EXPLAINER: Why AP called Pennsylvania for Biden

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“It’s time for America to unite. And to heal.”

WILKES-BARRE &mdash; Back in the day, kids like me dreamed of one day playing in &ldquo;the bigs&rdquo; &mdash; the Major Leagues.
				My dream was to play centerfield for the Yankees, just like my idol, Mickey Mantle.
				As we waited for our dreams to come true, we played &ldquo;big league&rdquo; games in my backyard, or on Reynolds Street, or in the Barnes Street field, where rocks were bases and fences, like our dreams were unlimited, but never unreachable.
				My backyard was our Wiffle Ball stadium. It was also our basketball court, with a wooden backboard and hoop nailed to a big oak tree. The &ldquo;court&rdquo; had two levels &mdash; the upper level was regulation, meaning the basket was 10 feet from the ground, sort of. The lower level, well, the basket was a bit higher. We tried not to take many shots from the lower level.
				For baseball, well these were special places. My backyard was the Wiffle Ball stadium. Reynolds Street was where we played stocking ball with wooden bats and balls made of socks sewn together by my mom.
				For real games, we went to the Barnes Street field or we used the Nottingham Street Elementary School where a high wall kept the ball from hitting nearby houses.
				As my friend George Toma likes to say, we gave it our all &mdash; and then some.
				But for Wiffle Ball, now this was a real dream-like scene. We hit toward my house &mdash; if the ball got past the pitcher, it was a single; on top of our lower roof was a double; the upper roof, a triple; over the roof, a home run.
				Games were always one-on-one and we compiled lineups that we strictly followed &mdash; if a player batted righty, we batted righty; if he batted lefty, we batted lefty. We kept statistics and we competed.
				But most importantly, in this backyard Wiffle Ball stadium of uneven levels, fruit trees and my mom&rsquo;s clothesline, we had a heckuva lot of fun.
				Now back to my friend George Toma.
				Toma, 91, from Edwardsville, has been the head groundskeeper for every NFL Super Bowl. He got his start at Artillery Park back in the 1950s and built a career where he has become to be regarded as the very best in the business.
				Most towns had guys like this who would volunteer their time and help cut the grass or line the fields or clean dugouts. They wanted to make the fields in their towns the best they could be for the kids in the town. It was because of the selfless acts of these men and women that added to the quality of life in their communities.
				Toma sent me an article that was printed in The Athletic, a subscription-based sports website that provides ad-free national and local coverage in 47 North American cities as well as the United Kingdom. The Athletic also covers national stories from top professional and college sports.
				Nate Taylor of The Athletic wrote the story about how Toma laid out and prepared a Major League-caliber baseball field in his neighbor&rsquo;s backyard for the exclusive use of Wiffle Ball.
				Here&rsquo;s what Nate Taylor wrote in The Athletic:
				&ldquo;A couple feet behind home plate, George Toma sat on a wooden bench and smiled. For a few minutes last Friday morning, the 91-year-old knew his latest masterpiece was almost complete. He still needed to apply a bit more paint on the field before first pitch.
				&ldquo;In front of Toma, the most famous groundskeeper in professional sports, was a Wiffle Ball field he transformed. Known for his diligence and creativity, Toma guided his makeshift grounds crew which included family members, a landscape company and children into producing a dreamy sandlot that any baseball or softball fan would cherish playing on.
				&ldquo;Two weeks prior, Toma dug into the front yard of Joe Ungashick&rsquo;s house, known in the city for hosting the annual Wiffle at the Hollow event. Alongside his son Ryan, Toma formed the batters box, pitchers mound and the area around the bases as he would for a Major League club, with compacted dirt, sand and precise dimensions.&rdquo;
				Toma told me he was glad to help make the field a top-notch surface for the league. He said in addition to the adult Wiffle Ball league, kids play on the field, with the average age 10 years. The field also hosts fundraising tournaments for various community projects.
				Toma told me, as he has in the past, that growing up in &ldquo;The Valley with a Heart&rdquo; instilled in him his passion for helping others.
				I just wish Toma was around to transform my backyard.
				But doubles and triples off the roof and homers out to Reynolds Street will have to suffice.

Beyond the Byline: Toma brings his magic to Wiffle Ball park