Pensioner's Pilgrimage plus 1

Baseball was a huge part of our lives growing up. Saturday afternoons during the baseball season (winter) spent exploring the grounds and surrounds of Ormond Glenhuntly baseball ground for the home games. A field in another suburb for the away.

Leah and I always went with Dad. The Vegemite and lettuce sandwiches made ahead with fresh rolls Dad had collected from the bakery. Sometimes with cheese. Sometimes not. (If you've not tried a Vegemite and (Iceberg!) Lettuce roll or sandwich, you're seriously depriving yourself. Fresh bread. Real butter. Get around it!)

I think we may have been the last generation to enjoy the freedom of childhood without the media cultivating a fear that (realistically was minimal) our lives were in danger. We were always safe lying by the railway tracks with strategically placed rocks as a train coasted by ;) Or climbing any tree we could. There's a magic in the freedom we had that can not be replicated in today's world. No mobile phones. Innocence and a sense of adventure; but mostly the freedom to test risk and boundaries.

The baseball was special to us; but almost sacred for Dad, and this is what made our visit to The ballgame today so very special.

Allan:
“I first became involved in baseball as a 12yo in early 1966 when a kid from up the road where I lived in Caulfield South invited me to join him around the local park for a game of “catch”. His whole family were involved with the local Baseball Club at Ormond Park and had been since the very early 1930’s. It was this one chance invite that established my lifelong love for the game and set me up with a sporting career which continues today, albeit now as a non-playing team manager only.

By April 1966, I was playing in the Under 16 competition at Ormond and by 1968, I was playing both juniors on Saturday morning and senior baseball in the afternoon. Since those early days, I have played over 1000 games, mostly with Ormond but also with some other teams in Masters Competitions being Cheltenham, Waverley, and Upwey Ferntree Gully in the local Victorian Competition. I have also played interstate with Melbourne Thunder Masters Baseball as well as overseas with The Downunders in Edmonton Canada, USA Buzzards in Auckland, New Zealand and Black Sox in Fort Myers Florida. I am still involved today as a non-playing manager with Golddiggers Masters Baseball who regularly play in the Pan Pacific Masters Games on the Gold Coast and Australian Masters Games in Adelaide.

In the early 1980’s, I received Life Membership at Ormond Glenhuntly Baseball Club for services both on and off the field. In 2018, I was appointed a Club Legend being only the fourth person in the club’s 90-year history to receive such an accolade.”

Dad, you put the T in team and because it meant so much to you, this was my best day of all of our trip for me too.

Australian baseball legend. Allan Carter.Les mer