SR. TRACY?: With the recent visit by former President Bill
Clinton, St. Marys has been getting a lot of ink lately. We heard
a second mention of the town on a comedy show in the past few
days.
British comedienne Tracy Ullman has a weekly program called,
“State of the Union,” being broadcast on Showtime. In it, she gives
her own comedic spin on a variety of American characters including,
last week, a Catholic nun saying prayers in church. “It’s 5:45 a.m.
in St. Marys, Pennsylvania,” the narrator says. Can’t help but
wonder if there’s a connection of some sort between St. Marys and
this actress.
IN THE PARK: More memories today about that ballpark on Bolivar
Drive.
Bill Weisenfluh, Ocala, Fla., writes: “I think Bill Bedell was a
little too young to remember the original name of the Bradford
ballteam which was the Bradford Bees. I may be wrong so please
correct me if I am wrong. I’ve got about seven years on Bill. The
main thing I remember about the ballpark was at dusk, the crowd
would shout, ‘Lights, Mr. Baily.'”
Patricia Witschi of Lake Wales, Fla.: “Tony is wrong on the
ballpark. My grandfather took tickets at the gate and took me with
him to the games and I sat in the front row eating a blackcow
sucker (my favorite part of the outing).”
“It was where the Speer building is now and always was there.
They had a green wood fence around the ballfield and the parking
lot was used for the circus. After the park was torn down to make
way for progress, the circus was set up where the old airport was
(Pitt campus).”
Gary V. Crawford of Estero, Fla.: “Discussing the ballpark
brings back the memories of working at the ballpark selling
popcorn, then hot dogs and graduating to chasing foul balls and the
best job, and we did get paid for this, was getting the foul balls
from the roof of the grandstand.”
“My love of the game was from these experiences. We coached
youth baseball for 31 years. In 1987, we took our Connie Mack Team,
17 and 18 year olds, to the world series that was held in
Farmington, N.M. Great memories of Bradford and Warren Spahn, Elroy
Face, and the other notables that played for the Bradford
team.”
