“My First Job” by Neal Murphy

February 14, 2020 - Every time I go into our high school football stadium here in the piney woods of East Texas, I always take a glance to the northeast and let my memory take a short stroll. Though torn down many years ago, there once stood a rather large baseball grandstand, rustic, yet functional. During the 1940s and early 1950s many a baseball game was played on that diamond.

The proud San Augustine, TX Wolves fought “tooth and toenail” with teams from neighboring towns.

The Wolves were a Semi-Professional club, class D at that time. They played in the “Red River Valley League” with such teams as the Leesville, La. Indians, the Center, Tx. Lions, the Diboll, Tx. Merchants, the Natchitoches, La. Indians, and other teams from Many, La., Nacogdoches, Tx., Beaumont, Tx., Zwolle, La., and DeRidder, La. The record shows that the San Augustine Wolves won the pennant in 1948.

In the early days of the team, all games were played during the afternoons, usually Saturday and Sunday. Most of the players were in their late twenties and early thirties, and had other jobs. The stadium was usually full of enthusiastic fans who eagerly followed the team to the out of town games as well.

A “red-letter” day was Tuesday, June 1, 1948, as the Wolves played their first baseball game under lights. It was a “red-letter” day for me because I started my first job that night. I was all of twelve years old, and a big fan of the team. My father somehow managed to convince the manager to give me the job of selling ice cold soda to the crowd during the games. Unfortunately, the Wolves lost their first game under the lights to the Center Lions by a score of 20-8.

The crowds at these games were a thirsty bunch. They had a need, and I had the answer to that need – cold drinks. The gentleman who manned the snack bar had a large metal, kidney-shaped container which he filled with bottled drinks, and sprinkled crushed ice around them. I would place the container strap around my neck and walk all through the stadium yelling, “Soft drinks! Get your soft drinks here!” When a customer beckoned me, I would uncap the bottle and send it up his way. I made 1 cent per each drink sold.

When business was slow, I enjoyed watching the Wolves play baseball. At my young age I thought they were real professionals. G. W. Woods handled third base very well. Hugh Sparks was a good “lefty” pitcher, and when his brother, Leroy Sparks, was the catcher, I would hear the crowd yell to the batter, “You don’t stand a chance! You are between two sparks!”

Joe Bickley was a good late inning pitcher, as was A. J. Luqwette. The manager was an older brother to Hugh and Leroy Sparks, Mr. Beeman Sparks, who always did a fine job in my book. Wilhite scooped up grounders at short stop, while Williamson did the same at second base, both throwing runners out to the first baseman, Baxter Cartwright, who was an in-law of the Sparks brothers.

I particularly enjoyed one of the local umpires. He had lost half of his right index finger in an accident. This made for some interesting looking signs as he held up the “strike and ball” count on the batters
.
Young boys would almost fight each other to get the job of turning on and off the “strikes”, “balls”, and “out” lights on the scoreboard. Others would fight over getting to put the numbers up on the score board in right field.

You are probably asking yourself how one could make any money at 1 cent per bottle? Actually, I did quite well. I usually went home with from $3.50 to $5.00 per game. At 1 cent per bottle, well, you do the math. Needless to say, I was quite tired at the end of the game. In 1948, that was a pretty good night’s work for a twelve year old boy. I was able to start a savings account and purchase a few things that a young lad would like.

Now, back to reality. As I look around the new modern football stadium of today, the old baseball stadium to the north east has been gone for many years, with no evidence that it ever existed. Most of the baseball players of the late 1940s are gone to their eternal reward. But, I still get a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach as I recall those distant memories of days long past, and my very first REAL job.