LEGENDARY COMMENTS BY GEORGE CHEVALLIER

City Park

City Park meant different things to different people. If you were of Little League age in the 1950’s, City Park meant the ball field across the road from Picnic Island. I played there the only year West Salisbury Little League played there – 1955, when I was an 11-year-old. To a kid, it was just a step down from Yankee Stadium. There were big crowds every night and the concession stand behind home plate did a booming business.

There were mothers in the stands that could be heard above the din when their son came to bat. Now, it can be hard to take for an 11-year-old to listen to a grown-up saying derogatory things about his pitching skills just because her son was at bat. There was no mercy or “politically correct” behavior in those days. It was part of our experience of growing up.

I pitched for the Knights of Columbus team and had none other than Joe Long as our manager. He was a legendary baseball figure in Shore baseball, but all of his former skills could not improve the sad lot he was entrusted to manage. One game in particular was personally embarrassing. I was pitching and we were losing 25-2. I looked over at Joe imploring him to take me out, but he just gave me another “hubba-hubba”, and let his little rag arm pitcher suffer the humiliation of a lop-sided loss. I guess this was just another experience to be suffered during the “growing-up” process.
The following year they opened up a Little League field out by the college. I remember going through the woods north of the Allenwood Shopping Center to get there. But it was not the same as playing down at City Park. If the players of today could only experience playing on the fields we had, they would appreciate the manicured fields that have taken so much time and effort to make them that way. Even though it only had a dirt infield and snow fences in the outfield, the setting was something I have not seen in Salisbury since.

One game in particular stands out in my memory. My grandfather was a great baseball fan, but he didn’t know anything about the psychology of the young mind. He came to one particular game and declared that he would give any player a dollar if they got a hit – five dollars for a home run. Well, you can imagine the results of a bunch of young boys with minimal batting skills and visions of money dancing in their heads. I am not sure if we got a hit or not, but we sure took some hefty swings. Just as today, money changes the way we get results.