I’m 8 years old on the streets of Boston throwing balls up and down the hot summer asphalt with my older brother Rick.  We used to play in the school yards and a place called the Blakey.  Which was a patch of grass big enough for little kids to play pick up baseball.  It featured (and still does) a statue of William Blake from Dorchester, Massachusetts who fought bravely in the Cival War.  William Blake later was very helpful and admired in politics.

I didn’t like baseball that much then it was too slow.  I would much rather climb stuff and ride my bike.  But Rick liked it and was always recruiting me for games with his friends.  To make along story short I went to Sears & Roebuck with my parents who were shopping.  Rick and I went off to the sporting goods department and started looking at stuff to kill time.  I remember seeing Ted’s signature on everything bats, gloves, balls, tents, weights, fishing stuff and hunting stuff too.  I remember asking my brother who Ted Williams was?  I had no idea who Ted Williams was!  Ted Williams was completely off my radar.

Rick’s response (though I can not remember it exactly) was that I was stupid and that I smell.   (This was Rick’s response to most my questions.)

Today I have a saying… there is life in what you don’t know.

by Steve Ferroli