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A word from the old guy…

Kevin Oeth, Sports Editor
Posted 6/15/21

The astute reader will recognize a slight difference in the name of this column. While it is only a semi-regular column, I have decided to change the name. I have been the editor of the sports page …

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A word from the old guy…

Posted

The astute reader will recognize a slight difference in the name of this column. While it is only a semi-regular column, I have decided to change the name. I have been the editor of the sports page since November 1, and I kind of feel like I’m not the new guy any longer, and frankly, the old guy part fits me so much better.

I am a baseball guy. When I was about eight years old, I was given a subscription to Sports Illustrated. Naturally, it was quite an eye-opener when the first swimsuit issue showed up in the mailbox.

Not being very good at baseball, however, I turned to coaching at the age of 16. I took my little brother to his practice and was asked me if I could hit some ground balls to the kids. I was hooked. After 42 years of coaching, I finally gave it up this year. Over time I developed some goals. I had two in particular. First, I wanted to manage in a major league stadium. Next, I wanted something I did to be put in Sports Illustrated. Simple goals really, but, let’s be honest, for most of us, highly unattainable.

In the spring of 1987, I was coaching an American Legion team out of Marshall, Missouri when I got a call from the coach of the Camdenton, Missouri Legion team. He was proposing a game between the two teams. The really great part about that was the game was to be played at Busch Stadium and all we had to do to qualify was sell 200 tickets. Even though we lived in Royal country, people wanted to see their boys play at Busch.

We had to take our equipment to the stadium about four hours prior to the Cardinal game. To be able to get all the equipment in one place, I decided to build a box, paint it blue, and put a huge old English “M” on the lid. I added a couple of rope handles and we were set.

When game day came, we dropped the box off and went to watch the Cardinal game. During the seventh inning, the team headed to our locker room to get ready for our game. We played and, unfortunately, we lost.

Some time passed and one of my assistant coaches showed up at my workplace with a copy of the most recent Sports Illustrated. He told me, “you’ve got to see this!” He opened the magazine to show me a two-page spread of the same locker room we had been in the day we played at Busch. Inside that locker room was a box. My box. And sitting on that box was Cardinal mascot Fredbird, eating Chicken McNuggets and reading a newspaper.

So, yes, on that Father’s Day in 1987, I realized two of my dreams: I got to manage in a major league stadium, and I got something I did put into Sports Illustrated.

This weekend marks 33 years since that day and sure enough, my son, Andy Oeth, and my grandson, Payton, will be on the field at Busch. I personally can not wait.

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