Polyester and Astroturf: Shoeless Joe Novel Signed By Bill Kinsella

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Shoeless Joe Novel Signed By Bill Kinsella

Today I want to look at a slightly different item than I'll regularly focus on in this space. My all-time favorite movie is Field of Dreams. I'm not saying it's the best movie ever made (that would be Casablanca), but it's my personal favorite. I don't have time to go into all the reasons why this is true, but in the end it is because of what the movie is about: fathers and sons, dreams and opportunities, and (of course) baseball.

It is based on the novel Shoeless Joe, written by Bill Kinsella. A number of years ago, a friend of mine named Jon Blackwell went to a book signing by Kinsella. To my surprise and excitement, he got a copy of the book for me and had it autographed. To this day it is one of my favorite autographs, not just for what the item is, but for the message included in the author's signing of it.

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Welcome to Polyester and Astroturf

I have been a sports fan in general and a baseball fan in particular for as long as I can remember. One of my most distinct early childhood memories is of my mom taking me to Busch Stadium, where we would sit in the left field bleachers and watch our favorite player, Lou Brock.

Sunday afternoon games were when they'd have the giveway games for kids such as Hat Day, Ball Day, or Bat Day (a lawsuit waiting to happen), so that's when we usually went. We would go to the 8:00 church service, make a sack lunch, and go wait for the gates to open so that we could be among the first to enter, ensuring us a front row seat.

I suppose it was these experiences that birthed my love for baseball as well as my love for baseball memorabilia. In later years, as teenagers, my friend Craig and I would spend the entire day at the stadium, getting autographs of players before and after the game. We waited for the Cardinals in the parking garage or we'd go down the street and stake out the visiting team's hotel lobby.

Over the years, I added to these mementos various souvenirs and other items. When my wife and I bought our first house, I had a room in the basement that she graciously allowed me to turn into my "sports room." In it I displayed much of the memorabilia I had collected over the years. Most of it had only sentimental value, but it was fun to relive the memories every time I entered the room.

In 2006, we moved to Flint, Michigan. Unfortunately for me, the house we purchased did not have an extra room for my stuff, and as a result, most of it has remained boxed in our basement ever since. I started this blog as a means of remembering and sharing. Remembering what I had, and remembering the events connected to those items; and sharing in this space both those items as well as my thoughts about them.

The color scheme of the blog is very intentionally patterned after the Cardinal road uniforms of the late 70s and early 80s. For some reason, baby blue was in vogue, and the color always evokes memories of this era for me. Much the same, polyester and astroturf were staples at the time, hence the title of the blog.

I hope you enjoy my trip down memory lane...I know I will. And please feel free to share your comments as well.