The year everything changed

This kid had no idea what was coming

I wish this picture was more clear than it is. It’s a snapshot that was taken in the Spring of 1975, and I’m standing in front of a house in Jerome, Illinois where my family lived in for maybe a year ot two.

I’m wearing a brown shirt and a green leisure suit, which is hard to see very well because I took a picture of the original snapshot. The cameraphone I used for doing this would have been unimaginable back in 1975, but the world itself now bears little resemblance to the one that this kid was just starting to learn about.

Three things happened to this young lad—in fairly rapid succession—which changed the course of his life for many decades to come. The 50th anniversary for each of them is fast approaching, and I’ll say more about them when the actual dates arrive. But for now, it’s enough to say that this kid—who was on the cusp of entering the second grade—was about to meet the first great love of his life, baseball.

I don’t know how many kids this happens to in today’s world, but I hope it’s still a few. Baseball once held a place in the popular imagination that it just doesn’t occupy anymore. The NFL has since become this behemoth of an industry, and decades worth of basketball stars were still a few years away from grabbing the spotlight for their game. And soccer? What was that, exactly? Yet none of those were in a position to grab the imagination of this young kid, in the way that our National Pastime did.

The first of these important events happened in late July of 1975, and I’ll spell it out when the anniversary actually gets here. But for now, an introductory look at this kid is enough to set the table for what lies ahead.

Until next time……