The memories are boundless and vivid.
As Jim Lehman nears his 87th birthday, he still mows the three fields weekly and regularly monitors the lot of the Cherry Hill American Little League that bears his name tucked off of Berlin Road near Route 295 in Cherry Hill.
Sitting on a bench next to the fields, he shared some of his special moments.
It was the night of Aug. 1, 1986. The team was playing their archrival: Nottingham.
“We had some great baseball people here in that era,” said Lehman. “We were then feared. Nobody wanted to play us.”
In the game, Nottingham was ahead by one run in the fifth inning when the heavens opened.
“I mean, it poured,” he said.
After awhile, while Nottingham celebrated what they imagined would be a win in their bus, the rain dissipated.
Lehman came in with his tractor and chemical dry powder. The fans in attendance went home, grabbed rakes, brooms and squeegees and pushed the water off the field.
At one point, the spreader broke. One of the stronger fans grabbed it and walked it around the field by hand.
After a quick inspection of the in field, the teams were told to “Play ball!”
Soon, Cherry Hill tied the score.
And then the rain came down in torrents once again.
The next day, the teams went back to the field to finish the game.
“We won the game,” Lehman said. “6 to 5.”
He was given a plaque for the win that listed the player’s names.
“It says, ‘This one’s for you, Mr. Lehman,’” he emotionally said. “I have that at home.”
“That was the ’86 team,” he added, explaining that Cherry Hill became state champions in 1983, 1986 and 1989.
Lehman moved to Cherry Hill from Chicago with his wife, Lillian, in 1959.
He is still a Chicago sports team fan.
When asked if he likes the Philadelphia Phillies, he jokingly responded, “Who? They play around here?”
“No, he added. I’m a White Sox fan. Once a White Sox fan, always a White Sox fan.”
After he moved to the area, he attended a Little League meeting, where he sat in the back row and listened.
The next April, he received a call telling him to bring his mower to the fields.
He has been cutting the grass ever since.
Soon, he was hooked to the Little League.
“The kids I enjoy,” he said.
The fields moved to their current location in the 1970s.
By the end of the decade, the league became stronger with more and more kids joining the teams — from 180 kids when he first became involved to about 500. That was when Cherry Hill Atlantic opened, he said.
The fields have been named in his honor for about ten years.
“There’s always been something happening here for the good,” Lehman said. “I can’t visualize a bad day here ever.”
“It’s a long story but it’s a story of love. I love this place,” he added. “Even if my name wasn’t up. I love it.”
Before he experienced a heart attack, he and Lillian visited a 55 and older community.
He looked at the agent and requested to know where the ball field was located.
There wasn’t one nearby, the agent responded. No kids nearby.
“You gotta be around young to try to stay young,” Lehman explained.
The pair continued to live at their home, a block away from the welcomed commotion of youngsters going up to bat.
Every year on Aug. 25, he and Lillian have dinner out and he gives her flowers.
“I don’t miss being with the missus on Aug. 25,” he said.
They will soon be celebrating 66 years of marriage.
“I’ve been in love with the same woman for 66 years,” he said. “If my wife finds out about her, I’m in trouble.”
“She’s heard that one about a hundred times,” he laughed.
Their first date was on June 8, 1943.
“He always remembers dates,” said Lillian. “A romantic.”
The high school sweethearts, who were born 18 days apart and married in 1946, have three children and five grandchildren.
More than a little league enthusiast, he is also a veteran.
In 1944 to 1945, Lehman was a tail-gunner for a B29 over Japan during World War II.
“Jim is an amazing person,” said Steve Brambilla, Vice President of Fields, who was working on the clubhouse nearby as Lehman told his story on a recent hot August day.
“He’s been an influence on generations of volunteers here,” Brambilla added, citing current President and Vice President Lee Federline and Steve Silverman as examples.
“I’m always here,” said Lehman, emphasizing that he could talk about his little league memories and friends for half a day. “So many people helped make this place what it is. It wasn’t just Jim Lehman. A lot of help a lot of good people helped put this together.”
Looking out at the empty field chockfull with positive times, he reminisced, but glanced toward the future.
“The grass keeps growing,” Lehman added from his favorite bench. “It doesn’t stop.”
Tips for fathers from Jim Lehman
“Fathers have got to learn that once their children are inside the fence, leave them alone!” said Lehman.
When Lehman managed teams, he would tell the kids in the dugout to listen to him.
“Once you’re inside the fence, I’m your father. I’m your mother. I’m your grandfather. I’m your grandmother. I’m your uncle and your aunt. Once the game is over, and you go outside the fence, they’re your mother, they’re your father and so on and so forth,” he relayed.
Teach, teach, teach baseball, Lehman said.
“This isn’t a playground. It’s a ball field.”
Learn more about Cherry Hill American Little League by visiting www.chall.net.
