If you build it they did come (The Smersaws)

The Smersaw’s… They lived in an older style 2 story home. Looked like a farm house. Small wonder Mr. Smersaw was a farmer. He farmed the fields all around us. I don’t know when he got the time because he was Postmaster of Delphos also. Tall guy, on the quiet side. You could tell he was tough, gritty. A farmer. Mrs. Smersaw? Nothing to write home about. She was a housewife and a mother. Her house was very clean and she kept up with everything. They had a couple of kids Kathy and Tucker Kathy was older. In her teens. Tucker was just coming into his teens. Maybe around 12 or 13. Didn’t ever see much of Kathy. Tucker? He was around a lot. Everyone knew him. He was slender build with sandy hair. A face that fit him. He was cool. He knew everything. He knew about souping up bicycles and BB guns and pigeons and baseball and how to swear. He once figured out how to salvage some old wheels from a lawn mower and make a go cart out of them and some wood, rope, and a few nails and an assortment of bolts, washers, and nuts. He always had something going on.

Kathy whom we called “Cat” would become my baby sitter one summer. I’d screw up and she’d make me kneel on the tile kitchen floor. Learned it a Catholic School she said. I was glad I didn’t go there. She had a boyfriend. They would meet in secret. He drove a beautiful ’57 Chevy. Blue and white I remember. He used to drive up the street behind our house and visit her while she was watching us kids. The place he parked and the angle he walked up to the house blocked anyone from Kathy’s house from seeing him or his parked car. They use to lie on the front room floor and make out. After I got older I realized “hey, those two were sizzilin”. Myself, I never would have made it through what they were doin’. Hey, it was cool, now I had the low down on her and I was just the type of little brat that would use it too. Never knelt on the floor again.

Now, I’m not really sure what happened here. What I am about to tell you really happened. It is what The Field of Dreams and The Sandlot are made of. Tucker was very much like Benny “The Jet” Rodriguez in The Sandlot. He loved baseball. Always had a glove with him and it was well worn in too. Being that his dad was still part time farmer he owned a field behind where they, the Smersaw’s, and the Wigging’s lived. Wasn’t nothing in it for awhile just dirt and stubble.
But one summer day I seen Tucker out there doin something to the corner of the field that sat closest to the neighborhood. After some hours it was obvious what he was up to. He was building himself a baseball diamond. He had a backstop built. Bases put in place, the official white markings were all there. And to boot you could hit a ball as far as you wanted straight out into the field. Now I personally thought he was off his rocker. Who was going to play on it? There wasn’t any ball teams around and Tucker was ‘bout the oldest kid in the neighborhood. But I never saw his determination waiver and he never stopped until it was all done.
Now this was about mid afternoon and I was about to observe the strangest thing I have ever seen to this day. You see, the men that lived in that neighborhood were starting to get off work. I’m not sure what happened next but Tucker must have had it planned out because I noticed an old bag of bats, balls, and gloves leaning near the backstop. Half ways tipped over and not really noticeable. The next thing I knew was a couple of the men in the neighborhood were out taking swings at the ball and Tucker was pitching. Oh yea, he had built a nice pitcher’s mound too. Well then a couple of guys grabbed gloves and headed to the out field to field the balls. As more and more husbands, fathers, and other guys got home then the more drifted over and took over for the guys in the field so they could come in and bat. Now I had never seen 9/10s of these guys even though I had lived in the same neighborhood as them for years. But here they were all coming together on this hand made ball diamond. Every few minutes a new face would show up and then the inevitable happened. They picked sides and started playing a game. Tucker was the youngest one allowed to play the rest were all men.
Even as more men were still getting off work they were finding places for them so that everyone got a turn to play. Then I got the shock of my life. I just happened to look up and see my shoe store manager dad at bat. He had his nice long sleeve shirt sleeves rolled up his neck tie loosened at the neck and he was going for it and he did. He knocked one way out there and brought in 2 runners and himself. The game kept going right through supper and a lot of the wives and kids were out there sitting along the street watching the whole thing and cheering. I think someone had even made lemonade up for the guys playing. It went on until the sun started to set and then everyone started to drift on home.
Most of those guys I was to never see again. They came out of the woodwork and they drifted right back into it. Tucker, I think he knew it was a one time chance to pull it off. Nobody ever played on the diamond again. None of the men ever congregated together after that, at the ball field or anywhere else as far as I know. Tucker did his best to keep the ball diamond up for awhile but you could tell he had lost interest in it. When you reach the top the only place to go is down.
I saw him one last time in his teenage years. Had his arm around a girl walking in downtown Delphos. I would have been maybe in the 4th grade. Then I happened to be home just recently to help my brother and sister make some health decisions about our mother. I found out the case nurse was from Delphos, Ohio. I asked about a lot of people I knew back there when I was a kid. When it came to asking about Tucker she said he had passed away about 6 years ago due to cancer.
Tucker earned his place as a Legend of Marbletown. He knew a long time ago that if you build it they will come. He brought magic to Marbletown as only the people of Marbletown can appreciate that certain kind of magic.

If any of you remember this event I’d really like to hear from you. The field was located on Jennings Street near the intersection of South Erie Street. The actual ball diamond layout was right behind Harold Wigging’s house that he used to own on the corner of Erie and Jennings. This would have occurred in the very late 1950s or very early 1960s.