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‍    Saturday was collection day.   On some Saturdays I would run my route first and then do collections later, but if I had other plans for the day I would collect and deliver at the same time.  Just to run the route with no horsing around took less than an hour.   But time slipped away if I came across friends playing catch or was delayed by a loquacious customer.  I tried to keep both under control because customers became upset if they didn’t have their paper to peruse before supper.  I thought at first they must be very civic minded, but then came to realize they were anxious to have the entertainment section with the TV guide.  

‍    Collections could take several hours.  About half of the subscribers would leave their payment in plain view in a jar or some-such on the porch, where in return I would leave a receipt.  Less trusting souls would conceal coins under a mat or brick, but there was really no vagrancy in our small rural town and two dimes could probably have been safely left on the sidewalk.  The remainder of the collections were face to face.  These were usually predictable for I knew which customers would be satisfied with a short ‘Hey’ and which ones expected more.   More could mean anything from replying to ‘how’s your Mom and Dad doing’, to ‘won’t you come in for cookies and milk. 

 

April 1 HR 6127 is reported and amended by the House Judiciary Committee.  It would become the first federal civil rights legislation passed by the United States Congress since the Civil Rights Act of 1875.

 

I was proud of my new Schwinn.  It was the latest 1957 Corvette model with a bright blue frame and chrome fenders.  It had a carriage rack on front that really helped stabilize the canvass newspaper bag that fastened to the handlebars.   I also strapped a transistor radio to the bars so I could listen to the St. Louis Cardinals. 

 

The Cards won their Opener April 16 with a smashing 14 -3 win over the Reds.   Stan 4 for 4 with 2 rbi.  Herm Wehmeier pitched all 9 innings.

 

My paper route was evenly split between Card and Cub fans.   The Cub fans argued state loyalty and claimed martyrdom for sticking in there with the North Siders, and while their motto was “maybe next year,”  you could tell they didn’t really believe it.  The Cards, on the other hand, were always a post season possibility - this year, next or any.  Card fans also had the advantage of an easy day-trip to the ballpark to watch a game.  It was a 2hr drive to the Mississippi and Busch Stadium was just over the bridge.  It was a 4 hour drive to Chicago and more than likely another 45 minutes through heavy traffic added on to that to get to Wrigley Field. 

 

The starting line-up was strong and promised a lot of runs. That is: Stan Musial at first, Don Blasingame 2nd, Eddie Kasko 3rd, Alvin Dark playing short and Hal Smith catching.  Wally Moon, Ken Boyer, and Del Ennis manned the outfield.  The pitching appeared solid with starters Lindy McDaniel, Larry Jackson, Sam Jones, Herm Wehmeier, and Vinegar Bend Mizell as openers.  Merritt, Muffett, Schmidt and Wilhelm closed. 

‍   

June 5  The House agreed to adopt a rule for debate on HR 6127.

 

The Cards had a 21 - 21  record after losing to the Braves on June 4th, but then went on a winning streak losing only 4 out of their next 20 contests.

 

June 18 HR 6127 passed the House by a roll-call vote of 286-126.

 

June 20 HR 6127 was placed on the Senate calendar.

 

‍ The Cards led the league on June 21 when 18 year old Von Daniels, just days out of HS, pitched his first major league game.  It was a complete game, two-hit shutout against the Dodgers.  He then won his next four games.  Auggie couldn’t be happier.   Von ended the year with a 3.22 ERA - best on the team.  Larry Jackson’s was 2nd best at 3.47, with Von’s older brother Lindy not far behind at 3.49.

 

July 16 the Senate agreed to consider HR 6127.

 

St. Louis still led the pack on Aug 4 when they beat the Phillies 4 to 1 with Lindy on the mound. 

But after that win they lost 9 games in a row - 6 of those against the Cubs,.

 

Aug 7 the Senate passed an amended HR 6127 by a roll-call vote of 72-18.

 

An Arvin 8 transistor radio was the first purchase I made with earnings from my paper route.    Transistor radios were a new thing and not cheap, but the owner of the Gambles store in town liked me and gave me a good deal on the price with a simple installment plan.   The Arvin was the size of a cigar box, much larger than the popular cigarette pack sized 6 transistors that fit in a shirt pocket.  But the extra size gave Arvin definite advantages.  Six C size batteries lasted an infinity longer than a tiny single nine volt.  There was space for a decent size speaker that would actually reproduce the bass, and also space for a larger antenna that detected more distant stations and local stations better.  The variable capacitor tuner was also larger and much better at separating frequencies so you could pinpoint one broadcast more precisely.  And not least important, the Arvin 8 was durable.  The stocky casing was wrapped in thick leather.  The printed circuit board was probably 4 x’s thicker than the thin wafer used in the pocket radios.  The radio could take a jostle, a jolt, even a bounce.  Which was of primary importance strapped to the handlebars of a Schwinn.

 

‍    When I wasn’t listening to the Cards make the hits on KMOX I was listening to DJs playing the hits on KXOK.    I remember when rock was young.  Elvis was ubiquitous.  His Too Much, Teddy Bear, and Jailhouse Rock led the weekly billboards, and All Shook Up won the year.  The Everly Brothers had two great hits with Bye Bye Love and Wake Up Little Susie, while The Coasters went Searching, Fats Domino went Walkin’, Marty Robins was wearing A White Sport Coat and a Pink Carnation, and The Rays were gazing at Silhouettes on the Shade. Chuck Berry picked up the tempo and volume with his classic School Days as did Buddy Holly and the Crickets with That’ll Be the Day.  Jerry Lee Lewis launched rock n’ roll into orbit with Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin On.  The Del-Vikings headed it back to earth with their mellow Come Go With Me, and the great Sam Cooke brought it home with You Send Me.  Some say 1957 was the greatest year in rock and roll.  It’s a fun hypothesis to ponder.  

 

On August 23, 36 yr old Stan Musial ended adding to his National League record for the most consecutive games played at 895 when he fractured a bone in his left shoulder socket and tore muscles over his collarbone.  At the time Musial lead the NL with a .340 batting average and 29 homers and 97 RBI.

 

Aug 27 the House concurred with the amended Senate version of HR 6127 and sent it back to the Senate.

 

On August 28 South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond began his 24 hour 18 minute filibuster.  He claimed the Bill was unneeded because states already had such laws.  Then he proceeded state by state to illuminate his point.  Co-segregationist senators would interrupt with verbose prearranged yields to place something in the Congressional Record  allowing Thurmond breaks.  Laughter and chuckling could be heard when Thurmond ended his filibuster concluding that he expected to vote against the bill.

Strom failed to mention in his day long rant that at age 22 he had fathered a child with his family’s 16 year old Black maid.

 

‍ Aug 29 under the leadership of Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson the Senate passed a weakened version of HR6127.  Deleted from the original bill were provisions that would have given the President power to use troops to enforce existing civil rights laws and the Attorney General the power to institute civil action for preventive relief in civil rights cases.

 
On Sept 2  In a televised address Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus announced he would be ordering the National Guard to block African American students from entering Little Rock’s Central High School.

On Sept 3  Central High’s Mother’s League sponsored by Little Rock’s segregationist Capital Citizens’ Council held a sunrise protest against integration at Central High.
 
The Cardinals were in 2nd place behind the league leading Braves when they met head-on Sept 4 and 5.   The Cards won both games, 8-5 and 10-1, and over the next few weeks the Cards, on a winning streak, looked as though they might actually recapture first place.

 

 

 

Sept 4 , the first day of classes, nine students registered to be the first African Americans to attend Little Rock Central High School - Minnijean Brown, Elizabeth Eckford, Ernest Green, Thelma Mothershed, Melba Patillo, Gloria Ray, Terrence Roberts, Jefferson Thomas and Carlotta Walls - were blocked from entering by the Arkansas National Guard.

Pres.Dwight D. Eisenhower, Arkansas Governor Faubus, and Little Rock’s mayor, Woodrow Mann, conferred on how to handle the situation at Central High over the course of 18 days, during which time the nine students stayed home.

 

Stan Musial returns September 8, reentering the lineup with a fractured shoulder, yet for two astonishing weeks he batted 500.

 

‍ The first federal civil rights legislation since Reconstruction, the Civil Rights Act of 1957, was signed into law by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on September 9  establishing the Civil Rights Section of the Justice Department and empowering federal prosecutors to obtain court injunctions against interference with the right to vote. 

 
Sept 15 having won 10 out of their last 12 games the Cards win a pair against the Pirates that put them just 2.5 games behind the league leading Braves!

 

On September 23 an attempt to furtively enter the 9 African American students through a side door under police escort failed.  The ruse was discovered and an angry mob of over 1000 segregationists spewed their hate, violently attacking any Black supporters in the crowd and any northern reporters chronicling the event  To the glee of the ochlocrats the students had to be sent home.

 

Just after 10:30 on the night of Sept. 23, 1957, future Hall of Famer and home run king Hank Aaron hits an 11th inning walk-off home run to beat the St. Louis Cardinals 4-2 clenching the National League championship for the Braves. Aaron’s home run came just 10 years after Jackie Robinson broke baseball’s color barrier.

 

On September 24 Eisenhower federalized the Arkansas National Guard and sent into Little Rock 1200 soldiers from the army’s 101st Airborne Division stationed at Fort Campbell KY.   

Protected by federal troops, The Little Rock 9 successfully completed their first full day of classes at Central High on September 25.
 

‍ On September 29 the Cardinals lost to the Cubs 3-8 ending the season in 2nd place.   Musial finished the season with a .351 batting average that earned him his 7th NL batting title and recognition by Sports Illustrated as ‘Sportsman of the Year’