I know they still make them, because I googled it. And they look pretty much the same today as they did in 1960. The Pitch Back allowed a kid to spend hours, by him or herself, catching grounders, line drives, and fly balls. Basically it was a taut net on a metal frame. What you got back after you threw the ball at the net depended on the angle of the frame. It was a lot of fun for me in my backyard at 16 Dowell Street, in Slatington.
What made it even more fun was that I had actual Major League baseballs to play with! My dad was a door to door salesman. He worked with a guy named Ted Lopat who was a professional baseball umpire. When baseball was in the off season, Ted would work with my dad selling the services of Jewel Tea Company to the bored housewives of eastern Pennsylvania. Every few weeks my dad would bring home a bag of balls given to him by Umpire Ted.
It’s good that I had so many baseballs to play with because, in my Dowell Street backyard, back in the corner, there was this enormous rose bush. It had to be fifty years old. Well, I wasn’t the greatest shortstop in Pitch Back history. I missed many balls that were captured by the angry, greedy rose bush. It would be really painful to try to retrieve the ball from the clutches of Rosie and her thorns! Luckily, during the off season, there was always another bag of balls to come.
I mentioned googling Pitch Back. I also googled Ted Lopat. I am usually pretty good with names, but I just wanted to make sure. I was right on the name. Poor Ted died in 2010 in Tacoma, Washington. I wonder how he ended up there. Peoples’ lives are fascinating.
I doubt that the rose bush still exists. That would be remarkable. Whoever took it down, must have been surprised to see so many baseballs inside!
A Semi-retired Kind of Life 