Nana and her Big Red Machine

I loved my Nana (and her chocolate pie) as much as she loved following Cincinnati's Big Red Machine of the 1970s.

Nana was Iota Fry, my great-grandmother and lover of God, her family, and baseball.

Everyone else in Bruceton, Tenn., knew her as Mama Fry or Miss Iota, but she was simply Nana to my brother Michael and me.

Among many other life lessons, Nana taught us what it meant to fervently follow a sports team.

Her team featured the fearsome lineup of Johnny Bench, Tony Perez (she pronounced his last name "Ferez"), Pete Rose, Joe Morgan, Dave Concepcion, Ken Griffey Sr., and Cesar Geronimo.

Whenever we visited her house, she was always ready to discuss the box score from the previous day's game and debate the strategies of manager Sparky Anderson.

And, on frequent Saturday afternoons in the mid-70s when the Reds were winning big, she got to watch the Reds play on the Game of the Week on her black-and-white TV.

Occasionally, when we tried to kid her about one of her Cincy guys, she kidded us right back by "threatening" to get us with her fly-swatter.

My parents took her with us to St. Louis to see the Cardinals play the Reds when I was 11 or 12 years old. She was in her 70s at the time, and I remember my parents being fearful that she would pass out from heatstroke inside old Busch Stadium on a blistering summer afternoon.

Nana wore a huge gardening hat to shield her fair skin from the sun. Fortunately, it worked and she had the time of her life.

The photo of her above is from a baseball exhibit we saw during the trip. We photographed her standing next to Bench's game-worn #5 Reds uniform and cap.

It's one of my favorite baseball memories.

I wouldn't be surprised if Nana watches baseball every day in heaven, and she probably can't wait for the Big Red Machine reunion.

1995 Baseball Vacation: Day 6

Looking back at a baseball vacation taken 13 years ago...

Friday, August 11, 1995

We left the Milwaukee area for Chicago around 11 a.m. We arrived and loafed along the "Magnificent Mile" in the afternoon, stopping to window shop and people watch.

This was the last game of our trip. We went to new Comiskey Park to see the White Sox play Oakland.

The new stadium was built less than an outfield-to-home's throw from old Comiskey, which is now a parking lot. Incidentally, we parked about 15 feet from the home plate in the original park.

Comiskey Park (now known as U.S. Cellular Field) was the cleanest of all the stadiums we visited and the stadium workers were definitely trained in proper customer service.

Their training came in handy when a fan in the rightfield bleachers couldn't handle an Oakland player's home run ball. It went through the fan's hands, hitting him on the chin.

The fan survived, and so did the White Sox, who won 13-5.

Five games in six days and a side trip to the "Field of Dreams."

Now that's living a baseball dream!

1995 Baseball Vacation: Day 5

Looking back at a baseball vacation taken 13 years ago...

Thursday, August 10, 1995

We got up at 6 a.m. and ate the hotel's continental breakfast before beginning the five-hour drive to Milwaukee.

We arrived 30 minutes before the Brewers met Toronto in a matinee game.

The atmosphere outside County Stadium was nothing short of festive. Hundreds of people were drinking beer (imagine that in Milwaukee!) and grilling hamburgers and bratwursts.

While standing in line to buy tickets, a woman approached us and gave us a pair of tickets.

It was at least 90 degrees at game time, so we sunbaked in the bleachers.

Toronto won, 8-4.

That evening we stayed at a hotel several miles south of Milwaukee. Our lack of sleep Tuesday night and Wednesday caught up with us. We slept for more than 12 hours.

Coming tomorrow: Remembering Day 6 of the trip

1995 Baseball Vacation: Day 4

Looking back at a baseball vacation taken 13 years ago...

Wednesday, August  9, 1995

Michael took the wheel shortly after midnight and drove from Des Moines to Iowa City and up to Cedar Rapids.

I napped.

The only vehicles we passed in Iowa were 18-wheelers.

I began driving again at Cedar Rapids, where we left the interstate for 70 miles of two-lane highways. We finally arrived at 4:45 a.m. and slept in my truck outside the "Field of Dreams" until the sun peered over Iowa's endless miles of cornfields.

The movie site didn't open until 9 a.m., so we ate breakfast at Hardee's and waited.

We arrived at the "Field of Dreams" promptly at 9 a.m., itching to play. The baseball diamond, which was carved from a cornfield, and two-story house were just as they looked in the Academy Award-nominated movie.

There were a handful of guys taking batting practice. We immediately joined them. After an hour and a half, there were about 60 tourists at the field.

"We have anywhere from a couple of hundred to a thousand visitors a day," said Rita Ameskamp, who owns the left side of the "Field of Dreams" with her husband, Al.

Another farmer owns the house and the right side of the diamond.

Both owners operate souvenir stands on their respective sides of the diamond, and there's obviously enough business for each to be successful.

Around 11:30 a.m., we hit the road in order to reach Minneapolis in time to see the Minnesota Twins play Oakland. 

We were running on 30-plus hours without any "real" sleep, and it was another five to six hours to Minneapolis.

I half-heartedly mentioned camping again, but Michael balked. "I don't know about you, but I'm sleeping in a bed tonight," he said.

We showered at the hotel, then drove to the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. Maybe I'm a traditionalist, but baseball in a dome stadium just didn't seem right. I liked it for one reason only -- air conditioning.

Oakland beat the Twins, 6-3, in 10 innings. After the game, we crashed at the hotel.

Coming tomorrow: Remembering Day 5 of the trip

1995 Baseball Vacation: Day 3

Looking back at a baseball vacation taken 13 years ago:

Tuesday, August 8, 1995

Again we got up early. 

We spent four hours at the Harry S. Truman Library and Museum in Independence, Mo. Truman worked at the library after his presidency until his death in 1972. His office is on permanent display.

Our visit came only a couple of days after the 50th anniversary of Truman's decision to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. There was a special World War II exhibit depicting these world-changing events, including Truman's original draft of remarks he used to tell the world of dropping the A-bomb. 

Also on display in the museum was a copy of the infamous newspaper with the headline -- "Dewey Defeats Truman" -- that erroneously reported the result of the 1948 presidential election.

Truman and his wife, Bess, are buried next to each other in the museum's beautiful courtyard.

We also stopped by Truman's house, where he and Bess lived until their deaths, and bellied up to an old-time soda foundation at Clinton's Soda Fountain. Located across from the courthouse in Independence, the site was formerly Clinton's Drugstore where a 14-year-old Harry Truman landed his first job as a "soda jerk" for only $3 a week.

We ended the afternoon at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City's 18th and Vine Street Historic District. The museum included films, interactive video quizzes, and replica jerseys.

It is interesting to note that the Negro League played night baseball beginning in 1930, five years before the then all-white Major League.

That night we saw Jim Abbott, one of baseball's most extraordinary players, lead the California Angels against the Royals.

Abbott, who was born without a right hand, pitched seven scoreless innings and the Angels won, 4-0.

We left Kansas City around 10:30 p.m., 360 miles from Dyersville, Iowa, and the "Field of Dreams."

Coming tomorrow: Remembering Day 4 of the trip

1995 Baseball Vacation: Day 2

Looking back at a baseball vacation taken 13  years ago:

Monday, August 7, 1995

We got up early, showered, and played some baseball at the campground before driving into Columbia, Mo.,  to visit the University of Missouri campus. We briefly watched the Mizzou football team practice in the sweltering Midwest heat.

We stopped at Arrow Rock State Park for a picnic lunch on our way to Kansas City. 

A bluff on the Missouri River, Arrow Rock is historically significant for several reasons: it served as a crossing point for Indians, explorers, and early westward travelers; Lewis & Clark noted the area in their 1804 journals; and it later became part of the Santa Fe Trail.

The town (pop. 70) is adjacent to the state park and looked like a scene from a Norman Rockwell painting.

As we entered Kansas City, we stopped at Kauffman Stadium, home of the Royals, and bought tickets for Tuesday's game. 

We camped at Watkin's Mill State Park several miles northeast of the city near Kearney, home of outlaw Jesse James.

Coming tomorrow: Remembering Day 3 of the trip

1-2-3, Hey Reitz!!

The hot corner, in a hot town
Thousands dressed in red
Clydesdales marching between innings
A decade before the Wizard plied his trade

One, two, three, hey Reitz

Teamed with the Franchise, the Mad Hungarian, and Bake
Hall of Famer Red was the skipper
He was the Big Zamboni
Scooping grounders on plastic grass

One, two, three, hey Reitz

Five hours in a Buick
To the round, concrete Busch
The tip of the Gateway in view
Sun gleaming off its top

One, two, three, hey Reitz

Is this where the love affair began
Between a six-year-old and the national pastime
Hot dogs, Coca-Colas, souvenirs
Boys cheering their man at third

One, two, three, hey Reitz