McCutcheon

Under Construction	McCutcheon
	McCutcheon Lambert's was a center of my life during the 40's summers and after school. Many of the neighborhood kids mostly boys used that vacant lot as a recreation center. Sooner or later we would gather there to play. The facilities were bare. The only sign that this was more than a lot was the seldom used basketball backboard at one end. Although the lot was a block deep and took up the middle third of the block it had to be discovered. Discovery was not all that easy. Lambert's was fronted by a five foot stone wall that ran its length. Behind the wall there was a growth of trees that hid the contents of the lot and gave it an air of danger. Particularly if you were 8 years old. It was as if all of a sudden when you reached a certain age you started to hear about Lambert's. Not everyone played at Lambert's. Some of the neighborhood kids weren't allowed to go to Lambert's. Vacant lots were not good they were dangerous. And after all playing there was trespassing.. The legal issues of trespassing could be why some parents would not allow there kids to play at the Lamberts lot. On the other hand some parents used Lamberts as a privilege to be removed as a form of punishment. More than once we appeared en mass to persuade a parent to release someone from punishment so we would have enough people to play a game Getting there was not easy. You had to be able to scale the wall that ran the length of the lot. Once you scaled the wall you had to find one of the paths to the open area. Being able to scale the wall was a big step. If you were not able to scale the wall you had to walk to the end of the lot where the wall ended near the basket ball court. Everyone knew where you lived. So if you entered from that end of the lot it was a give away. You couldn't scale the wall. Since you were likely carrying a glove or a bat or both you had to be able to scale the wall with one hand. To scale the wall you had to find a place along the wall with a tree hanging out over the wall. Then you had to be able to use a small depression in the wall. The trick was to jump and place one foot on the depression swing your arm up to the tree and swing your self up over the wall far enough so you did not fall back.. Sounds easy. But I can recall watching kids practice the move. I recall that you could master this maneuver by age 8 or 9. There was I recall always at least one way to scale the wall. But there were times of tragedy, when a tree would be uprooted or perhaps removed by a parent who objected to Lambert's and the wall could not be scaled. Lambert's was a multi use facility. The right side of the lot was wooded and had mounds. That area was used by the younger group of mostly boys to play hide and seek and war games. A major feature of the war games were dry tufts of grass that served as hand grenades. When these missiles hit the ground the gave off a cloud of dust that resembled an explosion. The many army surplus stores supplied every imaginable piece of original war equipment including canteens and cooking equipment. The M1 riffles were wood with some metal parts and looked very real. The players had to supply the sound effects. It would not be unusual for us to spend all day until dinner time at Lambert's. We went home for diner. My family had a bell that would be rung to call me for diner. On the far left of the lot near the houses there were large fallen trees. One was large enough to make an excellent prop for king of the mountain. In the center there was our sand lot ball field. Baseball season at Lamberts started in February of course. Pitchers and catcher report. There was usually warm weather in mid February, the February thaw. Sand lot maintenance was a cooperative project. Baseball was big in the neighborhood. The hall of famer Nellie ( Nelson) Fox second baseman for the Philadelphia American league team rented a house in the neighborhood. He was discovered at age 16 by Connie Mack who lived near by in an Mount Airy estate hidden by trees. Baseball was different in those days. Much more accessible. You could sit on the step or porch and talk with a future hall of famer. Philadelphia had two major league teams in the 40's. In most years if you combined the wins for both teams you wouldn't have enough wins to take a pennant. Fox's team lost over 100 games in 1946. So we'd pick a player and live game by game. If a player hit 300 we were cheering them on regardless of the team. Over 100 loses. Casey would have said no one person could have done all this, it was a team effort. All of sports were different then. Not only players like Nellie Fox and Pete Pihos live in the neighborhood but there were a series of live sports shows on radio every Saturday morning. Hoards of boys would go from show to show. The hosts were sports hall of famers such as Bill Campbell and Matt Guokas. Players would be there for interviews and autographs. Ashburn even set up a place to teach kids to bunt. Kids knew baseball in ways that they do not today. Saturday's were for me special. I recall that I never saw any of the Lambert's gang at the Saturday radio shows. Lambert's was self governing. Not that there was no royalty. But there were flexible ground rules and the need to adopt the game to the available resources. For example if there were not enough outfielders right field was an out or a foul for right handed hitters. In baseball season we could always play bounce or fly with 3 or four kids. Two people could start with the batter hitting fungo. We never had enough kids to play a full two team game. To play one of our batter up games you needed a pitcher first baseman, infielder and outfielder. Every game was a process that started with choosing sides. A time honored ritual actually. This is where all the kids in little league miss out. Choosing sides started with two captains. Usually someone who brought a bat and ball. Or McCutcheon. You started by throwing fingers. The winner had the choice of catching the bat or throwing it to the other captain. Then the captains would take turns grasping the bat until there was no more space at the top to grip it. The last person the have a grip had to swing it over his head three times and then hold it while the other captain kicked it. If he held on he got to choose the first player. If not the other captain chose first. There were times when the losing captain would claim best two of three and even prevailed. The wall also served another purpose. It was used for fielding practice. I would spend hours throwing a ball against the wall and catching the grounder or line drive that came off the wall. The stone wall was very unpredictable and much more challenging than pepper. Of all this what I remember most was McCutcheon. McCutcheon was the royalty at Lambert's. He was older a high school student the best broken field runner and had the sweetest swing I recall seeing. I can still see that swing. He was slender and blonde. The neighborhood Ted Williams. Jimmy didn't have to use his royalty. It came from him as naturally as his smile or his swing. He was always the first chosen and if he arrived late there were adjustments made to keep the sides even. And when he came up to bat someone always yelled, "sink out." He could hit the ball out of the lot on to the street. McCutcheon was remarkable in other ways as well. He never got into fights. He did not make fun of those less talented. He taught us all important things such as how to repair a broken bat and make it good as new with glue and wood screws. Tape was used to cover up the repair. There were several bats in use that had been repaired more than once. I still have one and when last tapped it on the ground it sounded good. One August day the unexpected happened. A group of Lamberts kids were going with McCutcheon to a football game in Downingtown. I was invited. This would have been my first high school foot ball game and first trip with a group in a car. A big decision. As a parent I now see it as huge. Of course then going on a trip with McCutcheon was very big. I gathered information and discussed the situation with my mother. She told me that there were lots of unknowns. I do not recall that there contacts with other parents. Perhaps my mother knew that despite the honor I would not go. She never took a position. At least she did not say no. What see did suggest was that I weigh the gain against the cost. I wasn't sure what she meant. I did not see any cost. Then I started to envision riding in a packed car on a hot night, a ball game at a distant strange school. There was more discomfort that pleasure going. Even the honor faded. I recall that the invite was time limited as there were limited seats. I decided not to go. The weekend came and went and I recall the evening a Friday was one of those August nights when the Philadelphia air hangs heavy. The temperature would be in the 80's at 10 p.m. And not get much lower. This was the 40's and there was no AC. I may have thought that this was not a pleasant night for a trip. There was no need to wait up for the guys to come back from the trip. It would be too late. In those days Downingtown was forever away The Phillies were at home and I fell asleep listing to By Saam doing the night game. During the weekend I tried to find out who won the game. There were rumblings in the neighborhood. Nothing definite. Then I heard there was an accident. There were injuries. Some people went to the hospital. It was all as unclear and hazy as the hazy hot humid days. Later I saw McCutcheon walking down the street in a shoulder cast. My life took me to other places with real baseball fields like the Water Tower and the PAL. Before I knew it the world of Lambert's was over. They cleared Lambert's and started building an apartment complex. I started high school and that took me into worlds away from Lambert's. The world that Lamberts was will always be with me even though I could probably fit it into our back yard. It all a matter of perspective. At a family gathering my nieces and nephews got lost in the back yard walking our Newfie. But I can still see that sweet effortless swing that was McCutcheon's. I can see the way he could pull in a pass. I often think about what could have happened. While our side of Lamberts was walled and hidden the other side was open to the street. A street that Connie Mack would have taken to get to his home from the ball field. I wondered if he ever drove by and saw us playing ball. He could have seen McCutcheon play and that sweet swing. But it did not happen. Lamberts is gone but the memories live on. That kind of fun doesn't happen any more. I never met royalty like McCutcheon again.