I looked again at the Bruce Springsteen video of "Glory Days" on YouTube and was reminded of why it is my all-time favorite song. The opening scene shows him walking onto a playground with a basket full of baseballs to throw at a target as he dreams would happen if he were a pitcher. The next scene morphs to a nightclub, and he sings of leaving a bar but meets an old friend coming in. He joins him and they start talking of the old days, "tryin' to recapture a little of the glory of ..."
The song appeals to me on different levels, but I'm always reminded of the days when I played on a baseball team. We were young, 5th or 6th graders as I recall, and I can still hear Gary Marsden calling me one day all excited because someone had given him the go-ahead to find enough players to field a team. I've forgotten who sponsored the team, but some group - maybe the American Legion - stood the cost of a navy blue t-shirt for each player with the words Sheldon Midgets printed across the chest. I had equipment, a first baseman's glove, so when I asked Gary what position I'd be given, he told me first base. Wearing that glove often ended up with me spraining my thumb because whenever I caught a hard hit ball it did not have proper support built in and the thumb bent back too far; but I sallied forth, ill-equipped as I was.
We played a few games with Enderlin teams, and I remember a game when Gary Dahl pitched for us. Someone had gotten on first base who proceeded to engage me in conversation, then led off as he kept me talking. Gary thought I was in the game and threw a hard pick-off to me. I never saw it coming and still hear it whiz past me into the fence. He hollered out my nickname "Lefty!!!" as the ball shot past, and the runner advanced to second. It was a lesson learned: always keep my eyes on the ball. I'm reminded further of my second favorite song that begins "Those were the days, my friend, we thought they'd never end."
