Photo Credit: © Can Stock Photo / dbvirago
The retired farm town I grew up in was filled with characters and picturesque places that have been permanently ingrained in my mind. My wife often teases me that those experiences were right out of Mayberry in the fictional stories from The Andy Griffith Show. There was a rustic appeal to many events at that time before the world became so organized and predictable.
So when a collection of long-forgotten sandlot fields were being used by the Kiwanis summer baseball leagues, it was only fitting that citizens gathered there to watch the games and turn the field into a popular site. Over time, lights were added for night games, and the city’s famed resident (Lou Groza of the Cleveland Browns) was honored. The “Lou Groza Baseball Field” was commonly referred to as “Groza,” as in, “Hey, are you guys playing at Groza tonight?” It was like the Cleveland Indians’ Jacobs Field became known as the “Jake.”
As years passed, a picnic pavilion was built as well as a scorekeeper’s booth, which eventually hosted a megaphoned PA system. The batters playing on the central field (there were three fields in all) were announced, as well as the score at the end of each inning. This announcement was done because there was no scoreboard. We hadn’t come that far, you see.