Regional Baseball Stories – Ballpark Days and Home Field Honor

When I was a kid, through the mid to late 1950s, I became a regular at Knoxville Smokies games at Bill Meyer Stadium.

The Smokies had a promotion called the Knot Hole Gang. A Knot Hole Gang coupon would get you into the game free if you were accompanied by a paying adult.

I grew up in Burlington, about eight miles east of the ballpark, and my dad worked the second shift at Alcoa. But my mother would take me and the Simpson brothers (neighbors) out to the park and drop us off, and then return a couple of hours later to pick us up.

The Simpsons had a connection to the coupons, so we always had access to them.

We would take our coupons and hang around the ballpark gates until an adult came along without kids, then ask him if we could accompany him into the game. We were successful 90 percent of the time – if we were not the gates would be opened after the third or fourth inning and we could just walk in. One memorable experience came when one of the adults who let me accompany him bought the three of us popcorn.

During that era, the Smokies were a Double AA farm team of the Detroit Tigers. We saw such future stars as Mickey Lolich, Bill Freehan and Denny McClain. One impressive player was a speedy infielder named Jake Wood. During his big league career he was known for towering home runs that seemed impossible for someone of his diminutive size. He also held a major-league record for a couple of seasons – he struck out more than any other player.

Another East Knoxvillian made sure that we had plenty of baseballs and bats for our own play. Swan Seymour, among his other endeavors, owned the bus that the Smokies chartered for their away-games. He made sure that his two sons and their friends had lots of slightly used balls and bats. (Most of the bats were cracked and didn’t last long in our hands until they became firewood.)

And he also gifted me with the accompanying signed photo of Joltin’ Joe Dimaggio.

But my most memorable baseball experience came when I attended my first major-league game in 1962. My family and I had driven from Knoxville to Los Angeles to visit with my mother’s brothers and their families, all of whom had settled in southern California after World War II.

And one mid-week afternoon, my uncle Kenneth took me, my cousin Dale and my dad to watch the Dodgers play the St. Louis Cardinals. The game featured Stan Musial in his last year. We were in the cheap seats of course, and there were few fans present since it was a workday. Dale and I decided to go down to the wall when warmups started. Musial greeted us and, between throws back and forth with teammates, joked around with us.

I wish I could remember details of the conversation. I’m sure we had nothing of import to say, no insightful comments about the game of baseball or the day’s opponents. What I do remember is that a future Hall of Famer had the time to joke around with a couple of young fans.

And the game? The Dodgers won, Sandy Koufax outdueling Bob Gibson.

I was born and raised in New York City and have been a lifelong Yankees fan. Have gone to several games over the years. I was honored as Veteran of the Game on April 11, 2022. They gave me 4 seats to the game, free parking, a Yankees baseball cap, and a token in honor of the event. They took me down on the field before the game started and told the fans a little about my military history. I turned 80 a few days later.