see Norman Rockwell’s wife, Mary, who died in 1959, and across from her, the painter’s mother. The other figures are residents of Arlington whom the painter chose to complete the composition of his painting. Though an optimist by nature, Norman Rockwell did have doubts in this case. Was he right to paint such a big turkey when many in Europe were starving, invaded, or deported? While critics pointed out the over-abundance of food in this painting, they also noted that it emphasizes family, togetherness, and safety, and they agreed that abundance was the best response to the idea of need. 4. Freedom from Fear, 1943 Norman Rockwell (1894-1978) This is the last painting in the "Four Freedoms" series. It was painted during the bombing of London. Notice that the father holds a newspaper with headlines about these events. The doll lying on the floor recalls the children of Europe, deprived of safety. This painting, which Rockwell did not consider an artwork of exceptional power, found a new timeliness after the attacks on the World Trade Center. At that time, the New York Times printed "Freedom from Fear" on the front page, substituting Norman Rockwell’s headline with one referring to the attacks in New York, Washington D.C., and Pennsylvania.
The Jalopy Journal
