THE GREAT ESCAPE

Back in the old neighborhood, a baseball pick-up game of the neighborhood kids was about to take place in the parking lot of the Budweiser beer distribution warehouse next to my house. They were old buildings with a wooden loading dock full of empty wooden beer kegs and empty beer bottles. Next to the beer yard, as we called it, and behind my house, was a Pentecostal church in an old yellow brick building facing the street behind us.

The beer yard was fenced, and the gate locked, but that did not stop us, kids, from getting in. We would throw our balls, bats, and gloves over the fence and climb an eight-foot section of fence that did not have barbed wire at the top to get in. Once over the fence, we waited for everyone to arrive to pick teams.

The usual players' ages twelve to fifteen were me (Al), my brother Randy, Mike, Denny, Frank, Chuck, Bill, Pete, George, Craig, Kevin, Tom, Bobbie, Terry, Dooly, Ronnie, little Mike, and Jimmy. Two team leaders would throw the bat. One team leader would toss the bat to the other and catch it in one hand, then alternate each other fist hand over hand would go towards the knob of the bat. The closest to the knob without going over would have the first pick and be the home team. After the teams were picked, the game would start. We used a rubber baseball that cost twenty-five cents and was softer than a regular hardball to prevent damage to vehicles, windows, and buildings.

The beer yard was an odd shape. Two trailers parked in front of the loading dock connected to warehouse door number one were down the left side. This side was the shortest distance of maybe one hundred feet to the front of the trailers. The center of the beer yard went all the way to warehouse door number two, about two hundred feet. The right side of the beer yard went all the way to warehouse door number three and fifty feet farther than door number two at two hundred fifty feet. There was a restroom at the back of the office building in the front of the beer yard. That restroom we called the dugout. We also made a scoreboard on the side of the building that we filled in with chalk behind the home plate for accurate scorekeeping.

The game was going great, with the home team winning eight to six in the fifth inning. Then Dooly playing for the visiting team, came to bat. He was older and taller than all of us and was a good hitter. When Michael, who was pitching, threw the first pitch Dooly swung hard and connected, as everyone watched the ball flew high and landed on the roof of warehouse door number two, two hundred feet away. Now the problem was getting the ball down, or the ball game is over. Denny and Frank volunteered to climb up and get the ball.

Denny and Frank got on the loading dock climbed up the back of the trailer using the locking mechanisms and hinges of the doors to get up on top of the loading dock roof. From there, run across the loading dock roof over to the warehouse one door roof and then look for the ball on door number two's roof, locate it, and throw it down.

Suddenly unmarked police cars were pulling up to the gate with many plainclothes police officers. They yelled, "get off the roof now." To our surprise they proceeded to cut the lock on the gate and came running inside the beer yard, trying to catch Denny and Frank. Denny started to panic and being athletic, ran over to the roof over warehouse door three. There was no way to escape. There was a six-foot separation and a five-foot drop to the roof of the Pentecostal church. Denny had no time to think about it, jump or be caught, so he jumped, landing on the church roof while service was being held. When he landed, it shook the church with a loud crash, causing everyone to run out and see what happened. Luckily for Denny, there was a tall tree trunk that was as high as the church roof. He climbed on the tree trunk and shimmied down, making his escape. He ran along the side of the church and through my yard to the front of the street. Now all of the people in the church were outside, and police were busy catching Frank as he slowly climbed down. With all the commotion, all the neighbors on the street came out to see what happened, and Denny feeling relieved blended in as a bystander laughing to himself of his great escape. The police gave us a warning. They told us to stay out of the beer yard as it was private property and not climb on the roof for our safety. We all shook our heads yes but returned the next day to finish the game.