New home, new homer dimensions

Have you ever moved?

That may seem like a silly question, but my family and I are in the midst of what is, arguably, one of the most stressful events in one’s life: Moving from one house to another.

Now, when you go shopping for a new house with a 6-year-old, two areas of concern cross your mind before you even start the process. First of all, there’s got to be room for all the toys, and secondly, the yard has to be bigger. (We have three small dogs.)

At our current domain, line drives or home runs of any length clear the fences easily. Since Brown Stadium has been a tradition in our family since the 1950’s, we needed to move the fences back. At our new place, it’s going to take a pretty good shot to get it out of the yard.

I’m guessing Nate will have to close his stance a bit to accommodate the new right-field fence. He’ll adjust, I’m sure.

All this Brown Stadium talk reminds me of the move we made from Winterport when I was a kid to the friendly confines of Washington Street in Brewer.

Out near the Penobscot River in Winterport, we played ball without a fence. If you played outfield in those days, you better not play too shallow. A ball hit over your head could roll for many yards before it came to rest in the tall grass.

The park in Brewer was another story, however.

The short porch in left created quite a ruckus one day when I hit a shot over the 5-foot picket fence and knocked the chrome fixture off a brand-new Pontiac’s front end. Oh, my.

Well, you’ve never seen so many scattering neighborhood Brewer kids, running like mice as the car’s owner screeched to a stop, picked up his piece of chrome, then vaulted for the field area.

I stayed put. Figuring I was the culprit, this gentleman -who, by the way, was acting anything but gentlemanly – was looking for a red-faced youngster with a bat.

He grabbed me by the shirt, and then began a tirade of vulgarities that, unfortunately for him, caught my mother’s ear. Out she bounded from her perch in the kitchen and lit into this poor guy like I’d never heard her do before.

Well, the neighborhood boys began creeping back slowly from their hideaways. Order was restored, and the man left the scene, realizing whatever that chrome replacement would cost him, it certainly would be less than what he was receiving from my Mom.

The neat thing about our most recent real estate transaction is the fact that it involves a couple of coaching families. That, in and of itself, is unique. Although the bidding and counter-offers were silent – and the parties will remain nameless, of course – it was an unusual circumstance, to say the least.

But, old Nate is happy, and so will the new neighborhood ball players be when they catch a gander of the new Brown Stadium, situated behind the house.

Old habits die hard, and the only passers-by who will be annoyed by fly balls or line drives will be the fauna in the woods.

30-Second Time Out

A tip of the hat here today to another successful coach who is making the move from teaching and coaching to school administration.

Bob Hennessey of Woodland High School fame has been named the new principal of the Ashland Community School in SAD 32, which is a pre-kindergarten to 12th grade establishment.

Hennessey, best known in hoop circles as a high school basketball coach and radio broadcaster, takes his first step in public school administration with the move to Aroostook County.

Bob and his lovely wife Bertha have lived in East Machias for a number of years.

The good folks in the Ashland area are fortunate to hire a man of Coach Hennessey’s caliber.

BDN columnist Ron Brown, a retired high school basketball coach, can be reached at bdnsports@bangordailynews.net