Little League Trophy (Or, the Golden Days)

The Favorites Box post from last week featuring Mike Pagliarulo's 1985 Topps rookie card really got the Little League nostalgia going for me—so much so that I was motivated to go into the garage to look for something that I'd been meaning to look for since last year.

I had a good idea where it was, and thankfully, after just a couple of minutes, I located it and brought it inside. Here it is:

You're looking at a baseball trophy from my Little League days. It was dusty and dirty, and the metal was pitted here and there, but a little bit of elbow grease took care of most of it. I really should have taken better care of this little guy over the years, but that's fine. There's no way it's going back in the garage now, especially because it's the only trophy I still have from those days.

The engraved plate on the front declares that our team was the runner-up. We certainly didn't have playoffs back in those early years, so I'm guessing the runner-up designation meant that our team had the second best win-loss record in the league that season. As for my other Little League years, I suppose our team finished too low in the standings to receive a trophy. Or, if our team did finish high in the standings, the trophies have since been lost to time.

What's important is that I still have quite a few memories and stories from those golden days, like turning an unassisted triple play. Or the example of what my first baseball glove looked like. 

I also have a physical, tangible memento in one of the game balls that I received for a job well done out there on the field. And now there's this trophy. I've got to find a good place to store it—perhaps on a shelf in the closet of my home office, which has partially become a card closet.

While I figure that out, there's one more memento I can share. Have a look at this:

 

 

 

There's so much 1980s goodness in this photo. It's the scruffy grass and chewed-up dirt around home plate. The small, simple chain-link backstop. The kid watching from behind that backstop wearing jean shorts and tube socks. The parents chilling out on folding lawn chairs they brought from home. The yellow school buses in the background. It's all glorious.

As for the little guy wearing #24 for the Cardinals and standing at home plate? That's me. (We're playing the Orioles there. Check out the orange jersey the catcher is wearing.) It was my very first year of Little League, so I'm probably around 6 or 7 years old in the photo. I'm sure of that because the following year we all started wearing baseball pants and stirrup socks. 

If my dad were looking over my shoulder as I typed all this, he'd be reminding me that I hit a triple in my very first Little League at-bat. Or that a few years later, I pitched an inning in our Little League all-star game and struck out the side. Dads are great for bringing back those experiences. They were on the sidelines, proudly observing things from their adult perspective, while we were in there, playing and having fun. 

And if you're a fellow blogger, you know that blogs are also good for recording and preserving these kinds of things. 

Ultimately, I'm grateful for the Little League mementos I have—as few as they may be—and for all the vivid experiences they help to bring back.

How about you readers? If you played any sports when you were a kid, do you have any stories, photos, or objects from that time? 

Share in the comment section, and thanks for reading!