Dad's History

[jordanhigh69]

Hi all,
Recently, while visiting my Dad, I asked him about his days as a youth. I knew a little bit about his past, but had never written down notes to share with y'all, since I knew he had some really great opportunities and items from his younger days. My Dad's Grandfather(Robert Warner) was a founding member of the Sioux Falls Canaries(now named the Pheasants?) and is listed on the baseball reference website(I didn't know this until researching a bit tonite!). My Dad also had some cool experiences growing up, getting to go into the Yankees locker room many times, as well as meeting pretty much all of the bigtime baseball players of his era at a place called "Toots Shore" in NYC? My Grandmother(his Mom) knew Henry McLemore(1st editor of A/P) and that was a nice connection for my Pops to get to do a lot of things as a kid. So, here's where it gets really good. He had, among other countless items of memorabilia, a bat given to him in the locker room by Joe DiMaggio(signed), a game-used ball from Don Larson(signed), a glove from Mantle(?-----I screwed up my notes) and TONS of other memorabilia from mostly the Yanks, as well as signed pics from all the big players. I pretty much knew of the stuff he had, but never really delved into the history of it until recently. If you'd like to know where all those incredible items are today, unfortunately, I can't say..........he left most in an attic of their old house(long destroyed) in Sioux Falls, S.D and the rest just got scattered over time. He does still have a signed pic from Roger Maris(with his coffee driplet stain on it!) and I believe a "practice ball"(like the size of a softball) from his Grandfather, who got it from Ruth and it is signed. Anyway, just thought I would share some fun stuff with y'all.

Steve

[jtnatalierica]

Wow, really good things, but, alas, nothing to show. I coached in Sioux Falls in 2004 for the Canaries under Doc Edwards. Good city, lots of things to see as for heading out west, interesting sights. Probably a place I never would have visited if not for baseball. Fortunate for me, I didn't miss out. Really liked coaching there and would have liked to go back. Hope the Falls are still doing well.

[metsbats]

Steve,

Toots Shore owned a restuarant in the 40-50's in midtown Manhattan frequented by many celebrities during those days. Joe DiMaggio was a regular there and his exploits at Toots were well documented in the book "Where have you gone Joe Dimaggio".