It was a week in April 1949, and it was a time when I started getting out of the house more often and taking in some of the activities I had enjoyed for years around Oneonta.
Baseball is back in the city, and as the Oneonta Star reported on April 25th, “A return to typical late-April weather and Oneonta conditioning with coach Eddie Popowski and a bronze medal. – 19 members of the Red Sox arrived in the city late yesterday afternoon, concluding a four-day bus trip from their spring training base in Ocala, Florida.
“The Sockers departed Ocala early Thursday morning and spent the first night in Charleston, South Carolina. The second day's trip ended in Roanoke, Virginia, where the Red Sox attended the Piedmont League opener against Red Marion's Roanoke team. After practicing Saturday morning at Maher Field in Roanoke, the players headed to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and came to Oneonta from Pennsylvania's capital yesterday to make the trip faster. Roads 95, 81, and 88 were still years away from opening.
Opening day has arrived, and on April 28th the Star informed its readers: “Yesterday, in the opening game of the 1949 Canadian American League, Roma scored six runs in the fourth inning and won 8-7 over Oneonta here before scoring 1,476 points, including 468 children. '' That year's team included Willie Eustis, a southpaw pitcher from Oneonta.
One thing that was new to that baseball season was the ability to listen to the games on the radio. “Starting Wednesday, April 27, Oneonta Red Sox home games will be broadcast from start to finish on WDOS-FM,” The Star explained on April 23. Special broadcast lines and equipment are installed in the broadcast booth above the grandstand at Neawa Ballpark.
“When you listen to a baseball program on FM radio, you hear it very clearly. Even though lightning crackles and causes ear-splitting static on standard radio, FM does not. It’s a thing of the past.”
In addition to returning to the outdoor ballpark, another new entertainment option opened on Thursday, April 28th. It's an outdoor movie at the Del Sego Drive-In Theater.
From the Star ad copy for the April 27 grand opening: “Del-Sego offers the best in video, sound and video. Watch the video and enjoy our special services from the comfort and privacy of your vehicle. Enjoy! No parking issues — just drive up…no need to hire a babysitter — kids under 12 are free! No need to dress up…bring mom and dad! In fact, the whole family, young and old, can enjoy a good movie.'' William Warnken, Jr. and Bert D. Mitchell are listed as owners.
Del Sego was located in Oneonta's East End until 1981.
There was no need to dress up to go to Del Sego, but another entertainment option that week did require a costume.
The Star reported on April 28, “They were dressed in formal clothes, sometimes in cotton clothes.'' “They came to dance, they came to watch. At 11 o'clock last night, the crowd was still coming to the armory and the Oneonta, where Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians gathered for the 4th annual Kiwanis. He played “the sweetest music this side of heaven” for 2,000 people from the area and beyond. Charity ball.
“Outside, the unattended teenagers in blue jeans just hung out to listen to the music coming through the open windows. The crowd inside was of three minds. Some couples did not leave the area around the bandstand and stood entranced, content to just watch the famous leader and his 20 men “do their job.” The second group gathered on a crowded balcony, interested in listening but choosing to take the easy route.
“The third and largest contingent joined in with the solid music, as did the crowd. Sardines (even if he had been able to reach the center of the dance floor, which I doubt!) would have been severely claustrophobic .
“From the couple who never missed a beat to the smoothest music these old ears have heard for months to the couple who rarely keep the same beat as the orchestra, everyone is at the ball, the armory, the Kiwanis. And Lombardo, I can safely say…the ball was successful.”
local time on Wednesday, May 1974.