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August 24, 1994 ho are you for, my friend wanted to know; the big league ballplayers or their paymasters in their endless kerfuffles over big bucks? We seniors, I confessed, don’t fret about such trivialities “Let them talk walkouts. We’ll hustle out to re-explore our favorite baseball privacies.” Meaning, I said, the minor and sandlot leagues. The truth is we grayhairs get our kicks from action within the white lines regardless of venue. We’ve learned to do so without the monkey-suited multi-mil- lionaires. The general manager of Ottawa’s triple A franchise, put it this way, the day after their latest mid-summer walkout threat. Good, he crowed, now watch the folks come visitus. In droves. I know seniors are now plan- ning their August grand tours of baseball’s nurseries â€" St. Catharines, Welland, Jamestown, Oneonta, Syracuse, Reading, Scranton, Lancaster, Knoxville, and many more. Short mileage hops for previews of tomorrow’s World Series box score entries. His Lynx operation is a high minor league gem, as a host of seniors know. Parliament Hill’s most successful venture since Confederation. So, too, is Buffalo’s Pilot Field â€" the very fast American Association showpiece. Just a quickie run down the QEW. We, who know, don’t let the AAA tag mislead us that its damaged goods. The hairline between those starry-eyed kids and Dome-level celeinties is fine indeed. Not to forget future greats to be spotted apprenticing in AA, A, and lower classifica- tions. My scouting cards enrich old filing cases. I riffle through them and remember the kids. Their stats. Their Moms and Dads. Their hopes. I wonder where they got to. Closer to home, the sandlot bleachers beckon...the home- town doâ€"itâ€"yourselfers. Seniors fancy these unheralded shrines of The Grand Old Game. They mark Southern Ontario’s base- ball landscape in profusion. There you’ll meet the scouts at work. Old folk like us. Pointmen in baseball’s convolut- ed talent-grooming process. Easy to spot. Perched in deck chairs. Stop watches at the ready. Talk to them. They’ll like it; theirs being a lonely life. Here’s where the unpaid heroes sweat it out. Short in skills, perhaps, but not intent. Mth no less elan than the Dome’s blockbusters challeng- ing baseball’s immutable scales, its 90-foot basepaths and 60- footâ€"six-inches pitching span. For those who might be sand- lot novices switching allegiance from Dome hype to bucolic bleachers, there are rich discov- eries waiting. Most of all, time will stand still for them while leisurely innings play out their unhurried spans in storied home- town Oakville, Campbellville, Dundas ballparks. And others of the fast Inter-County League, Brantford, Stratford, St. Thomas, places like that. No monster screens blasting, meaningless Richter-scale deto- nations. No lunatic standing ovations for routine plays. No endless feeding frenzy of 50,000 aisle-hoppers. Just baseball’s basic sounds. Horsehide on bats and gloves. An umpire’s bark. A shonstop’s chirps. Best of all, August is sandlot tournament and play-off time. And the best of these you’ll find at Leaside, Toronto’s imcompaâ€" rable historic suburban diamond haven, unmatched elsewhere in Canada. And I say thanks to them for happy times at the sandlots. Miss darkened Domes? Not this old scout. Strike doesn ’t hurt real ball fans 0 Hand nglg 0 lntgrig: Doors rPr 0 Lawn (jarden Agggssnzies 0 Pgwgr nglg 0 §hing|g§ 0 Unfinishgd Pine Furniture and §torang Units - Rolled Carpet 0 Tarns “SLATS appeals to the “SLATS appeals to the decorator in me money manager in me. 5'93 CA5 HWAY s FEATQRINQ A QREAT §ELEQTIQN QF DEQQRATIVE BUILDING Q RENQVATIQN PRQDQQT§ SUN. AUG. 28th - 9 to 3 pm. FRI. AUG. 26th - 12 to 8 pm. CASH - MASTER CARD 0 VISA 0 AMERICAN EXPRESS 0 DEBIT CARD 0 CASHWAY CREDIT CARD SAT. AUG. 27th - 9 to 5 mm. 1600 DREW ROAD, MISSISSAUGA DERRY RD. HWY. 401 1600 Drew Rd. Mississauga DREW RD. 7 7 \JTRES IN! 60'66' 66"-73' 14"-20' 20'-24' 27'-31" 36'42' MOTH Instant Blinds! FROM THE OAKVILLE BEAVER in rTil 0H r r Othixtr 0M i' binet nii 0 hwr alls CUSTOM CUT to your Width free Aluminum Mini Blinds In Stock UPTO UP TO UP TO 45"LONG “"LONG 84"LONG 8.95 14.00 13.00 23.00 29.!» - BBQ's - garage Door Qngngg and Much More!!! 15.00 16.” 23.00 $3.95 55.00 58.00 The second annual Monenco Agra Corporate Challenge Fun Run/Walk last Friday raised more than $1,000 for the United Way of Oakville. More than 85 people partici- pated in the 2.5 km walk and 16 people, including Monenco Agra president Art Birchenough, ran the 5km route around the Winston Park Drive. FOR A GOOD CAUSE (Photos by Peter McCusker) BLINDS 8: MORE FOR LESS L____ ‘\\L Choice of 100 Colours Double Valance Custom Controls Durham says anyone who would like to contribute to the trust fund can make cheques payable to the Just, MacCormack, and Dean Trust and mail them to the Toronto Dominion Bank, 53 Grand River St. North. PO. Box 276, Paris, Ontario, N3L 362. A local woman is trying to help ease the financial difficulties of three Paris families whose sons were killed under an avalanche of sand at Sand Hill Park last week. Nathan and Dylan Just, 11 and 9, Jason Dean, 12, and Michael MacCormack, 9, were all killed under the avalanche at the Lake Erie beach campground on Aug. 14th. According to Oakville resident Carol Durham, a cousin of Jason Dean’s mother, The Toronto Dominion Bank in Paris has set up a trust fund to help ease the families’ financial burden due to the tragedy. mz.=_~m 3.005 zm<< _”>_._._§ >_~_~_<>_.m Trust funTu) help Paris families Sale in effect August l7â€"30, lQQA, Mosl itfirfi available in mosi siores. Look for The red sa|e lags, Salé prices apply To inâ€"slock merchandise onlv. No special orders. I I Spears [IO S‘PRICE QUR REG Off 0|] I | Fairview