Forty-four years ago, 1971, as a freshman across Alligator Alley at the University of Miami back then the U was more like the u. Classmate Jim Skonieczny and I hopped aboard a Trailways bus for what seemed to be an exciting five hour journey through the Everglades. We called Jim, Scratch, because no one could pronounce Skonieczny, I still cant. We were both huge Pittsburgh Pirates fans and we were headed to Bradenton to watch our guys in spring training. Scratch was from Ambridge, Pa,. a Pittsburgh suburb so he had a license to root for the Pirates. I, as they say down south, got it honest from my Dad who was my influence and he was a Pirates fan and so was I. We stayed at a broken down hotel called the Dixie Grande and went over to Pirate City the next morning and got to walk freely around training camp. And there he was, my all-time baseball hero, Roberto Clemente by himself. I had to get that photo opp to cherish forever! I gave my Brownie to Scratch. Three days later the picture was finally developed at the U bookstore and it was a tremendous shot of Hall of Famer Clemente and some young kid and his left arm, logod shirt and a mop top. My one chance ever with Clemente and there is half of me in the picture. Scratch, my son to be ex-personal photographer, wisely chose a career in transportation and not photo journalism. Four decades and four years later, Scratch popped into Pirates reality camp yesterday in Bradenton. Same site we were in 1971 with the Dixie Grande long gone and Clemente perishing on a emergency mission to aid earthquake victims in Nicaragua in 1972. We tried to recreate the shot we took way back when. Scratch, who now runs an international golf tour company in Pittsburgh, still feels bad about the botched photo. And he should.
Posted on: Tue, 27 Jan 2015 15:12:17 +0000