By JIM BUTLER
Walking into a youth baseball park after an absence of a couple of decades, I almost literally bumped into the first kid I ever played catch with, though he’s a kid no more.
Ted Barbe was leaving his grandson’s first T-ball game; I was arriving for great-grandson Ethan’s first one.
Small world, yet baseball has been a part of ours for 70 years. Ted and I advanced from playing catch, workup and pepper on Gay Road to leagues at several levels. Trying out for Little League at age 8, he was selected by a majors team; I was dispatched to the minors.
My banishment to the Bluebirds while he embarked on five seasons with a majors team (C&F, I believe) defines our baseball careers. There was only one program at that time and competition was keen.
When we were 11 our league sent its All-Star squad to Williamsport, PA for the then-8-team World Series. It was a one-and-done event, but the stuff our dreams were made of. Alexandria lost 4-2 to New Jersey which later lost in the championship game. (Incidentally, that New Jersey league sent its team back to the Series the next year.)
Ted and I played in the same leagues but played two different games. I dreamed of home runs, he hit them.
We shared parents who supported the teams we played for (OK, some of the games I played along the way didn’t play well with JRB and Mellie, but that’s a different story.) Unless he was working, JRB would be in the stands. The same was true for Annette Barbe. And for Irby Ducote and Quinton Robinson when their sons Richard, and Don and Johnny played.
As years went by, Ted and I crossed regularly at baseball fields, as youth league coaches, as fathers at high school games. Then, it was over. He went his way, becoming a bit of a legend in the U.S. Marshal’s Service, Western District of Louisiana; I went mine.
Now here we are again. Play ball!
Jim Butler, a Bolton High School alumnus, was an acclaimed writer and editor at the Alexandria Town Talk for 36 years, the last 23 (1977-2003) as editor-in-chief. He led Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of Hurricane Katrina for the Gulfport (Miss.) Sun-Herald in 2005. Butler returned home to Cenla a few years ago, and will share his talents and insight with Rapides Parish Journal readers.