THE SCARY BASEBALL PITCHER FROM CHS '50

IN MEMORIUM, Cameron Mactavish 

                  1932-2016

   The Clovis "Boys of Summer"

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That spring afternoon in 1947, at the chicken

wire backstop at the corner of Reid and Tenth 

Streets, we were "old enough" and trying to 

play real hardball!

Art and Bob Snipes and I and one or two others

had gone to the old lake bed for wire and

2X4's; also houses galore were being built

all around the neighborhood at that time; they

in turn had lumber scrap piles, that somehow

got filled with long two-bys! Fair game for us 

kids...needing a ball diamond backstop!

Rule One: You couldn't be forever chasing 

missed balls and our "hind-catchers" were 

generally either "chicken" or inexperienced 

when it came to catching HOT pitchers---some 

of whom could throw mean curve balls and 

more terrible (to kids)---faster fastballs!

That is why I, at the tender age of thirteen found

myself flat on the ground by home plate...dirt in

my mouth...I had barely ducked, I thought, a

curve ball headed straight for my head...I mean

right at me..and for a curve it was moving!

This was my first real experience with real 

hard-ball, with real pitchers...for you see, there

were some guys in our class (and the Class of

'50) who were richly endowed athletically...and

THEY COULD "THOW!"

They had radar too, and if anything like a 

baseball field with backstop showed up in the 

NW quadrant of Clovis---they'd be there---

with real Clovis Pioneer baseballs---no friction-

tape-covered-balls for them..which were all we

had! (They were likely Bell Park shaggers.)

Cecil and Bruce Davis were two ('50 and '51)

CHS friends of ours who were very talented

pitchers.

Cameron Mactavish, CHS '50, was another. He

lived, I think, up in the WWII "Santa Fe Heights"

subdivision, north of us four or five blocks, at

Thornton and Fourteenth Streets.

Cameron, as he appeared to us younger guys,

was hard as nails..he was a tough wiry kid. He

wasn't the type to sit in the shade on a summer's

day, and shoot marbles, or tell ghost stories, or

play mumblety-peg---I mean that boy was all

business...and could he pitch!

In fact, it was his curve ball that had me flat on

the ground that day, in front of the backstop...

not fifteen feet from the intersection. 

Have you ever tried to hit a real pitcher throwing

those hard balls right at you? They say being a

"good batter" in baseball is the hardest single

feat in all sports. You must have no fear of the

ball and you need instant reflexes...quickness.

It was the day I realized that baseball was not my

sport, though I was a mean shortstop with good

hands. Batting was incredibly tough.

I don't remember much about Cameron in High

School---he was a year ahead and the boys of '51

had their own fish to fry. But I always admired him

as one of the toughest kids I knew...and he has

crossed my mind now and then, through the years.

Cameron Mactavish...Clovis High School 1950...

passed away last week. I just heard from Vernoy

Willis (CHS '50). He was one of us boys  that 

grew up in the finest of American towns...along

with us on the journey...and he is gone..

I remember him fondly, tho' we were not close

buddies. I don't know how his life turned out

but he was okay to us young "boys of summer."

"Therefore, never send to know for whom the 

bell tolls...it tolls for thee." ...John Donne, 1620

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MIL

10/04/16