Our Gaming God, Live from Heaven Stadium, (ample parking available)

My son collected baseball cards for YEARS! He has boxes and boxes of them! We used to sit and look at them during family gatherings, before I sent everything home with him! The passing of the baton!

It's a good poem, Danny.

I love baseball cards....esp. those from '50's/'60's.  
Mr. Lennon had a son who was my brother's best friend in childhood and adolescence.  
Bob had a phenomenal minor league career. Several home run, & other minor league batting records.  
But when time came for the Bigs, he got "sent down" on opening day '55. Had one at bat with the Cubs in '57,  next thing you know, he blows a rotator-cuff. Back then they were unfixable, and a career-killer injury.  
     Bob was a very sweet man. RIP, buddy.

Ah man! What a bummer! Debilitating sports injuries always seemed to happen to not just good but nice players.

One day in the long ago early '80s, my bro has me come along for a visit.  We spent damnear 3 hour on his patio, drinkin beer and listening to his baseball stories. All the future big leaguers he played alongside. Shit, they thought he was gonna be the next Babe Ruth the way he was cranking out homers' But alas!   And lord, ye shoulda seen his shelves of minor league trophies!
      Precious memberrys....how they linger.

They most certainly do, especially when you feel it's all you have left.

I guess his legacy wasn't meant to be in this lifetime. Do you know what he ended up doing?

don't remember

I researched it:

He had his union card (Local 580 in New York) and easily found a job. But he acknowledged that the break from baseball was painful: “I missed it every spring…the first three or four or five years…From, what, [age] 16 to 33, that was my life.” Lennon later did some “bird-dog” scouting for the Yankees.

I'm happy he returned to baseball in some capacity. His expertise was more suited for such a life.

Wow....that's cool.  
 
However, I got my story's crossed with e-pro I knew (& played for in the '80s, Lee Dodson. in th late 40s, he was a hot prospect in the Yankee organization. He was a pitcher. He was the one who blew his arm out just as the Yanks were poised to bring him up to the bigs. They brought up Whitey Ford instead who susequently pitched his way into the Hall of Fame.  After practices, Lee used to regale us with stories Yankee legends that he knew.  
        Bob Lennon actually did play in 26 games for the Giants and Cubs in 1955-1957. Unfortunately he only n  
hit for a puny .165.  However, he hit 1 big league home run  
as a Cub, against Sal Maglie of the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field in ;57. It was the Dodgers last season playing in my beloved Brooklyn, where Bob was born and lived before he broke into baseball  
          Bob has a "legacy".  He hit 64 home runs in 1954    
for the Nashville Volunteers in a 154game season. I believe that record still stands as one of the tops in minor league history. Thank goodiness for Wikipedia, so i can straighten out at least some of my memories.    
        I'd like to see the websites where you got that info on Bob.

Here's the guy I played and coached for in the '80s. Another kindly gentle man who did so much to keep real baseball alive in Kansas for many years, and helped so many young players...........

Topekan Lee Dodson of the Newark, New Jersey, Bears
Dates: 1949

Lee Dodson is shown in this photo postcard from 1949, when he played for the Newark Bears minor league baseball team. Dodson was a right-handed power pitcher from Topeka. As a youth, he played in Topeka High's intramural league and the American Legion's Junior Baseball program. After serving in the Army during World War II, Dodson pitched professionally in the minor leagues from 1946 through 1950. In 141 minor league game appearances, he earned 37 wins against 35 losses, and had an ERA of 3.76. Besides Newark, Dodson pitched for the Chanute Owls, Topeka Owls, Kansas City Blues, Muskegon Clippers, and Beaumont Roughnecks. After the minor leagues, he pursued a career in education, serving for many years as the Dean of Students at Washburn University. Throughout his adult life, Dodson was a leader in Topeka's baseball community. Over the years, he founded and managed several leagues, and managed and coached countless teams. He also was co-founder and president of the Topeka Baseball Federation. Known as Topeka's 'Mr. Baseball,' Lee Dodson died in 2013 at the age of 89. Digital reproduction of the postcard was accomplished through a joint project sponsored by the Kansas Historical Society and the Shawnee County Baseball Hall of Fame

That is wonderful, Danny! I love how you're pulling these our and giving thanks for knowing them and their accomplishments. It's a wonderful tribute to share their legacy!