The article shares a personal reflection on the writer's enjoyment of reading The New York Times in print. It emphasizes a heartfelt moment of serendipity experienced while reading an obituary for Tommy Brown, the youngest MLB player in 1944. This discovery prompts a nostalgic journey back to memories of his childhood baseball coach, Jim Romano, highlighting the profound impact of seemingly ordinary moments found in print media. The piece celebrates the nuances and connections fostered through traditional newspaper reading.
I thrill at the chance of serendipity: the possibility of being surprised, delighted or even affected by some nugget of the human condition I hadn't been searching for. Just by turning a page.
Suddenly I was a boy of 13, wearing a uniform too large for my gawky frame and listening to my coach, my baseball god, impart secrets of the game to which I had surrendered my young life.
Seeing him sent me time-traveling. The man in the photo was my old C.Y.O. baseball coach, Jim Romano, whom I hadn't seen or thought of in 50 years.
Romano was a six-foot-four prospect who had served in the Navy and paid his dues in several minor-league ports of call. Then, toward the end of the 1950 season, he was summoned to Brooklyn.
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