Kickass and the 1953 Allstar MLB game

Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper, is not a rabid baseball nut, but enjoys the game, and feels a special kinship with the annual All-star exhibition by dint of his attendance at the 1953 game in Cincinnati when he had personal contact with Satchel Page and Ted Williams, among others.

The outrage of the state legislature restricting Black Georgia voters has moved MLB to withdraw the 2021 All-star game from Atlanta; and presents the keeper with an irresistible opportunity to display the “1953 MLB All-star game” video that popped up on the net some years ago and shows Satchel autographing the keeper’s program.  Actually he autographed it twice when a news photographer shouted, “One more, Satch.”

So the video shows an accomplished Black man and a very young White man relating to each other in a manner typical of the racist times–in strict keeping with Jim Crow conditions which meant going no further than the confines of Crosley Field.

Later in life, the keeper developed a life-long, close friendship with Bob Shepard, a former Black Army buddy from Chicago, and of all the friends who have departed, the keeper misses Bob in a special way, particularly in these days of a seeming racial awakening.

Of course, he also misses being the young innocent of that magic day with Satch and Ted, and he makes no apology if that makes him come off as an old MLB name dropper.  Google up the video and share it with him.