We have entered a very exciting baseball playoff season for our NY teams.  In that spirit, I had a super fun conversation with my aunt this weekend. 

I learned that she was a huge Brooklyn Dodgers fan and spent many an afternoon in the mid-1950s at Ebbets Field.  With crystal clarity, she recalled watching exciting games with family and friends, cheering on her team and just the feeling of being in the stadium.  She was distraught when the Dodgers left Brooklyn in 1958.

During those years, she amassed a collection of autographs from her favorite players.   The process was fascinating.  She and her friends would show up at the park with self-addressed postcards, find the players whether coming onto the field or leaving, and throw them their blank postcards.  Slowly, the autographed cards, sometimes with a little note, would return to her mailbox.  It was as if everyone knew the rules – the fans brought the medium and the players politely obliged.  She remembered receiving autographed postcards from Duke Snider, Pee Wee Reese, Don Newcombe and more.  

The postcards themselves have turned into a memory – but what a memory!