Reading Baseball Fifty years ago, I first came to Carbondale
This January marks the 50th anniversary of my trip to Carbondale to interview for a faculty position in SIU's Department of English.
It all started with a phone call from Howard Webb, then chair of the department, who told me I was a finalist for the position. I was afraid of flying and never been on a plane, so I asked Dr. Webb how long it would take for me to drive from Kent, Ohio, where I was finishing my PhD at Kent State University, to Carbondale. After a long pause, he told me that he thought it better if I flew in for the interview.
My wife Anita worried about moving so far away from friends and family in nearby Pittsburgh. We already had one daughter, Anne, and another, Amy, on the way in April, so Anita wanted to know about the Carbondale community and its schools. My Kent State professors were excited about the interview because, if I was offered the position, I'd have the opportunity to teach in a department with nationally known scholars and a PhD program.
I shared Anita's concerns and was grateful for the support of my professors, but I had my own worries, besides getting on a plane. At Kent, I was only 100 miles from Pittsburgh, close enough that I could watch my Pirates on television or listen to a game on the radio, when I wasn't visiting my home town. At Carbondale, I'd be a daunting 650 miles from Pittsburgh and out of range of its television and radio stations.
I'd also be in enemy territory, completely surrounded by St. Louis and Chicago baseball fans. I didn't think I'd mind being around Cubs fans so much because, when I was growing up, the Cubs and the Pirates were so bad that one or the other usually ended up in last place. I was sure I'd find kindred spirits in downtrodden Cubs fans. As for the White Sox, they were in that other league with the damn Yankees.
As I arrived by train in Carbondale, after my flight from St. Louis on something called Sunny Airlines was mercifully canceled, my biggest concern was the Cardinals and their fans. The Cardinals were the class of the National League and were coming off two straight appearances in the World Series. I wondered if, like Yankee fans, they believed they had a divine right to be in the World Series and were just as obnoxious.
When I arrived back at Kent, I assured Anita that Carbondale looked like a great place to raise a family. I also told my professors that I was impressed by the SIU faculty and thought the interview went well. What I didn't tell anyone was that I wasn't all that happy with the prospect of living in a part of the country that rooted for baseball teams that I spent my life rooted against.
As for my changing my loyalties, I had no interest in becoming a baseball Benedict Arnold by rooting for the Cardinals.
I remember thinking that I didn't really have a problem because I probably wouldn't be offered the faculty position.
At my dinner with Howard and Joyce Webb before leaving Carbondale, I thought everything went well.
Unfortunately, we ate at Coletti's, an Italian restaurant, and when I got back to the Holiday Inn, I discovered a spaghetti sauce stain in the shape of Illinois on my tie.
I figured that stain had cost me the job, but it saved me from deserting my Pirates.
Several days later, Professor Webb called to offer me the faculty position, so, that August, Anita and I and our two daughters headed to Carbondale, where things did work out. Our well-educated kids, including our son, Stephen, went on to careers in teaching, politics and the arts, while Anita and I ended up teaching everything from first grade to graduate seminars.
As for baseball, I've missed being around Pirates fans, but Cubs fans have been fun, even after their lovable losers won the World Series. I can't, however, say that it's been as much fun being around Cardinals fans, who believe they are the most loyal and knowledgeable in baseball.
Over the years, they've actually made rooting against their Cardinals almost as much fun as rooting for my Pirates, though it helps to hit the mute button when a Cardinals-Pirates game is on television.
• Reading Baseball is a series of stories and commentaries by Richard "Pete" Peterson, co-author with his son Stephen of "The Slide: Leyland, Bonds and the Star-Crossed Pittsburgh Pirates" and the editor of The St. Louis Baseball Reader.