say hey kids

         August 1972 I was 12 years old. It was a magical time, life was fresh and new and I experianced a lot of firsts that year. One thing stands out in my mind about that summer, little league baseball. I grew up in a blue collar nieghborhood and most of my friends and I were far from wealthy,so we spent a lot of our time playing baseball on the local little league field. We were the last of the baby boomers,and kids my age were everywhere, especially at the ballfield,so we played every day, nine players on each team with several substitutes waiting in the wings. Most of us were on the local little league team too,the Collins Park Mets. Our coach was Mr. Casula,he had coached the team for years but rarely had a winning season. But this year was different, we had played and loved the game so much that we had become a stand out team that season. Mr. Casula had a son Johnny who pitched for us, not very well but he tried,pushed by his father he was OK. Our coach was not the most handsome fellow in the world, he always seemed to have a four o'clock shadow and that white gunk on the corner of his lips. Nevertheless, he was a great coach for us. He had taken us to a 15 and 2 record that year with our two losses coming from the same team, the Buttonwood Braves. They had a pitcher who was almost six feet tall and was really talented. He was good,too good, and as it turned out too old as well. He was 14 years old and that was two years older then the rules for little league. So now with two games remaining in the season it looked like we would play the braves in the play-offs.
It was the hottest day of the summer and we faced a very good team that day,the Castle Hills Royals. We got to play our last two games at home that year, the community showed their support and the bleachers were packed. Rick and Vinnie Novello were our top pitchers that year and they were good. Like most sibling rivalries they tried to outdo each other, Rick was a left hander with a screaming side arm fast ball that made batters bail out of the batters box the first time they wre pitched to. Vinnie was a year younger but much taller and stronger than his brother,both would be aces on any team but they were on our team. I was very familiar with them because we were friends off the field as well,besides, I was the catcher