My granddad, W. Roy Luttrell, Sr., loved baseball. He played one season of minor league baseball (Georgia-Alabama League) for the Newnan Cowetas. A pitcher, he had impressive stats: .692 won/loss record, but decided that he needed steadier work and swapped playing baseball for banking (National Bank of Columbus and later the Federal Reserve in Atlanta).
Daddy tells me that Granddad once drove to Atlanta to listen to a radio broadcast of the World Series, because Columbus radio stations did not cover it. Later, he enjoyed attending the Southern Minor League games here in town: Columbus Confederate Yankees (1964 - 1966), Columbus White Sox (1967), and the Columbus Astros (1968 - 1988), and, occasionally, the Braves in Atlanta.
When I was about 9, I fell in love with baseball too, playing pick-up games in the front yards of homes up and down our heavily child-populated street. I also loved to walk to the baseball park at the end of the street to watch Little League games - wishing that girls could play too. I remember asking for, and getting, a bat and ball (a girlish softball!!!) for my 9th birthday. I later bought a glove at J.C. Penney with birthday money.
Granddad took me along to some of the games at Golden Park. I remember being disappointed that we sat in the grandstand, protected by a net, insuring that we would not catch any tipped balls. (How would he explain a slammed-baseball-to-the-head injury to my parents? Of course, he was wise!) He bought me a program, pointing out players and facts about them. Roy White, a first baseman, was my favorite. The New York Yankees called him up in 1965, so I did not get to see him play much.
The most memorable trip to Golden Park was probably the last one that we made together. I discovered that generous Granddad would buy anything that I asked for, something that he deeply regretted on the trip home. Embarrassed, but helplessly nauseated, I had to get him to pull over to the side of the road so that I could hang my head out the car door. I don't think that we told my parents about that incident. Hot Dogs! Coca-Cola! Popcorn! Peanuts! Candy Apples! Oh My!****** Breaking News********
This month our local newspaper, the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer, held a "Most Memorable Braves Fan Experience" contest. Submitting an entry was easy for me because of the work I had already done on this posting. Here's what I wrote, as published in the Ledger on Sunday, August 29, 2010.
Sunday, Aug. 29, 2010
Ledger-Enquirer announces Atlanta Braves contest winners
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Readers were invited to write a story about their favorite experience as a Braves fan
FROM STAFF REPORTS
The Ledger-Enquirer asked Braves fans to tell us about their favorite experience as a fan. Here are the top three as chosen by the Ledger-Enquirer’s Kevin Price, Stephanie Pedersen and Heather Williams.
FIRST PLACE
Name: Emily Whiteside
When I was about 9, I fell in love with baseball and played pick-up games in the front yards of homes in our Lindsey Creek neighborhood, but longed to play on a real team — a Little League team. Unfortunately, for me, Little League banned girls in the 1960s. My granddad, W. Roy Luttrell, Sr., loved baseball, too. He had pitched one season of minor league baseball for the Newnan Cowetas in the Georgia-Alabama League with impressive stats: .692 won/loss record.
Daddy tells me that Granddad once drove to Atlanta to listen to a radio broadcast of the World Series, because Columbus radio stations did not cover it.
My indulgent granddad understood how much I wanted to be on a team, so, to mollify me, he sometimes took me with him to see the Columbus Confederate Yankees play at Golden Park. He would buy a program and then explain what the stats meant while I picked out my favorite player on the field: Roy White, a first baseman. I was pretty much content with that arrangement, as Granddad’s largesse also typically included popcorn, peanuts, and candy apples.
But, he and my father outdid themselves in 1966 (or 1967) when they invited me to accompany them on a Columbus Kiwanis Club trip to an Atlanta Braves game. There were other children on the chartered bus, but I think that I was the only girl. Undaunted, I listened to the men talk baseball and made mental notes about who I would look for on the field: Phil Niekro, Joe Torre, and Hank Aaron. Probably, I made further notes about what concessions I’d select at Fulton County Stadium. This was going to be great!
And it was. The game was rained out. We never left the bus. No hot dogs. No candied apples. No peanuts. No Braves pennant or souvenir program. No homers. We just turned south and headed home.
I was very disappointed and probably sulked a bit. But great it must have seemed to me, because here I am 44 years later remembering the scent of tobacco on my grandfather’s jacket, the scratchy bus seats, and the pride that I felt sitting beside my father that night — girls allowed.
Read more: http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/2010/08/29/1247506/ledger-enquirer-announces-atlanta.html#ixzz0xzsFg2R5
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Great story and wonderful memories. Your granddad sounds a lot my dad...doing whatever it takes to see/hear a game. Great classic shot of the baseball team. Did you dad also play some? How many siblings does your dad have?
ReplyDeleteThanks, Allen. My father never much got into baseball, and I don't think that he ever played. He has one older sister. Unlike the Vanns, the Luttrell side of my family was small!
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