Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Things You Learn on the Way to Temple

Driving to Temple tonight, my father and I drive through a neighborhood where he spent much of his childhood.

He points out the homes of cousins and aunts, and tells me about how he'd go to the corner candy store as a kid to buy candy and magazines. He remembers all of the landmarks as though his childhood was yesterday, and he makes the neighborhood of the 1950s and 1960s come alive for me.

We pass by a field.

It's called Larry Doby field, and Dad asks me if I know who Larry Doby was. I tell him that of course I know, that he broke the color barrier in the American League, played for Cleveland and only recently passed away.

Dad says that his father met Larry Doby. Talked to him.

I tell him that I am impressed.

Yeah, Dad says, in the early 1950s...perhaps 1951...his father wanted to sell his house in Paterson, NJ, and one day Larry Doby came to look.

Dad doesn't know if he came close to buying the house, but before breaking in with the Indians, Doby did play Negro League ball for Newark and made his home in Paterson, NJ--where both of my parents were born and where my father's family made their home before moving to Fair Lawn.

You learn something new every day, don't you?

1 comment:

  1. Nice story, Rebecca. Some people learn something new every day. I’m glad you are one of them. Keep it up.

    ReplyDelete