11:59pm: A Truly Great Lawn
Central Park: The Great Lawn Across Turtle Pond
The day sail fell through on Saturday, so I took the opportunity, with the beautiful weather, to take in the spectacular vigor of Central Park's newly renovated Great Lawn, just across Turtle Pond from Belvedere Castle. Used to be, back in the day, every summer weekend was spent playing softball on the Great Lawn, 11am to 5 or 6pm, every Saturday and Sunday, like a ritual. But during the 90's I played in the men's baseball league in Bergen County and played hardball every Sunday, so it had been a while since softball on the Great Lawn. And, back in the day, the Great Lawn was nothing if not a misnomer, for there was no lawn, just sand and dirt and ruts and rocks; matter of fact I used to refer to it as the Great Prarie. That has changed, however, with the Park Conservancy's 2-year, $18.2 Million Dollar Makeover, which was completed and unveiled in October '97 (just in time for winter!). But, what a difference; here are a couple of before and after shots:
I had been on the field since the renovations, but not to play baseball. In summer, of late, we usually blade out to the Sheep Meadow on weekends to throw the frisbee around, so I'd see it now and then. And this fall, during football season, Jake, Chris, Mike and I would go out to the Great Lawn with a football a couple of times a week to get in a little practice. But until this weekend I hadn't played a full day of softball on the fields, like in the old days, and it was truly wonderful.
I went out on Saturday morning and met a nice bunch of folks that were just hitting and fielding, and they invited me into the mix. Pretty soon we had enough for a game, which lasted all day. When we lost Diamond #3 to the Little Leaguers (permits take precedence, naturally, and we were happy to move over to let the future big-leaguers take their licks) we moved on over to #1 and started anew. And I ran into Dennis DeVivo and Jimmy Nix, two of my old softball buddies from the old days, out there with their own kids.
It was great to see my old friends, but sad to learn from Jimmy that his brother-in-law, Mike Carroll, a FDNY firefighter, was lost on September 11th. He told me Sports Illustrated dedicated an issue to FDNY and NYPD victims of 9/11, most of whom were also accomplished athletes, and that Michael Carroll was featured in the article. I can't find the article online, but when I get a copy of it I'll post a tribute to Mike on this site. Mike and his brother Billy Carroll, also a Firefighter, were both teammates on our old Charlie Brown softball and football teams (and both great natural athletes and really great guys). Like everyone else here in the city, my list of friends and acquaintences who were lost in the towers continues to grow, and I am sorry now to have to add Mike Carroll to that list. I have posted a tribute to Sept. 11 on my Journal website, and River Oak Review has published my short tribute in their latest issue, which is reprinted on my Fiction Page, along with my latest published short story. (Check the "Relativity" page, at the end of the story.)
On Sunday we were supposed to have a team practice for Mo's Amigos softball team, but the people that didn't show up were absent, so back I went to the Great Lawn. Second verse, same as the first, met up with a couple of guys and we started throwing a hardball around on Field #1, and then a few more showed up and we pulled out the softball and started hitting and fielding, and by 2pm we had enough for a game, and played a dandy of one. And, another chance encounter with some friends from the past: Jennifer and George, whose wedding I attended, and who I had not seen for quite some time. They were sitting out in the sun behind the backstop and came over to say hi, and we caught up a little bit and it was great to see them.
My only regret on the whole weekend in the Park was that I didn't bring the camera out there, it was a truly picturesque weekend and I could have gotten a ton of great shots with the camera (to make up for some of the ones that weren't in my bat). Plus, I could have taken pics of Jimmy Nix and Dennis DeVivo and their kids, and George and Jennifer, to post on the site. Even as it was I had to purloin these photos of the Park from the net, but oh well. There will be other softball weekends on the Great Lawn, and I will bring my camera and report on those outings and post some original photos, too.
Posted by cronish at June 03, 2002 01:55 AM