Catch
Trip Start
Unknown
1
7
10
Trip End
Ongoing
Mattoon, Illinois
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Catch
Today I was going to Tuscola and planning to stop at the outlet mall. When I arrived in Tuscola I headed to a couple stores, I then saw the Polo outlet so decided to stop in and see if they had any deals. As I was milling about the store I ran into a familiar face, it was Mr. Temples. I remember growing up in Peoria and watching minor league baseball and he played for the St. Louis Cardinals organization. I remember he was a pretty good player but he never made it to the big leagues.
I decided to introduce myself and see how things were going with him. He told me that after the minor leagues he gave up his dream of going pro and went back home to Mattoon to settle down with his family. He said he had great boys and they were both a chip of the old block and great baseball players.
He did mention that his oldest son, Doug, plays ball for the University of Illinois and had passed up a chance to go to the minors because his mom thought it was better to get an education first and then play baseball. Doug apparently has had some trouble and is not doing well, so it seems as if his dream of making it big may come to pass as well.
Mr. Temples says his other son, Tim has graduated high school and is working in Mattoon at the Kraft factory over the summer. He too is pretty good at baseball and is going to college in the fall.
I tell him that sounds great and he says that if I am in town soon that the Bagelfest is coming up and he is in charge. He says it is a great time, lots of food and fun. I gave him my card and told him that maybe I would come down for the weekend and check it out.
It was getting late and I needed to wind things up and head back home, so I told him good luck and that I would keep in touch. He was a nice guy, too bad he didn't make it to the big leagues. I did notice though, he still had some swagger especially when he talked about his baseball career and how proud he was of his family.
Comments
What an excellent blog post, Brian! I hope you enjoy Catch. I loved the character of Helena...