Friday's Internet Edition, July 30, 2010.
Sylvia Cardwell followed her pitcher-husband’s 14-year career
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| Sylvia Cardwell stands among her husband’s baseball memorabilia, including a Golden Glove award and his World Series ring along with autographed photos of many baseball greats. — Photos by Chris Mackie |
The Clemmons Courier
- They would have been in Florida by now for spring training, Don and Sylvia Cardwell. They always left right after Valentine’s Day.
For 14 seasons, Major League Baseball was their life.
Don died last month. Sylvia is left with a treasure chest of memorabilia in their Old Meadowbrook home — the autographed baseballs, the Gold Glove award, bats from the World Series, the newspaper clippings, the memories …
“Heaven couldn’t get much better than sitting in a ballpark. To this day, that’s how I feel,” she said. “Just the word ‘diamond’ means something to me. I almost get chills thinking about it.”
She watched countless games in stadiums across America. She was the baseball wife for a right-handed hurler whose career include time on the mound for the Phillies, Cubs, Pirates, Mets and Braves.
“I was smitten by the baseball bug when I was a child,” she recalled last week. “When I found out this boy across the room at Gray High School was a baseball player, I said, ‘Hey, he looks pretty good.’ ”
That was ninth grader Don Cardwell. He made the varsity team as a freshman.
Also a freshman, Sylvia went to see the opening game in Winston-Salem.