Hello and Goodbye is the #1 Lightenload story of the year as per number of viewers. On this New Years Eve especially it just seems appropriate. This is a time to reflect on this past year and the year to come! We are literally saying goodbye to 2022 and hello to 2023. Life has a lot of hello and goodbye times and I think that is one of the reasons people can relate to this story! As always thank you to everyone this past year who has read the stories! Your readership and comments are greatly appreciated!
The number 2 Lightenload story for 2022 based on readership is this personal story about getting through pain not only physically but in our walk with God!
Harry Chapin was a great story teller and incorporated this gift to all of his songs. I saw Harry in concert twice as he held concerts at my University while I was a student. His concerts were fun because you would laugh, cry and just enjoy the atmosphere. One thing that Harry did was involve the audience. One song that Harry had the audience help him with was called Thirty Thousand Pounds of Bananas. It was about a Semi Truck driver who was transporting all of these bananas and had an accident and all of his bananas got splattered on the road. Harry wrote about true stories once in awhile and this was one of them. It must have intrigued him when reading about the mishap and Harry thought there was a song in there. It was a funny song because he emphasized in the chorus the astounding stunning baggage left by the driver 30,000 pounds of bananas. Anyway the story was one where he asked and received audience participation and left everyone laughing and enjoying our part!
The other night I was watching a comedy team perform a song called “Six String Orchestra.” I got to thinking “Wasn’t that a Harry Chapin song?” Sure enough I pulled up Harry performing the Six String Orchestra song that he wrote. The song moved me because through the lyrics I realized that it is something that can be interpreted as very spiritual. The song is a story about a guy who got a new guitar and practiced in the basement. His mother heard him play and was not moved. When he happened to play a song to a girl he was trying to impress she quickly made an excuse and headed for the door. He sent a song he made to a record company and it came back C.O.D. Through all of his discouragements that everyone was giving him he still played on. He kept trying because he had a dream.
The dream that he had seemed more like a day dream as he plucked away at the strings. It was a dream about having different instruments join him. While his playing and singing was simply bad he believed that with other talented musicians joining in it could be pretty good. The chorus goes
And so I’d dream a bass will join me And fill the bottom in And maybe now some lead guitar So it would not sound so thin I need some drums to set the beat And help me keep in time And way back in the distance Some strings would sound so fine
And we would play together Like fine musicians should And it would sound like music And the music would sound good But in real life I’m stuck with That same old formula Me and my monophonic symphony Six string orchestra
He was singing with his solo guitar trying to hit the right chords. As he mentioned each musical instrument separately each one would join him in the order that his words had dreamed of them. As they were all playing together it made a beautiful melody. Of course at the end since his thoughts were only a dream reality set in and we hear him struggling away plucking away at his guitar in his basement with a voice not ready for prime time.
Ten years ago I started writing my stories on the internet. I can so relate to the guy who wasn’t very good and yet felt like he had a dream and a calling. Unlike the guy in the song my song was accepted by so many of you and your encouragement kept me going. You left comments and lit a fire in me that I was onto something! I never put anything on here unless I really feel that it is inspired by God. To this day he has put things on my heart or had me become acquainted with a story somehow that helps shed his light in this dark world. Surprisingly some of the stories that I thought would be very well read weren’t. Others that I might not have been totally sure about spoke to people. You see God knows who is going to read the stories and he knows what they are going through at that time in their life. The fact is I am just one person. All of you out there by your comments and sharing help turn my single solo performance into a beautiful melody. So I am asking you to add your talents to my music and help round out my single solo act by making comments or sharing this site with others. In this way we can make that beautiful dream a reality and the music will sound good and pleasing to our Heavenly Father!
Some people only know the name Honus Wagner by his 1909 T-206 baseball card. Last year one of those cards sold at auction for 6.6 million dollars. Why is that particular card so valuable? The answer is a story about character and doing the right thing. Honus Wagner was born in 1874 and grew up near the coal mines of Carnegie, Pennsylvania. He actually worked in the coal mines as a kid and was apprenticing to be a barber in his teenage years. Honus also played baseball for the local team. His older brother Al was considered the better baseball player growing up and when Al made a professional baseball team (Steubenville) he put a good word in for his kid brother. Until then Honus was very happy just visiting his big brother and doing trainer duties and carrying the water bucket as needed. Now he was signed to the team as a pitcher because of his big brother Al’s recommendation.
Years later he told of his embarrassment as a player on that first team from Steubenville. I went there as a pitcher in 1895 and in my first game they played me in the outfield. I muffed three flies and hit a home run but the homer did not get back the runs caused by my muffs and I quit the team and went back to old Carnegie on a freight. Al came after me hot-footed and I rejoined the club. As a pitcher One of his first games was against a team from Akron, Ohio. Honus could throw the ball very hard but he was extremely wild. He remembered a game early in the season. “One day, while pitching, I hit seven men, walked twelve, struck out fifteen and demoralized the Akron club. After I had broken one man’s ribs they insisted that I be taken out and threatened a court injunction to prevent a dangerous man like me from pitching.”
Al Wagner
Tommy Leach
Even though Honus didn’t make it as a pitcher he showed his ability to hit and his adaptability in the field. He literally played every position in the field besides catcher. Eventually he was signed by Louisville and that club moved to Pittsburgh and brought along a few of their players including Honus and a teammate named Tommy Leach. Although brother Al was a good ball player he only played one year in the major league. That year was 1898 and after that he drifted to a few minor league teams through the years. It was stated that the Pittsburgh Pirates were impressed with Al in 1904 but the Montreal club he was playing on refused to release him. Anyway Tommy Leach had a dilemma. He was in the minor leagues but impressed two major league teams who made offers to him within a short period of time. Leach had no knowledge of the teams so he asked his manager. After explaining his situation and that he wanted to go to a team that needed a third baseman (his best position) his manager gave him this recommendation. “If I were you I would go to Louisville. Washington has a third baseman named Wagner and he is really good.” Taking his managers advice Leach signed with Louisville. When he got there for the first game he was on the bench observing and noticed that the third baseman on his team was making unbelievable plays. “Who is that man?”, he wanted to know. “That’s Honus Wagner”, his teammate told him, “He’s the best third baseman in the league!” Tommy Leach let out a scream. “What chance does a little guy like me have next to him?” His manager didn’t lie to him. There was a third baseman that played for Washington named Wagner but it was Al Wagner. Leach was mad at his former manager for giving him such ill fated advice. He thought he was doomed for bench duty for the rest of his big league career. Fortunately as Tommy Leach put it “not only was Honus the best third baseman, he was also the best shortstop, best second baseman, best first baseman and best outfielder. Besides that he was the best hitter too!” Tommy became the third baseman and Honus took over shortstop and that was how it went for years to come.
Honus Wagner
Honus was a very friendly modest guy. He once said “It is easy to be a good ball player if you are a ball player.” That statement can be analyzed in itself and it shows the unselfish and modest attitude that Honus always had. I believe his statement was the hidden statement of “quit making such a fuss over me.” A ball player to him was someone who loved the game and worked hard to be the best at it that he could be. The love of the game made it easy for him because then work was not work it was fun! Honus was also good with the rookie players encouraging them whenever he could. Most veteran’s at that time despised someone coming in and taking one of their jobs. The veterans on most teams became a close knit group and they didn’t like it if one in their ranks lost their job. Instead of looking at what was best for the team they looked at it as losing a friend. This led to giving rookies a hard time, breaking their bats, or anything else they could do to preserve the status quo. Honus was different. He made the new member feel welcome. When Hans Lobert joined the team he walked into the clubhouse looking for the manager. Honus let him know that the manager wouldn’t be there for awhile. “Dress here at my locker”, he offered. Honus and Hans became close friends. They also had a strong facial resemblance. Honus started calling the rookie Honus number 2. With the best player on the team accepting Honus #2 the other players had no choice but to accept him too!
Hans Lobert (Honus #2)
Honus was a great player and won the batting title eight times. I am not going to go into all of his records and his induction as one of the first five players to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Character is much more important than statistics and his character was the reason that his 1909 T-206 card is worth so much. You see probably less than 200 Honus Wagner cards were distributed. Today less than 60 exist. It is estimated that Ty Cobb’s card of the same year has over 4,200 existing today. Why the big discrepancy? The answer is that when Honus Wagner found out that his card was being promoted by the American Tobacco Company as an insert to their Cigarettes he was totally against it. He didn’t want to be in any way responsible for kids buying and smoking Cigarettes just to get his card. He threatened a law suit against the company and ordered them to cease putting his card in any of their brands. That is why there are so few available today. Some went into production before he found out about it happening and that is the only ones that were manufactured.
There was a sports writer that Honus knew very well named John Gubert. John was offered a deal by the American Tobacco Company. If he could get Honus to change his mind about the Tobacco Company including his card in their packs they would pay John ten dollars. (That is the equivalent of around $313.00 dollars today) Gubert wrote a letter to Honus explaining the great deal and how he could get the money (that he really could use) just by Honus’s approval! Honus wrote a letter back. “Dear John, I don’t want to have my picture promoting Cigarettes. However I do want you to have the ten dollars. Enclosed you will find a check for ten dollars”
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