The Freakin' Weekend (1973)

As of today 1973, with each team having 10 or 11 games left to play, three MLB73 division championships appear settled. Oakland (90-61) leads the American League West by eight games over Kansas City; Baltimore (89-62), the A.L. East by six and a half over Boston, and Cincinnati (93-58), the National League West by five and a half over Los Angeles. The N.L. East, however, remains in fierce combat:

Pittsburgh 75-74

Montreal 75-76, 1

New York 75-77, 1.5 

St. Louis 75-77, 1.5 

Chicago 72-79, 4 

Philadelphia 67-85, 9.5

I know how this comes out, of course, and, still, seeing the Mets, Cardinals and Cubs in contention so late in a season so late in the 1970s is kind of strange. My initial experience of baseball has those teams (and, to a lesser extent, the Expos) as N.L. East scrubs. I turned only 5 in August 1973, and my family was significantly more dialed in to football and basketball than baseball. It wasn't until the summer of 1975, when we moved across Paducah from Kennedy Road (and the Clark Elementary district) to Cairo Road (Concord Elementary) that I remember paying attention to baseball at all. 

On a return trip from the new house to pick up more boxes from the new house, Mom stopped for Cokes at Holland’s store about a half-mile back toward town on Cairo Road (Ky. 305). Interstate 24 wasn’t yet open across western Kentucky and into Illinois. Had it been, Mom almost certainly would’ve headed west out of our new driveway and picked up the I-24 exchange a quarter-mile in that direction to then head south toward the old neighborhood.

I’m uncertain where she would’ve stopped for Cokes in that case—quite possibly either the Kroger near Burger Chef and Brazleton Junior High or the Wonder on Jackson. Between the two supermarkets, she really preferred Wonder, and I remember that I particularly loved the grooved-rubber, sensored mats at the entrance of that store that would throw open the doors and release a wave of air-conditioned goodness onto incoming customers. I'm sure same was true for Kroger, but Wonder is the air conditioning I remember. Also, as I think about it this morning, I seem to remember Wonder typically had the better deal on the glass-bottle soft drinks that everyone, of course, preferred to cans. So I feel pretty certain we would’ve been heading to Wonder for moving-day Cokes had I-24 been open, and I think it must've been true that Wonder didn’t stock packs of Topps baseball cards—otherwise, I would’ve already been begging Mom to buy them on weekly grocery trips.

But, again, I-24 wasn’t yet open, and so Mom headed east on Ky. 305/Cairo Road instead of west, and we discovered tiny Holland’s. It was about the size of one of those first convenience stores that were laid out in the 1980s (some of which in 2019 linger but are now too small now to much compete). I’m pretty certain Holland's didn’t sell gasoline, though it still had one old pump.

Anyway, I think about Mom, age 46 at the time ... having lost her parents and a sibling in the last 10 years … having moved away from two of her own four children just three years before … now amid her third move in that span … I imagine being inside that little Holland’s grocery for the first time for Mom might’ve felt refreshingly homey. It would've, of course, reminded her of her parents’ little grocery in Evansville in the ‘30s, ‘40s and ‘50s. It would've, of course, reminded her of working in the store with her family. I don’t exactly remember her talking about this, but I imagine Mom would’ve refrained from saying anything along those nostalgic lines, for concern that it would further discourage Dad, who, at age 49 at the time, was scrambling to re-invent himself and figure out how to keep making a living for another 15 years or so (at least until he got this last little kid out of the house).

Whatever, in Holland’s and in the low candy shelving designed to tempt impulse buying for children at the cash register, I discoverd beautiful, splashy Topps baseball cards (Sports Collectors Daily image here) ...

I think Mom bought me two or three packs, and I absolutely remember climbing in the back of our Pinto station wagon—the back seat collapsed for transport of boxes and me unencumbered by seat belt—immediately creating some game with them on the gloriously wide-open canvas of navy interior carpeting. 

My first favorite card was Bill Butler of the Twins. He looked cool, and maybe he performed some heroic act in that first game I created with the cards (I doubt it much resembled baseball because I doubt I knew how to play baseball at this point) ...

My first favorite team was the A’s because I got three of them, and I liked their uniforms ...

The Bert Campaneris pictured here is my original (!) from the back of the Pinto. I also got Dave Hamilton and Pat Bourque that day, but the cards pictured here (and the cool Bill Butler above) were replacements I was thrilled to acquire at some point in the last 30 years. 

I’m starting to think I’ve already typed this recollection at the HP. I definitely hope I get to remember it again in a couple of years. I wonder how closely any of these versions will match.

Well, that was real 1975, and real 2019 me is stuck in fake 1973. Fake September 1973 me is still so sucked in by MLB73 that he’s already falling behind on NFL73 and the Dolphins' inevitable march to a second Super Bowl championship. 

The Sun-Democrat headlines on the N.L. East wire reports have been dripping with unmistakable heartbreak of copy editors working to Jack Buck’s broadcasts on WDXR. To wit, here’s one from the Sept. 20 paper:

Carlton Slips By

Ex-Teammates, 3-2

Steve Carlton himself scored the go-ahead run at home against the visiting Cardinals. He came home on a wild pitch in the fifth to break a 1-1 tie. The Phillies got one more run that inning to go up 3-1. St. Louis threatened in the top of the ninth and got home a run, but Carlton finished it off for his 12th win against 19 losses.