Reading the Sun Journal article “Extra innings” brought back memories of my baseball years in Auburn from 1942 to 1948 (July 16).

We played baseball on the vacant lot across the street. We didn’t have parents or coaches. We had no special caps or t-shirts. Half of us played bare-handed. Part-way through the summer we used a black-taped ball. Girls, small kids, everyone played.

What did I learn from playing baseball on a vacant lot?

I learned I could work out problems with people my own age when adults weren’t around. I learned to help the kids who didn’t play baseball well. I learned that sometimes I would have to oppose injustice in my society. I learned that baseball was a game where everyone could have a good time. And, if I lost a game, I was not depressed, because we were going to play again tomorrow.

Most of all, I learned that it was the attitude I brought to the game that mattered, that made it a game and fun, that helped me get along with everyone in the neighborhood. And it was healthy to play outdoors.

In later years, I learned that those athletes who said playing a sport would help a boy or girl be more successful in society than the “geeks” who didn’t play were creating a myth of self-adulation.

So I remember that baseball on a vacant lot in Auburn was fun, healthy and a great game.

It was and is a game.

Tom Fallon, Rumford