“At sometime in your childhood,
you and your friends went outside to play together for the last
time, and nobody knew it”
Hi, my name is Jim Lawler. I lived in Newark from 1952 to 1972.
I spent the first 10 years of my life living on Bloomfield Avenue
above my grandfather’s drugstore, Soriano’s. it was
next to Eddie the Butcher and Swanks. I want my story to start in
elementary school, about 5th grade, because those days were the
best.
I went to Sacred Heart Cathedral School. It was the old Brick
Building on the corner of Ridge Street and Park Avenue. The school
only went up to 5th grade, then you had to go to St. Patrick’s.
I really don't remember where that was, but we went there for 6th
and 7th grades. Then we went back to Sacred Heart for 8th grade.
I moved to North 6th Street about 1962. I lived down the block from
Garfield School, towards Orange Street. My mother had to convince
Monsieur Doyle to let me stay in Sacred Heart.
I grew up with the best collection of guys. There were nicknames
that ranged from Skinny to Batman. I remember some names, but I
do not want to mention anyone for fear of leaving someone out. We
were all altar boys, crossing patrol guards and Boy Scouts for about
a year.
The summer was the best time, the baseball teams at Sacred Heart
would start up. Everyone played and this was the highlight of the
summer. My last year I played on the Yankees and we won the World
Series.
The schoolyard was our home, we got there early in the morning
and played until lunch, came back, and stayed until it got dark.
We played some football but most of all we played baseball every
waking minute in the schoolyard.
Now baseball in the schoolyard was called Stick Ball. It was a
box drawn on the school wall, a bat, and a sponge ball. There was
a pitcher and one outfielder. The rules were simple. Three outs
and you changed sides. The rules for a hit were, past the pitcher
on a fly was a single, if you hit the grass a double, the street
a triple, across the street by Del Prestos was a homer.
The next game was Gentile. It was like regular baseball except
we played toward the school, so we wouldn’t hit any cars.
Again, the rules were simple, anything on the ground you had to
run out, off the wall was a single, over the Bingo sign was a double,
over the school was a homer. We played with a sponge ball, sometimes
a hardball. I hope I got all the facts and rules right.
We played all day, every day from the time the snow melted to
the time it started to snow again. The guys were almost always the
same, the teams were almost all the same. It was just a great time.
We were the original Sandlot. We all went to school together and
we all lived within three blocks of each other. We all walked home
together and talked about everything, cars, baseball and yes, girls.
Guys would start to peel off as we got close to their block.
It was truly a time of innocents; our biggest problem was
who had 15 cents to buy a sponge ball.
There was an assortment of talent in the schoolyard. There were
some guys who had real raw talent. Some played in high school and
a couple in college, but most of them never went any further than
the schoolyard.
But like all stories ours had its problems. The usual assortment
of problems popped up. Some guys got in with the wrong crowd and
got in trouble with the law, drugs started to take its toll and
guys started to move out of Newark. By the time of high school in
1970, the playground days were over. A lot of us went to Essex Catholic,
others to Barringer.
By that time the magic had faded and there was no more Stick Ball
or Gentile. I still remember faces and names. I can
still hear the arguing over what was a hit or a homer. I still
keep in touch with some of those guys and when we talk the conversation
always turns to the schoolyard, a time of friends and laughter.
Those days are 56 years ago. I would give anything to play just
one more game with that great bunch of guys.
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