A team photo of the Charlie Brown’s Piano Bar Softball Team from the 1980s. ‘RJon’ Schaffer (with full beard) is in the center of the first row with long-time friend David Jolley at the far right in the first row.
Courtesy David Jolley
David Jolley and ‘RJon’ Schaffer.
Courtesy David Jolley
There is a well-known monument outside Fenway Park in Boston that depicts what sports are really about. It’s made up of 7-foot tall bronze statues of four former Red Sox players, with the word “Teammates” engraved on its granite base.
The players memorialized are the great Hall of Fame outfielder Ted Williams, Hall of Fame infielder Bobby Doerr, infielder Johnny Pesky and outfielder Dom DiMaggio, who were close teammates in Boston for seven years.
They drew close during their years playing together and became life-long friends with a bond that could never be broken.
Their story is well told by historian and writer David Halberstam in his 2003 book, “The Teammates – A Portrait of a Friendship.” Halberstam’s book centers on a final visit to Florida by the aging Pesky and DiMaggio to see their dying friend and forever teammate, Williams, one last time.
Doerr, who lived in Oregon, was unable to travel with them because he was busy caring for his wife following her second stroke. Older and with aches and pains of their own, DiMaggio and Pesky traveled well over a thousand miles so they could visit Williams in person again and lift his spirits.
That’s what true teammates and friends do. Months later, Dom DiMaggio was likely the last person to call before Williams passed away on July 5, 2002.
Teammates and friends to the end.
Both the monument and the book came to mind recently when my long-time close friend, colleague, softball teammate and tennis partner, R. Jon Schaffer, passed away after a few years of battling dementia.
He preferred to be called “RJon,” pronounced “Are-Jon,” and although he was 11 years my senior, he stayed in such great physical shape that I was still running him all over the tennis court well into his 70s. He was a fast runner and it was difficult to keep up with him.
We played on various softball teams together for several decades, from Hoppy’s Bar in the old Luzerne League playing games at Connolly’s Field, to Llewellyn & McKane teams in the Rec Leagues playing on the fields near the Forty Fort Airport. We also played in various area leagues for Charlie Brown’s Piano Bar, the Sopwith Camels and Columbia Porch Shades.
Most of the games were with Llewellyn & McKane, the fine-printing company in Wilkes-Barre where RJon served as the art director for about 40 years. He played centerfield, I was at either first or second base, George Missett or Thom Russ was on the mound and Bobby Guyette was at shortstop. RJon’s son, Brian, then a student at Penn State, also played for Llewellyn & McKane while home during summer breaks.
As the young guy, Brian was subject to being teased good-naturedly from time to time, mostly by his teammates, but also by the team of travel-worthy inmates from Chase Prison we played a couple of times each season.
These were the guys who behaved well and earned traveling privileges to play softball. Nobody on that team wanted to ruin a good thing, so there were never any problems, and we had competitive yet friendly contests with them year after year.
After their games, the inmates and guards would get back in the van that transported them to and from the field. Our team often had postgame cookouts at the field, and we watched as the van made a detour through the nearby McDonald’s drive-thru before returning to the prison.
Everyone playing for Llewellyn & McKane did their best to win and we were a pretty good team. Win or lose, though, we hung out together, played with our teammates’ kids, supported one another, and just did what friends do.
RJon wrestled for the Dallas Mountaineers in high school and ran cross country while at Luzerne County Community College. He could skate like the wind on his hockey blades or beat you in a foot race. RJon, Brian and another teammate, Lee Isaac, even parachuted out of an airplane, but that’s where Thom and I drew the line.
RJon was a great racquetball player, but I convinced him to join me on the tennis court. He adapted well to tennis and we spent countless hours with Chuck Deckmar and Paul Somerville on the outdoor courts during the warm weather months and the indoor courts in Kingston during cold and inclement weather.
Everyone played to win, but we celebrated one another’s great shots, too. Sports, especially recreational sports, bring people together in both victory and defeat.
I still run into some of the guys who were my Little League teammates back in the sixties. My brother, Bob, as well as Jim Larson, Harry Johnson, and Jerry Leedock. Frank Oravitz lives in Maine, but he is still well remembered and we talk from time to time.
The Luzerne-Courtdale-Pringle Little League’s Courtdale Cardinals were not a good team during my first two years. We became a championship team during my 11-year-old season, and then a .500 team when I was 12-years-old. We were good friends, though, no matter how well we played on the field, and we always had fun.
I met one of my best, life-long friends, Bob Watlock, when he rode his bike uphill from Kingston to watch LCP Little League games at the top of Courtright Street in Pringle. In addition to playing baseball, Bob was a district and regional champion wrestler at Wyoming Valley West. He also ran cross country with RJon at LCCC.
Bob and I still golf with Jim Brozena when we can. Jim helps us correct the flaws in our swings and we laugh the day away.
After more than a half century, we still use sports as the official reason to get together. That’s truly what it is all about.
Thank you, RJon, for the memories.
David Jolley is a writer, author, public relations and marketing communications consultant, sports fan and historian. For more content, visit davidajolley.com.
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