SOCIAL DISTANCING DAY 176. Another of Mom’s “Lockdown Stories,” about her cousin Johnny Sproatt. You’ll see why the ashtray looks like a mitt when you read it. Out in Santa Monica on a commercial shoot in 2011 I was with a group (incl. @shushmuckle) willing to drive with me to the address on the mitt, where I snapped some photos. Is that the original bar? Kinda looks like it. Anyway. Here’s Mom’s Facebook story from today: "Johnny I mentioned yesterday that there were some great storytellers in my family. One of them was close to professional. There was a whole generation between me and my first cousin, Johnny, as well as a continent, as he lived in California. But family feeling was strong, and he visited fairly often, regaling us with tales of his life out there. He owned a baseball-themed restaurant named The Bat Rack on Wiltshire Boulevard in Los Angeles. Celebrities and sports figures liked to go there. As a genial host, he entertained his guests with colorful (and sometimes true) stories of growing up in Indiana. One day in 1949 a young quarterback who had just been drafted by the Los Angeles Rams wandered in. He looked lonely and so Johnny got into conversation with him. They hit it off, and when the young man asked if Johnny knew of somewhere he might live in the area, Johnny said, “Why not just come stay with us?” And so began a life-long friendship between my cousin Johnny and Norm Van Brocklin. When Van Brocklin’s professional playing career ended, he became a coach, first of the Minnesota Vikings, and later, the Atlanta Falcons. Wherever he went, Johnny would go, too. Not for every game, of course—Johnny had a restaurant to run after all—but at least several games a season. During a game in Minnesota, where it gets even colder than Indiana, he was often shown on TV, since he was next to Van Brocklin. A local department store owner who was watching noticed that the shivering Californian was very inadequately dressed for the weather and at half time, had a heavy coat delivered to him! How do I know that? I told you, Johnny was a great storyteller.” #familystory #batrack #santamonica #normvanbrocklin #quarantinelife (at Noblesville, Indiana) https://www.instagram.com/p/CE-sx3bFtyx/?igshid=irxg1g5wbm6x
