8 minute read
EDITOR’S LETTER
OLD PASTIME THRIVES ON NEW BLOOD
A Panama City kid makes it to baseball’s big leagues
Advertisement
I was new to the Italian Inn softball team, which was captained and sponsored by a future mayor of Panama City and to which I was introduced by a future Bay County commissioner. Of the two, one had the bearing of a public official and was capable, certainly, of mastering the calculus of elective politics. The other was an intelligent but loquacious sort and was helped out because he looked good enough to be mistaken from time to time for the actor David Duchovny.
To all of the other members of the team, I was an unknown and unproven interloper to whom it was made clear that acceptance would have to be earned.
Especially distant was the pitcher, a dark and mysterious paper mill worker who said little and arrived at games toting a large, stuffed duffle bag from which he never produced anything other than a glove and a favorite bat. You were left to wonder what else the bag contained. If someone were to tell you about the pitcher that he was a pool shark and a bookie who once did 10 years for manslaughter, you would believe it.
A shortage of players one night resulted in my getting a start in right center field. I am sure that after taking my position, I looked about in a way that betrayed my nervousness. Here was my chance to make a good impression on the established players who surrounded me.
The ball left home plate on a rope, but my jump on it was good and I streaked to my right, stuck out my Mag Plus, Chinese-made glove and, in one of those moments where the game slows down, made the catch. Baserunners who were convinced that the ball would get by me retreated, and the typically expressionless pitcher favored me with a nod. My status had risen. For the first time as a member of the Italian Inn team, I had something to lose.
I thought back to that catch — my personal equivalent of Willie Mays robbing Vic Wertz — after interviewing Nick Nelson, who graduated Rutherford High School and Gulf Coast State College and last year made 11 appearances as a rookie pitching in relief for the New York Yankees.
By how many times would you have to multiply the intensity associated with trying to win over the Italian Inn to get to that of striving to take a place among the New York Yankees?
But Nelson seems to have done so with relative aplomb. His is a disarming nature, and he got along well with Yankee veterans, including Gerrit Cole, the ace of the pitching staff. He picked up a win and struck out 18 hitters in 20⅔ innings.
Nelson is 25. At that age, Mickey Mantle, a player who so enthralled me as a boy that I became a lifelong Yankees fan, was the American League MVP and a Toots Shor’s nightclub habitué, along with running buddies including Whitey Ford and Billy Martin. Nelson is devoted to his girlfriend and daughter, has an abiding respect for the grandparents who raised him and the coaches who groomed him for success, and looks forward to visiting museums in the city when the pandemic lifts.
His coach at Gulf Coast, Mike Kandler, was pleased to learn in November that Nelson was driving the same truck that he had before making it to the big leagues.
Baseball writer Roger Kahn, in his classic work about aging onetime Brooklyn Dodgers players, The Boys of Summer, quoted the writer Ed Linn, who observed, “Sooner or later, society beats down the man of muscle and sweat.” Kahn wrote, however, that he was not saddened by his meetings with Dodgers long retired from a boy’s game played by men. Rather, he was renewed by their dignity and hope.
I did not come away from my meeting with Nelson saddened by my own advancing age. I was instead renewed by a young man and his resolve and his optimism and by the vitality of a national pastime whose rhythms stir me every spring.
Play ball,
STEVE BORNHOFT EXECUTIVE EDITOR
sbornhoft@rowlandpublishing.com
Welcome, Holly.
For more than a decade, Holly Onda has focused on leveraging financial tools to help her clients work toward realistic and achievable goals. She understands no two clients’ financial lives, needs or goals are the same and, therefore, takes a tailored approach to planning and selecting tools to serve the individual. Call Holly today to schedule your no-obligation financial plan review.
Holly Onda Financial Advisor, LPL Financial holly.onda@lpl.com 850.404.6059
Serving Bay and Walton Counties www.capitalcityinvestments.com
Securities and advisory services are offered through LPL Financial (LPL), a registered investment advisor and broker-dealer (member FINRA/SIPC). Insurance products are offered through LPL or its licensed affiliates. Capital City Bank and Capital City Investments are not registered as a broker-dealer or investment advisor. Registered representatives of LPL offer products and services using Capital City Investments, and may also be employees of Capital City Bank. These products and services are being offered through LPL or its affiliates, which are separate entities from, and not affiliates of, Capital City Bank or Capital City Investments. Securities and insurance offered through LPL or its affiliates are: Not Insured by FDIC or Any Federal Government Agency · Not Bank Guaranteed Not Bank Deposits or Obligations · May Lose Value
EMERALDCOASTMAGAZINE.COM
Put Your ‘Best’ Foot Forward in 2021
Emerald Coast Magazine is partnering with the Junior League of the Emerald Coast to extend fundraising for the Child Clothing Project (the beneficiary of the Best of the Emerald Coast event) through April. Learn more by visiting EmeraldCoastMagazine.com/best-of-theemerald-coast or by turning to page 33.
@EMERALDCOASTMAG What were you the most proud of in 2020? That home renovation project finally finished? Spending more time with your family? Career growth or change? Share your 2020 highlights with us on Instagram. Don’t forget to tag @emeraldcoastmag for a chance to be featured.
@emeraldcoastmag Emerald Coast Magazine @EmeraldCoastMag
CONNECT WITH US
Get the latest stories from Emerald Coast Magazine, exclusive offers, event invitations and more delivered to your inbox by signing up at EmeraldCoastMagazine.com/ Connect-with-Us.
WELCOME, DERMATOLOGY SPECIALISTS!
We are thrilled to partner with Dermatology Specialists of Florida for exclusive beauty and skincare content. Visit EmeraldCoastMagazine.com/ beauty-links to discover what’s new, and don’t forget to read their Q&A with Dr. Chandler of 30A Plastic Surgery on page 32.
