"Diamond In The Rough" is based on the view from my childhood home, though I've shifted the neighbor's houses around to fit my compositional needs. I have a 1927 photo taken of my mother wheeling me in a wicker buggy in front of that field which remained an empty lot long enough for me to learn the rudiments of baseball there. Typically we had nothing like enough players for two teams, so we came in from left field whenever the older boys decided it was their turn at bat. Disputes over rule breaking were endless, often citing examples set by Mel Ott or Lou Gherig or Phil Caveratta, and were finally settled by those same older boys who had established the batting order. Gloves were shared, bats were commonly taped (as much for fractures of the grip), balls were lumpen wrecks, and it was all glorious.