5/2/20 The Get Some Balls sale reminds me of high school and collegiate days when I lettered in three sports: baseball, football and badminton. 46 tennis balls, one golf ball, one wiffle ball and two lacrosse balls [Photo: Howard the Duck]
Every early May, the Meadowbrook neighborhood holds a giant yard sale. For seven or eight years now, we’ve peddled any number and kinds of sports equipment, mostly balls, at the Get Some Balls stand (the only missing orbs are hockey pucks, curling stones and disc golf discs). This year the sales have been cancelled. [SEE FULL SERIES AT END]¹
So we are going virtual. Items below are listed by amount and price. Email David Kramer at [email protected] Purchases can safely be picked up at 155 Avalon Drive. If this virtual sale succeeds, other neighbors may post images of their gold and dross.
If you choose not to make a purchase, SERIOUSLY CONSIDER THE DONATE BUTTON ON EVERY PAGE. If we actually had a budget and weren’t doing this for you for free, we could invest in technical and marketing applications to extend audience reach and improve reader experience. Just saying. (see “The love ($) you get is equal to the love ($) you give” — adapted from John Lennon)
UPDATE: On Sunday, I received this message: Hello David Kramer, You were sent $100.00 USD from A Talker Fan
Actually, by now, the Get Some Balls is a tired and tiresome genre. This year I barely scavenged for balls.
Fans flocked to Howard at his pre-sale drop-in rally at Schoen Place in Pittsford 5/17/16 from Howard the Duck is not for the birds! Buy complete set (1977) at the massive Meadowbrook Garage Sale in Brighton. Live streaming!
Nevertheless, the Get Some Balls sale has bequeathed a rich legacy. The first documented sale in 2016 included the media sensation of Howard The Duck whose full story has not yet been revealed.
In Howard the Duck is not for the birds! Buy complete set (1977) at the massive Meadowbrook Garage Sale in Brighton. Live streaming! I wrote, teasingly:
Right now, Eugene’s hope is that Howard lands in a pond with a good family who appreciate his graphic genius. For a pre-sale public pep rally, Howard visited Schoen Place in Pittsford for a “book dropping” appearance, greeted by fans from as far away as Canada.
Eugene Kramer, 1977, at Robert H. Treman State Park with Howard the Duck [Photo: Mrs. Duck] from Howard the Duck is back by popular demand. Buy balls at the Meadowbrook garage sales
Last year marked the debut of Howard the Duck. In 1976 and 1977, Eugene Kramer collected every single issue, including the United Kingdom #1. Eugene agreed to sell Howard to an appropriate home. First, Howard took a promotional tour on the canal at Schoen Place where his feathered fans followed.
The back story is that, for the right price, my father decided to sell his complete collection of that cult comic classic, Howard the Duck. I needed some click bait visuals for a splashy pre-sale pitch.
I also needed ducks. I could scout out the geese, ducks and swans who hissed, squawked, honked and pooped in and around the pond near Lac De Ville in Brighton. Instead, I chose as figurative guinea pigs the more civilized ducks at Schoen Place in Pittsford.
Bringing much crumbled bread, I laid out several copies of Howard near the ducks onto to which I sprinkled the bread, enticing the ducks to either read or eat. It wasn’t easy. I had to stand far enough away when they gathered on Howard’s face and torso, and then slowly inch forward, closely enough to take photos. Not only did the ducks rudely quack at me, my shoes and feet got wet and muddy when they scurried into a bog-like area where I chased them down.
But, like Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel, I persevered.
Baseballs
105 baseballs and vintage Canada Dry wooden box
This year I accumulated a cache of 105 baseballs, some new, some less so, some found in the deep brush near this now not-so-secret, now-deserted, site.
$35 for lot. $50 including vintage vintage Canada Dry wooden box that fits all but six of the balls.
Update, 5/18: After the baseballs did not sell, I traded them to Play It Again Sports in South Town Plaza for a new Rawlings® The Mark of a Pro ™ Player Preferred P130HFL 13 INCH All Leather Shell softball glove.
Unfortunately, the Sears Roebuck and Co, Master-Mixed, Boiled Linseed Oil saved to break in just such gloves is not the right kind of oil. While the container says, “Polishes and protects gun stocks, skis, toboggans and other sports equipment, according to baseballmonkey.com, “When using oils and conditioners to break in your glove, the first thing you should know is that products like Vaseline, petroleum jelly, olive oil, mink oil, and linseed oil should never be used.”
(left) Rawlings® The Mark of a Pro ™ Player Preferred P130HFL 13 INCH All Leather Shell softball glove; (right) Sears Roebuck and Co, Master-Mixed, Boiled Linseed Oil, One Quart, Laboratory Tested for Quality, Keep Out Of Reach Of Children.
“Breaking In” instructions included with Rawlings® The Mark of a Pro ™ Player Preferred P130HFL 13 INCH All Leather Shell softball glove. Left to right: English, French and Spanish
(left) May 31st, 2020. David “Say Hey Kid” Kramer [Photo: Mauler]; (right) September 29th, 1954. Willie “Say Hey Kid” Mays. With the game tied 2–2 in the eighth inning of Game 1 of the World Series, the Cleveland Indians had runners on first and second against the New York Giants. Cleveland’s Vic Wertz hit a 425-foot shot to center field, and Willie Mays sprinted towards the wall to track it down. Mays caught it over his shoulder, turned and gunned it back towards the infield, saving the runs. (Sports Illustrated) From The Brighton Farmer’s Market is back. At the Game at the Corners, the boys and girls of summer hoping to play ball.
Tennis balls (see featured pic)
Normally, I forage for tennis balls at the Cobb’s Hill tennis courts. I thought the removing of the nets due to the pandemic would kill business. But people continue to play without the net.
(left) This afternoon, undeterred, they played without a net. 4/1/20 fromlittle) from Cobb’s Hill is closed for business (only a little); (right) Hitting the mother load. Photo: Dean Tucker from Talker staff demands royalties! Buy orbs at Sotheby’s in Brighton: the Meadowbrook Garage Sale. And meet the staff
5/2/20. NOT a staged or photo shopped image. The ball just happened to be there. Free form tennis at Cobb’s Hill. “The American poet Robert Frost once said that writing ‘free verse’ — poetry without a formal structure, like a rhyme scheme — was like ‘playing tennis without a net.'” (www.avac.org/blog/playing-tennis-without-net)
46 tennis balls including this one: $12
Umpiring equipment: BEST OFFER
oldish umpiring equipment
Hopefully there will be a baseball season this summer.
The Brighton Baseball little league fields at Buckland Park, 2017 from The inscribed brick pavers at Buckland Park in Brighton
Softballs
3 softballs
Unfortunately, I only have three left, needed for the Game at the Corners when play resumes.
The Game at the Corners (left) Brighton Town Council Member and 25th State Congressional District candidate Robin Wilt [Photo: Nicholas Wilt]; (right) Robin hurling a strike to Neil Rogachevsky with Michael Raff manning second base, 5/6/18 Photo: David Kramer from Brighton Town Council Member Robin Wilt pitches in at the Game at the Corners
Vintage DiMaggio glove
Vintage DiMaggio glove
Wow, you say, a vintage glove printed with the name of the Yankee Clipper! Actually, another DiMaggio brother. Wow, Dom was a huge star with the Red Sox! Not exactly. It’s Vince DiMaggio. A journeyman, from 1937 – 46, Vince played for the Braves, Reds, Pirates and Giants, hitting 125 home runs. Vince’s best season was 1941 with the Pirates: 21 HR and 100 RBI. Good enough to get your name on a glove, but overshadowed by your brother’s season that included a 56 game hitting streak.
(left) David Kramer intercepting Dean Tucker’s successful “field goal fungo!” Using my father’s old DiMaggio glove. In this case, not Joe’s or Dom’s, but printed with the name of the third major league brother, Vince. [Photo: Dean Tucker who amazingly both hit the ball and took the picture] Easter, 2016 Reifsteck Field, Brighton from “An early-spring renewal of the spirit” over 10,000 fungos later; (right) Eugene Kramer with a copy of the 1945 Babe Ruth autograph from Babe Ruth and Eugene Kramer’s 5 to 10 minutes of fame.
Croquet mallet and Rawlings® ADIRONDACK Made in USA Big Stick 302F 33IN Performance Model baseball bat.
Bird house, croquet mallet and Rawlings® ADIRONDACK Made in USA Big Stick 302F 33IN Performance Model baseball bat.
NOT FOR SALE sentimental value
(left) @2012 David Kramer and (right) Audrey Boyce [Photo: Leslie Kramer] from Ethical journalism is part of the cure for COVID-19 by Audrey Boyce; (right) David Kramer playing Wall Ball with the Big Stick, 10/12/18 from The Big Stick is back. And a mystery
Frisbees, footballs, a soccer ball and a game towel used by Michael Jordan in game six of the 1998 NBA Finals as seen in the recently released Michael Jordan documentary “The Last Dance”
(left) Frisbees, footballs, and a soccer ball; (right) a game towel used by Michael Jordan in game six of the 1998 NBA Finals as seen in the recently released ESPN Michael Jordan documentary “The Last Dance.”
According to CBS sports, last month, a signed, game-used Michael Jordan ‘Dream Team’ jersey sold in auction for $216,000. The jersey was sold on the same day that “The Last Dance” documentary series began.
Game used towel: $3000 Frisbees, footballs and soccer ball: FREE
I was hoping to bring my old Brown Reunion Frisbee with my old name tag to our 35th reunion, but covid ruined the fun.
2019 Last hurrah for the Get Some Balls! sale?
The peak of the sale, 2016
2018 Last hurrah for the Get Some Balls! sale
Last of the balls. 5/4/18
2017 A fond farewell to the Get Some Balls! sale in Brighton
Neighborhood kids
2017 A fond farewell to the Get Some Balls! sale in Brighton
Mother and daughter Harand from Lyon, France.
2017 Howard the Duck is back by popular demand. Buy balls at the Meadowbrook garage sales
This year
2016 The Old Guard and New Blood at the Meadowbrook Garage Sale
Mennonite girl. Angela from Stanley, NY 5/21/16
2016 The Old Guard and New Blood at the Meadowbrook Garage Sale
Another good year for the Get Some Balls stand. 5/21/16 [Photo: Dean Tucker]
Just a small sampling of the Orbs in the garage awaiting their locust like annual return to the Get Some Balls stand at the Meadowbrook neighborhood garage sales this weekend. 155 Avalon Drive
Eugene Kramer, 1977, at Robert H. Treman State Park with Howard the Duck [Photo: Mrs. Duck]
Fans flocked to Howard at his pre-sale drop-in rally at Schoen Place in Pittsford 5/17/16
NOTE:
¹ On the Brighton High School Alumni site, Dan Miller and I had a bird brainy discussion whether, logically and linguistically, the phrase in the title, “It’s not for the birds,” should be, “It’s not just for the birds,”
Dan Miller Creative metaphor.👀
David Kramer I couldn’t decide if the sale IS or is NOT for the birds.
Dan Miller It would be for the birds IF the metaphor was extended to human beings!😝
David Kramer Got it. I need to add “just.” Right, now the sale is JUST for the birds who can attend safety But now that the sale is virtual NOT just the birds can attend..
Dan Miller And if the metaphor is withdrawn, all can attend but only the humans will pay with literal money!
David Kramer So birds don’t have cell phones?
David Kramer ps “just” is out. BECAUSE SINCE BIRDS DON’T HAVE CELL PHONES, THEY CAN’T PARTICIPATE IN THE SALE.
David Kramer So birds don’t have cell phones?
Dan Miller You must have been away for awhile, for Apple just came out with a Bphone for its aviary customers.
Dan Miller Thanks David for the humorous repartee!
