The Connection Warren-Watchung Edition-Sept/Oct/Nov 2019

PAGE 78 THE WARREN-WATCHUNG CONNECTION SEPT/OCT/NOV 2019 327 South Avenue West, Westfield, NJ 07090 • 908.228.5711 • www.chillcryo.net * *Book On-line or Call ChillSculpt Freeze Your Fat Away! $300 per Treatment Eliminate Fat & Cellulite Thighs Abdomen Love Handles Back Arms Chin/Neck Open 7 Days a Week Now Offering Infrared Sauna & GAINSWave Treatments • Weight Loss • Anti-Aging • Athletic Performance, Injury & Recovery • Pain Management Wellness $ 40 00 FIRST SESSION Whole Body Cryo Therapy October 1st marks the hundredth anniversary of the controversial 1919 World Series pitting the Cincinnati Reds against the Chicago White Sox. The White Sox were also called the Black Sox due to the scandalous alle- gations that White Sox players were i nvolved in a scheme to lose inten- tionally to the Reds, as dramatized in the 1988 film, Eight Men Out. My grandfather, age 20 at the time, attended Game 1 and wrote the score of the game, 9 to 1 Reds, on the ticket stub, pictured on the left, which i s hanging on the wall in my study with other baseball memorabilia that my father passed on to me. About ten years ago, not long after my mother died, my family con- gregated at my sister’s house in Cincinnati to sort through and divide up old correspondences and photo- graphs. As you might expect, it took a lot of time to do this, as each photo brought up memories and stories. Not only did we have to deal with Mom’s material, we also had piles of material that Mom saved from our stepfather, who predeceased her by 15 years. At one point, my wife, Abby, found a sealed, thin, business enve- lope in my stepfather’s collection that simply said, “World War I.” She asked my sisters if she could take it. There were no objections, so Abby just placed it in her purse. After we returned to Warren, and unpacked, Abby pulled the envelope from her purse. She slit open the envelope, pouring the contents onto our kitchen table. And there was a ticket stub from Game 2 of the World Series, pictured on the right, played in Cincinnati on October 2, 1919. Also ironic is the labeling of the envelope, as World War I ended in November 1918, about a year before this World Series. We are still not sure what pos- sessed Abby to take that envelope, why she did not open it on the spot and why a baseball memento was mixed in with World War I artifacts. It is just nice, that after 100 years, I have a Game 1 stub from my father’s family next to a Game 2 stub from my stepfather’s family. Finally, take a look at the ticket prices. Adjusted for inflation, $5.50 and $6.60 in 1919, would be about $80 and $96 in today’s dollars (not a bad deal back then when you con- sider that tickets in Boston, for the 2018 World Series had a face value ranging from $141 to $486). A CENTENNIAL CONNECTION By: Dan Rosenberg theconnectionsnj.com