They Were Wonderful Days

Hank Aaron has died at age 86. He was the last of the great players of the early 50s. He was an important part of my boyhood. His death is a period to that chapter of my life.

I first became aware of Major League Baseball in the autumn of 1948. My Aunt Nora was listening to the Cleveland Indians - Boston Braves World Series on her radio. As I listened, the announcer made repeated mention of Lou Boudreau and Tommy Holmes. Their names have stuck in my mind all these years.

But my real love of the game began in the early spring of 1949. The Cub game was on, at my grandfather's apartment, and Dutch Leonard was pitching, when the announcer said, "And there's a base hit through the box." A "box" on a baseball field? I asked my dad, "what that meant?" He explained that the pitcher pitched from a "Pitcher's Box" in the early days of baseball. And that in the late 1800s, the "box" was replaced by the "mound." So a "base hit through the box," was a ground ball or line drive that went over the mound and into center field. "Box" was just another term for "mound."

Then, near June 1, 1949, we got our first TV. It had been delivered and the chimney antenna had been hooked up earlier that morning. Dad took the afternoon off work to test it. When he turned it on - without even changing the channel - on came the Cubs' game. The first name I heard was that of Cub outfielder "Peanuts" Lowrey. Then a few days later "Peanuts" was gone - traded to Cincinnati. The Cubs acquired Hank Sauer, in that four-player deal. Sauer went on to hit 27 homers for the Cubs that year, and became my first baseball hero. Of course as a kid I didn't appreciate that "Hammerin' Hank" had the mobility of a printing press in left field.

In 1949, WGN-TV in Chicago broadcast both the Cub and White Sox home games. We watched both, but I preferred the Sox ... until my Dad pointed out that we lived on the north side, and that the Cubs were the northside team. That coupled with the fact that the Sox traded my two favorite Sox players, Guz Zernial and Cass Michaels, caused me to re-prioritize: the Cubs became my favorite; the Sox were relegated to second place! I have to this date remained a "closet-Sox fan!"

In those days there were only eight teams in each league. With all the Cubs and Sox home games on TV, it was easy to learn the names of all the players. At first, the best were two older players: Ted Williams and Stan Musial. But then the post-war stars emerged. Jackie Robinson in 1947; Billy Pierce, Roy Campanella and Robin Roberts in 1948; Whitey Ford, 1950; Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle, 1951; Al Kaline, Ernie Banks and Henry Aaron, 1954; and Roberto Clemente, 1955.

In December 1948, we moved to Lincolnwood, just north of Devon Avenue. At first, there was prairie north of Devon. It was there that we spent our summers. We carved baseball fields on flat ground. We dragged our lawn mowers down to cut the weeds. Our bicycles became the left field wall. We'd play a double header (either baseball or 16" softball), starting at 8 a.m. the day after summer vacation began. We'd take a break for lunch, and then start a second double header around 1:30. Then after dinner, we'd play more ball until dark.

When the summers got too hot to play in the afternoon, we found substituted a table game: "All-Star Baseball." The game contained player disks of the "all-time greats" like Babe Ruth, Hack Wilson, Rogers Hornsby and Ty Cobb, as well as a new set of All- Stars each year. We studied the disks, as well as "Jack Brickhouse's Baseball Record Book," to put the "best possible" teams of hitters on the field. But "ASB" took no account of fielding or pitching. Eventually, we "graduated" to a more sophisticated game called"Big League Manager." Then we discovered"APBA." It was terrific. We spent hours, playing "APBA," while listening either to the Cubs or Sox on TV, or, if they weren't on, to "The Kingston Trio," Johnny Cash, or the "Limeliters."

Dad encouraged us in all this. He believed that "kids who were involved in sports didn't get into trouble." To that end, he supplied balls and bats, footballs, and basketballs, not only for Tom and me, but for the whole neighborhood. I don't think, any other dad, or any other kid ever once supplied a ball over that ten-year period.

And Dad's business had season tickets to the Sox Games. If on a Friday evening, Ford was pitching for the Yankees, and Pierce for the Sox, we'd be at Comiskey Park. The ending was always the same. Around the 8th inning, one of the Yanks would homer to break up the 1-1 tie.

And I can recall being at the 1950 All-Star game at Comiskey Park, when Williams ran into the left field wall and broke his collar bone, and being there again when he returned to the Red Sox lineup late in the season as a pinch hitter. He homered over the corner of the bullpen, to the deepest part of the park.

And I can recall being at Wrigley Field, in the first row of the right field bleachers. My friend "Squid" was taunting Aaron: "Henry, you're a bum!" The very next inning, Aaron belted one over our heads deep into the bleachers. When he returned to his position, "Squid" stood, bowed, and doffed his cap. Aaron smiled. 

First Published in the Moline Dispatch and Rock Island Argus on January 27, 2021

Copyright 2021

John Donald O'Shea 

The power to ration is the power to destroy

How to allocate scarce resources is a problem as old as mankind, and indeed older.

The sinking of the Titanic on April 15, 1912 perfectly illustrates the problem. According to the official British Board of Trade Report, the passengers and crew aboard totaled 2224. That report shows that 710 were saved, and 1,514 perished. There were 20 lifeboats, rated to hold 1,178 people. Rationing of the lifeboats was therefore "necessary." The crew "rationed" the boats on the principle of "women and children first." But other principles could have been chosen: "First Class passengers first!" "Those in steerage (poor emigrants) first!" "Doctors and other 'essential workers' first!"


So in America, who should get the new COVID-19 vaccines first? There will necessarily be "rationing" because there will not initially be sufficient doses of the Covid vaccines for the entire U.S. population.


On December 3, the CDC recommended that initial supplies of COVID-19 vaccines should be allocated to:

• Healthcare personnel and long-term care facility residents (Phase 1a).

On Dec. 22, the CDC recommended the next two allotments. In Phase 1b:

• Frontline essential workers such as fire fighters, police officers, corrections officers, food and agricultural workers, United States Postal Service workers, manufacturing workers, grocery store workers, public transit workers, and those who work in the educational sector (teachers, support staff and daycare workers).

• People aged 75 years and older because they are at high risk of hospitalization, illness, and death from COVID-19. (People aged 75 years and older who are also residents of long-term care facilities should be offered vaccination in Phase 1a).

In Phase 1c:

• People aged 65—74 years because they are at high risk of hospitalization, illness, and death from COVID-19. (People aged 65—74 years who are also residents of long-term care facilities should be offered vaccination in Phase 1a).

• People aged 16—64 years with underlying medical conditions which increase the risk of serious, life-threatening complications from COVID-19.

• Other essential workers, such as people who work in transportation and logistics, food service, housing construction and finance, information technology, communications, energy, law, media, public safety, and public health.

As I look at the CDC's recommendations, I have no quarrels with their reasonableness.


Given the fact that federal officials have estimated that there will be only enough doses to vaccinate 20 million Americans in December, 30 million in January and 50 million in February (with more doses coming thereafter), some rationing plan is at present clearly necessary. The CDC plan, detailed above, seems both necessary and reasonable.


That being said, I am, nevertheless, extremely wary of the government's power to ration. The CDC did well, but just as the "power to tax is the power to destroy," so is the power to ration.


I gave the example of"rationing" aboard the Titanic advisedly. The Titanic's 20 life-boats were built to accommodate 1,178 people. Yet only 710 survived! Passengers and crew numbering 1,514 drowned. The fact that the boats were designed to accommodate 1,178 people and that only 710 survived, brings into question the wisdom of the "women and children first" rationing principle. Couple that with the fact that the ocean was dead calm that night, and that going into the 28 degree water meant death in minutes, I have always wondered why the boats weren't filled beyond their stated capacity?

Should not the principle of rationing have been, "Overfill the boats to almost the point where they would be in danger of taking on water?" Or at least, "Make sure every boat is filled to stated capacity; no half-filled boats!"


The danger in "government rationing" is also clearly illustrated in the proposal of other "experts" whose principle of vaccine distribution would have been to give "priority access" to people of color (Blacks and Hispanic people) because the pandemic has exacted a disproportionately heavy infection and death toll on their communities.

A rationing danger inevitably works its way in, when the government gives priority to"frontline essential workers such as fire fighters, police officers, corrections officers, food and agricultural workers, United States Postal Service workers, etc."

But who else is a "frontline essential worker?" Is a congressman a frontline "essential worker" such as a U.S Postal Service Worker? Or is a congressman even more essential?


Exactly how essential is Sen. Marco Rubio, a Republican? Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat?
Rep. Larry Buschon, a Republican? Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat? Sen. Mitch McConnell, a Republican? They all jumped to the front of the vaccine line.


In W.S. Gilbert's, "The Mikado," Ko-ko, the "Lord High Executioner" sings, "I've got a little list of society offenders who might well be underground and who never would be missed!"


I suspect that W. S. Gilbert, rather than deeming Pelosi, Rubio, et al., essential, would have put all five on Ko-ko's little list.


When congressmen and bureaucrats start allotting benefits to those they deem "essential," it is never long before they start allocating them to themselves, their "friends," and their political supporters. Even worse, World War II history shows that rationing can easily morph into death panels. The rations provided those in the concentration camps were insufficient to sustain life. Still doubt? Visit Venezuela.

First Published in the Moline Dispatch and Rock Island Argus on January 1, 2021

Copyright 2021

John Donald O'Shea