OOTP Developments Forums - View Single Post

English_Ray · 06-14-2012, 12:12 PM

II.

Anyway, the story starts when I was just 9 years old. Actually, the story of Escondidan baseball starts three years before that, but my story begins in the summer of 1945. And it starts with my father.

Ramón Inglés was his name. He was a great ballplayer. Really great. But of course there was no money in it for him when he was young. He worked all day out in the fields and swung his bat whenever he could grab a break. He played for one of the local amateur teams – I don't recall which. He was the star player – he was known around the island even. But he never made a penny from his playing.

He was only 32 when the LNE – the Liga Nacional de Escondida – started its first season. The first season of professional baseball on the island. But my father had no chance to play in it. He had injured himself on the farm the year before, and his playing days were behind him. It must have been a terrible thing for him to deal with. He loved playing baseball, and now the chance was there to make a living doing what he loved, he couldn't take it. But he never complained. Never said a bad word about his luck. My mother always told me that he never doubted that things would work out for the best. I don't think I could have had that kind of faith.

But where was I? Oh yes, the summer of 1945. When the world was finally on its way to finding some long-overdue peace. The war had never reached Escondida in fact – we try our best to stay hidden from the world's complications. Not that we don't have our own from time to time of course!

So, the LNE was preparing to begin its fourth season of play that winter, when Señor Lara (the founder, and first Director of the Liga) announced that they would be letting two extra teams play in the new season.

I should explain – in 1942 the Liga had begun with 6 teams: Los Metropolitanos from Centenera; Atlético, also from Centenera; La Cruz Luchadores; Progreso Tabaqueros; Club Orientales from San Rodrigo; and the Tahón Leones. They’d played 60-games each of the next three winters, and the island had fallen in love. It’s funny how paying the star players a few dollars and charging people a few cents to watch makes baseball seem better somehow – but it did. And it does...

06-14-2012, 12:12 PM	#2
English_Ray All Star Reserve Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: A big city near Basingstoke... Posts: 718	II. Anyway, the story starts when I was just 9 years old. Actually, the story of Escondidan baseball starts three years before that, but my story begins in the summer of 1945. And it starts with my father. Ramón Inglés was his name. He was a great ballplayer. Really great. But of course there was no money in it for him when he was young. He worked all day out in the fields and swung his bat whenever he could grab a break. He played for one of the local amateur teams – I don't recall which. He was the star player – he was known around the island even. But he never made a penny from his playing. He was only 32 when the LNE – the Liga Nacional de Escondida – started its first season. The first season of professional baseball on the island. But my father had no chance to play in it. He had injured himself on the farm the year before, and his playing days were behind him. It must have been a terrible thing for him to deal with. He loved playing baseball, and now the chance was there to make a living doing what he loved, he couldn't take it. But he never complained. Never said a bad word about his luck. My mother always told me that he never doubted that things would work out for the best. I don't think I could have had that kind of faith. But where was I? Oh yes, the summer of 1945. When the world was finally on its way to finding some long-overdue peace. The war had never reached Escondida in fact – we try our best to stay hidden from the world's complications. Not that we don't have our own from time to time of course! So, the LNE was preparing to begin its fourth season of play that winter, when Señor Lara (the founder, and first Director of the Liga) announced that they would be letting two extra teams play in the new season. I should explain – in 1942 the Liga had begun with 6 teams: Los Metropolitanos from Centenera; Atlético, also from Centenera; La Cruz Luchadores; Progreso Tabaqueros; Club Orientales from San Rodrigo; and the Tahón Leones. They’d played 60-games each of the next three winters, and the island had fallen in love. It’s funny how paying the star players a few dollars and charging people a few cents to watch makes baseball seem better somehow – but it did. And it does...