Facing Major Leaguers

     The Kornerman was watching the Chicago Cubs recently on the tube and pitching against them for the Pittsburgh Pirates was Tony Watson. That rang a bell. Wasn't he a Dallas Center-Grimes High School athlete?  And don't the Toreador baseball teams lock up on the diamond with DC-G every summer?  And wouldn't it have been possible that one of our Boone High baseball players, perhaps, had faced him and, even, maybe, got a hit off of him? What a memory that would be for an ex-Toreador player.
     I hadn't visited or even seen former BHS coach Rick Davis for some time so I thought I'd give him a call for some talk about this.
     After retirement, Rick has done some teaching at DMACC but also works some for the Atlanta Braves as a scout. He said he does some traveling, at their call, to look at and rate certain prospects.
     I asked him about his teams facing the likes of Tony Watson. He said, "Oh yes, I guess it was in the 2000's our kids faced him but also Joel Hanrahan of Norwalk and Hellickson from Des Moines Roosevelt who are all currently on major league rosters. And yes, it sure is possible some of our kids may have had a hit off of one of those guys at sometime during those games."
     Long ago, my uncles all played "town team" baseball and I remember one of them saying that he actually got a hit off of Hall of Fame former Cleveland Indians pitcher Bob Feller when he (my uncle) was playing for a Boone team and a very young Feller was pitching for an Adel team.
     Now, in more modern times, the Kornerman would sure like to know if any of our BHS baseball kids ever got a hit off of Watson, or Hanrahan or Hellickson. If so, they'd sure have a good memory to relate to their kids and grandkids.
     P.S. Remember the big "why?" over Boone High athletic teams facing such "little burgs" as Dallas Center-Grimes and Norwalk rather than Ames and Marshalltown etc. Now, those places are the new "big guys" or becoming such and some of us "old timers" don't like that thought. However, facts sometimes dictate that it's time to accept the idea that times do change in many ways and you either accept the change or continue being unrealistic.
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     The Kornerman loves music and I piece meal. I don't "buy" every song a certain artist ever performed...........except maybe those by the king, Sinatra. There are just certain songs by certain artists that I think are exceptional......"Mr. Lucky" by Henry Mancini (that organ background just sets me off), Eyde Gorme's "What did I have I don't have now," Marilyn Maye's "What what happens," Stan Kenton's "Eager Beaver," and many by the Gaither gospel group, "Midnight Cry" by Ivan Parker, "Then came the morning" by Signature Sound, a couple by the Hoppers and some by David Phelps. Those are just a few of the many, many I thoroughly enjoy and can listen too over and over.
     I like to go back on YouTube and pull out some "oldies" from artists that no longer exist like the HiLo's and King sisters. Things I used to play when I was a DJ on the radio in the 50's and 60's. On one of my shows, I used "I'll Get By" by the Nelson Riddle orchestra as an opening and closing song and it's still a classic I have to listen to now and then.
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     A former KWBG colleague of mine, Larry Kelley, wrote this week, "Class reunion 1964 50 years! Can you believe it?? In the words of Frankie Avalon, the music of the 50's/60's is "The sound track of our lives." We listened to that music on our  transistor radios, radios in the cars, at home......with only three TV stations then, we didn't watch much unless it was a special like Elvis or Ed Sullivan or the Beatles/Everly Brothers etc. were going to be on and especially, Dick Clark and American Bandstand every day after school. Those songs spoke to us....about new love, break ups, what we danced too, going steady, that first kiss. The music was/is US. Some in our class may not feel that way but many others, most others, feel that the music touched us in very special ways, and still does. It brings back many sweet memories of our youth, likely one of the best eras in American history."
     Larry referred to HIS class reunion of 1964. The Kornerman would very much like to claim that as "mine" but no, back another 10 or 11 years for that. By the way, we still have some other talk of the '64 reunion of last weekend to review in our next edition.
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     Boone Area Deaths: Gerald Fisher, 84, rural Boone. Pilot Mound grad-47. Farmed and a long time employee of the Boone County Hospital. Boone area survivors include his wife, Helen of rural Boone, son Nick Fisher and daughter Brittany Campfield of Boone and brother John Fisher of Pilot Mound............Connie Patten, 49, Boone............Arlene McNace, 90, Boone..........John McGovern, 72, Ankeny, formerly of Boone. Moved from Boone to Ankeny a year ago. 20 years military service and was a truck driver. Boone area survivors include wife Janet of Ankeny, daughter Kerrie Coleman Phipps of Boone, mother-in-law and father-in-law JD and Alice Shannon of Boone and sisters-in-law Jill Wilrick of Ankeny, Jean Brooks and Julie Dannan of Boone...............Gary Kane, 50, Ames/Des Moines. Formerly of Boone. BHS-82. Most recently worked for Wells Fargo in Des Moines. Boone area survivors include his parents, John and Leah Kane and sister Dana.
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     Worldwide Korner headquarters are located at 710 Aldrich, Boone, Iowa 50036-4703. Phone number is 515-432-1530. To email your stories/memories/comments.....
kelleyskorner1@gmail.com.