My first flash of a Lake Street memory was riding the streetcar. Frank and Helen O'Rourke, beloved uncle and aunt, had a house on Wilder in St. Paul, making for a short walk to catch the streetcar on Marshall Avenue.
The Reusses often lodged with O'Rourkes on visits from Fulda, Minn. A streetcar ride with one of the O'Rourke youth was a special occasion.
Generally, the journey was east toward St. Paul, but there had to be a couple of times when we God-fearing Catholics rode across the Lake-Marshall Bridge and risked being proselytized by the Lutherans populating Minneapolis.
The streetcar lines were rendered extinct by 1954, so I was 6, 7, maybe 8, when clattering along happily in this big-city mode of transportation.
A more specific memory is eating lunch at the President Café before a Millers game at Nicollet Park. The President address was "Nicollet at Lake," and advertised itself as "Opposite the Ballpark."
My father, Richard, was usually a Murray's guy, but we were in the President, and either the owner or manager — a big fellow — was shooting the bull like he was Richard's best friend.
This had to be 1953 or '54, when Al Worthington was a Millers starter. My dad recruited and managed when Big Al pitched for the Fulda Giants in 1950. He met the beautiful Shirley Reusse, my cousin. They were married not long after and remain so.
The final game at Nicollet was Sept. 28, 1955. As American Association champs, the Millers played the International League's Rochester Red Wings in the Junior World Series. The Millers won that seventh game 9-4.
