I was very impressed with John Saltas’ column about baseball [“Team Play,” Private Eye, July 23, City Weekly].
One of my closest friends who also works for me part-time (I appraise houses) played on the West Jordan High School team this year as a senior and right-fielder during their impressive run to make it to the state semi-finals before finally losing.
He is like Saltas’ son—probably the only non-Mormon on the team. But, he hasn’t let that stop him from being successful in baseball, getting a college baseball scholarship to Northwestern Colorado Community College in Rangely, and, as I got to know his Mormon friends on the team, he is probably one of the few who never tried chewing tobacco or drinking alcohol.
Even as a BYU alumnus, I am an adamant baseball fan. It’s in my blood (now, it’s “Go Red Sox”—I’ve been to home games for them the last three years), and the experience with my friend who’s definitely not a Mormon shows baseball is truly the great common denominator—as your column aptly points out.
Dennis Berrett
Draper