Tom Vosper, Living the American Dream in Little League

Tom Vosper

For many of us, playing on a Little League baseball team was a great experience. The photo below shows the VFW Indians, ages 10-12, which included several boys from East High School’s Class of 1960.

Front Row Middle: Kenny Banwart;  Second Row L to R: Tom Vosper, Can’t Remember, Gary Byrd, Mike Grier, Donald Addy, Can’t Remember, Arthur Casado, Jerry Leisy, Doug Whitten.  

Kenny Banwart – A fine catcher and all around good ballplayer. Tough at the plate and could take a charge and the competition knew it. Kenny was a great team player and a team favorite. He came through in the clutch.

Tom Vosper – Nature boy first and baseball player somewhere way down the line. While playing in right field, Tom was more interested in chasing ground squirrels, grasshoppers and butterflies than pop-ups or ground balls.

Gary Byrd – Gary and I both did our share of bench warming which didn’t hurt my feelings and gave Gary a chance to think about Sigma Notation. Gary was Coach Grove’s right hand man in keeping team statistics.

Mike Grier – Our team’s best player. When he went to East, he made the baseball team and became a fine player for the Aces. Mike would smack the daylights out of the ole apple and most times for extra bases. The team came to expect him to clear the bases and that he did!

Don Addy… He was a dandy ballplayer and  helped guide the team to many victories. Don was pulled away from many of his friends who went to East High because he lived just outside of East’s zone and had to attend Southeast. Don stayed in touch with many of his East High buddies.

Art Casado – A good player with good wheels, Art beat many balls out for base hits. His acting skills  showed up at an early age as he learned how to convince umps he was safe on close plays. (Left, Art played the lead in East’s production of “The Boy Friend” in 1960)

Jerry Leisy – A fine ballplayer and reliable in the field as well as at the plate. Jerry’s dad, Waldo, came to practices and helped coach, which was nice of him to do. He came to most games and was our best  supporter. Jerry helped us all keep our heads in the game. Know what I mean?

Doug Whitten – A good ballplayer and he was definitely an asset to the team. If there was ever a need for a team poster boy, then Doug was our guy. He always looked sharp. Uniform clean and neatly pressed,  always tucked in, white socks two shades brighter than other players, shoes shined and his ball  caps perfectly shaped and sitting properly on his head. The boy was simply magnificent!

So there you have a brief rundown of the VFW Indians Little League baseball team with a few of our 1960 classmates. We were better than average and had a winning record.

Little League was a wonderful way for young boys to spend much of the summer. It taught us how to get along with others, teamwork, discipline, accountability, fairness and sportsmanship. It also taught us that we can accomplish something in spite of being uncomfortable, like playing on extremely hot summer afternoons with temperatures of 100 degrees or above. Little League also taught us not to drink out of the same water bottle or we might get mononucleosis. I learned that one the hard way. I would have much rather gotten it from kissing some pretty girl.

Tom:  God, is there baseball in heaven?

God:   Yes there sure is and you are the starting pitcher for tomorrow’s game.

Tom:   Yikes!