Scrounger's Baseball Field

Arnold D. Cribari posted:

Randy Harrison posted

Another pirate that I remember, though far from legendary, was a catcher named Smoky Burgess. Being a former catcher myself, I tend to gravitate to others who played the same position.

Randy, I was a pitcher in the Pony League. Since you were a catcher, we should have a catch some day. I can bring the baseball and the mitts, including a catcher's mitt.

I heard that a lot of great games are being played in a place called Iowa. Ya wanna meet me in Iowa? If not, maybe we can meet in a place called York, Pennsylvania. LOL, Arnold

Arnold:

It would be great to meet you in person. York in the Spring would be a good time.  I was an intercollegiate varsity catcherthat doubled on first base in the first two years of undergraduate study. Unfortunately, my over-abused, 69 year-old body will not allow me to play baseball anymore. Otherwise, I would love to have a catch with you. I still have all of my gloves, my catcher's mitt, first baseman's mitt and fielder's glove. After being his little league baseball manager when my only son was 5 - 10 years old and I was in my early 50's, I had to reduce my baseball activity due my deteriorating back and legs. Now I am and avid baseball spectator and life-long railroad junky.

Gentlemen:  I was 7 years old and sitting in front of the TV.  Mazeroski hit the homerun.  I had no interest in the game, but, it is my first Yankee memory.  Three years later, I cried for two hours when Koufax finished off the 1963 WS.  By then, I discovered I was good at baseball and was a huge Yankee fan.  I was so young, I may have thought it was a rule that the Yankees always played in the World Series.  I'm still not over either of those losses.

Randy and Mark, I've been a Stratomatic player since I was 12 years old.  Clemente is still the only outfielder in Strat history with a -6 arm.  That team had 4 catchers:  Hal Smith, Smokey Burgess, Bob Oldis, and Danny Kravitz.   Of course, only Hal and Smokey played in the WS.  Not starting Whitey Ford in game one cost Casey the series, and his job.

Randy, the Nathan's car was another lucky find.  When I saw that the Nathan's Miller Engineering sign was newly available, I coincidentally read a post on the forum from a guy that had two of the cars.  Going online produced two different versions for sale but, the prices were way more than I've ever spent for a single car.  I think both versions were put out by the Nassau Lionel Operating Engineers.  Two days later, I seriously lucked out, and got the car for less than 1/3 of what the other guys were asking.  You can still find one, but paying $200 for any boxcar seems ridiculous to me.

Arnold, haha.  Still, it looks great.  I have lots of leftover balsa and basswood sticks and planks.  All my scratch-builds are made with them.  If I use poster paper or cardboard, they are always framed with wood.  Here are two older pics.

You can't beat baseball and trains.

Jerry

Randy, I know a lot of fans liked Smoky Burgess, my dad being one.  There have been so many good players on all teams over the years.  My all time favorite catcher is Manny Sanguillen.

Last night while looking through some buildings in storage I found a football field I think from department 56!! I will try to post some pictures in a couple of days.

Guys, the sound box arrived.  I posted on it separately.  JD done good, because it works as advertised.  Small, cheap, easy to record to, great for train applications.  You can re-record as much as you like, but only one sound file.  This one is MP3, so you know you can also use music files.

Rizzuto's call of Maris's 61st.  Here is what I did with it:

The video is only 40 seconds.  I used a sound editor to chop the beginning of the atbat, so the whole file is 1:20.  No point in putting it all in the video.

Haha, Arnold, if you like it, you're gonna need two, one for each ballpark.

Jerry

JerryG posted:

Guys, the sound box arrived.  I posted on it separately.  JD done good, because it works as advertised.  Small, cheap, easy to record to, great for train applications.  You can re-record as much as you like, but only one sound file.  This one is MP3, so you know you can also use music files.

Rizzuto's call of Maris's 61st.  Here is what I did with it:

The video is only 40 seconds.  I used a sound editor to chop the beginning of the atbat, so the whole file is 1:20.  No point in putting it all in the video.

Haha, Arnold, if you like it, you're gonna need two, one for each ballpark.

Jerry

As Phil would say, "Holy Cow, Jerry, you did it!" LOL

That's a very cool device for those of us with baseball field fields on our layouts. 

Arnold

What I've been doing is taking a small blue tooth device, phased to my smartphone, and then going on YouTube and playing the announcers' calls for Bobby Thomson's home run off of Ralph Branca at the Polo Grounds (the Giants win the penant, the Giants win the penant), and Don Larsen's last pitch in his World Series perfect game at Yankee Stadium, among other calls.

Incidentally, my father and his 8 siblings (all deceased now) had a connection to Ralph Branca. They lived in and about my home town, Mt. Vernon, NY.

Arnold

Also Willie Mays' great catch in the 1954 World Series is on YouTube.

Many of the anouncers' calls for the great moments in baseball can be accessed on YouTube. It's fun to play those calls when I have an audience to see the trains and baseball fields on the layout. Arnold

Arnold,

Go to google.  Youtube to MP3 converter.  Pull it up.  Go to Youtube and play your file.  Right click, select copy video URL.  Click on your open converter file.  Paste the URL into the converter.  Wait for it to upload, should only take several seconds.  It should tell you it's converting the video, then a download tab should appear.  Hit that, and it should go to your download file.  Now, you have an MP3 file, that you can move anywhere you want it.

https://invitebyvoice.com/coll...ical-insert-for-toys

I think I'm done with this scene.  Although the beers and dogs have been rolling to the Stadium, the Nathan's structure needed some detail.  I added lots of people and tables.  While I was waiting for the four tables I ordered, I made a try at making my own.  I kinda like the bare wood look.  Do you think I should paint or stain them, or just leave well enough alone? 

I also got some shaded LED lamps from Patrick's Trains and added them to the track side of the hot dog stand.  They may be hard to see in the pics.  Those tiny wires are sure a pain to work with.  I like the lamps, but my fingers hate stringing them together, then having to solder them to a long 22 gauge feeder wire.

The last thing will be to add another EZ Sound Box because I found a cool little 30 second song about Nathan's, done by a guy standing outside the original stand in Coney Island.  Just him and his acoustic guitar.  I'll have to post a short video for that one to make much sense.  https://invitebyvoice.com/coll...ical-insert-for-toys.

Arnold, here is the Strat-o-matic oldtime ballpark version of the Polo Grounds.  The current ballparks, of course, are all high definition photos.

You can't beat baseball and trains. (Or hot dogs and a beer)

Jerry

Jerry, I like your homemade barewood tables "as is." 

Thanks for posting your photo of the Stratomatic Polo Grounds. 

I may need to disassemble the stands for my Polo Grounds because I need to get a plumber to unclog a drain near there. However, when the plumber is done, I should be able to put my Polo Grounds stands back together without too much trouble.  Arnold

Okay, thanks Arnold.

Oh, no!  Say it ain't so, Joe!   Love your Polo Grounds!   You can see by the Strat rendition, and the overhead photos, why it was such a homer haven, and why the Babe preferred it to the Stadium.   Not to mention Mel Ott.  Strat rates each ballpark for average (Fenway has always been a joke for leftys) and homeruns (the Polo Grounds is up there with any ballpark in history). 

Let us know how things work out.

Jerry

Here are the pictures of the football field I found -- my granddaughter showed me how to do this!!

Well, this scene is about done.  Added a 30 second song about Nathan's, but can't find the name of the guy.  He's just standing outside the Coney Island store and strumming his acoustic guitar.  Forgive my one-handed video!   The very end shows the direction of the Stadium backdrop, and where the dogs and beers are headed.

I mentioned earlier today under another topic my latest baseball developments on my layout.

Below are a couple of photos of my Yankee Stadium entrance, which I made during the last couple of days using a Dremel tool, pieces of plastic from a kitbashed engine house, cardboard, glue and tan colored acrylic paint.

Arnold

I welcome feedback regarding my above Yankee Stadium entrance.

I think the best thing about it are the windows, which came from the engine house. It's neat to peak in through the windows and see the baseball field and figures, which are beautiful thanks to Woodland Scenics and Kramer Products.

Here's a panoramic shot of the Stadium:

Arnold 

Arnold:

That is GREAT work, very creative! Now, is it the house that Ruth built or the house that Arnold built?

Arnold, extremely cool!  The windows are really reminiscent of the old Stadium.  The kiosks and Longines sign add a lot to the entrance.  Your ballpark keeps getting better all the time!  It's definitely a great touch that allows you to look through the windows at the field.

Jerry

Got "sucked" into going shopping with the wife, but walking through the Dollar Store toy department I found plastic Baseball players!!!!!! They are pretty close to O scale and at 5 per bag I got 2 complete teams - different color jerseys and everything!!!

Thanks for all of your feedback.

I agree with Jerry about the windows. The windows came from an International Hobby Co. (IHC) O Scale 2 stall engine house that I bought many years ago and kitbashed.

It is fun to look through the windows and see the baseball field and figures.

I will probably keep my Yankee Stadium "as is" for a while, and then I will try to make it look more like the real old Yankee Stadium of the 1950s. This would involve making the main entrance curved, and making it look like it is made of concrete. I will make a study of this to figure out the best way to do this. Arnold

Thank you Arnold for starting this post, and also to those who contributed ideas and pictures.

Upon the insistence of my 4 sports minded grandchildren that our layout was, also, definitely in need of a baseball field, a family planned project was initiated.  With their help and that of my wife’s, Kalico field was designed and came into being.  Our grand daughter suggested that the field be named in honor of our dog, Kallie. The 3 grandsons agreed. Sketches were drawn and a list of supplies made.

The internet was searched for ideas for items on the list. Grass paper and infield sand was purchased and mounted on foam board for a firm backing that would then be attached to the layout. Bases were made with cardboard and covered with white fabric. Foul lines and batter’s boxes were painted white acrylic paint between temporarily applied masking tape to ensure straight lines. Foul poles were cut from wooden dowels painted yellow, with pieces of fiberglass screening as wings near the tops.

These items from the list were then selected from the many available, and purchased:

1- Kramer metal painted baseball figure set of 10 (bought several years ago)

2- Four two LED light Tower Spotlights #13D from We Honest (HO scale)

3 -Woodland Scenics O Scale chain link fence set

I was then informed that every baseball field should have an American Flag, so one was selected and purchased.

4 - Woodland Scenics lighted O scale flag

Again, many thanks to all who posted here for their ideas, and who also provided the motivation to start this family project to construct Kalico Field.

Ron

Ron, Kalico Field looks great!

Thank you Mark, It was a fun project.

Ron