Back when I was about 10 or 11 years old, I lived about a block and a half from Johnson Park, so my summers were basically going there to shag foul balls — I think returning those got you five cents a ball back then — or if you really got lucky, you were able to be a bat boy for the Brewers.

Or you could do the scoreboard — be a “numbers hanger” as the late Eddie Konz, who was a groundskeeper there back in the early 60s, called you.

Being a bat boy did not pay anything, but if you were lucky enough, you were able to get a cracked bat from one of the Brewers players to take home for yourself. You would take it home, get a small nail or two and a hammer and fix the crack. You would then take black masking tape and tape it up and be ready for the next morning’s daily neighborhood pick-up baseball game — which kids today will never realize the fun that it was.

If you were a “numbers hanger” for that game — which if I recalled paid 25 cents and a bag of popcorn — you would walk out to the scoreboard, which was located in the same place that it is now, and go to the back of the scoreboard. After opening the box on the back of the scoreboard, you’d take out all of the numbers.

You would then place them in front of the scoreboard and be ready to hang the numbers for runs each inning for both teams.

Even though you closely watched the game, there were times that you questioned how many runs a team scored.

So you would ask the left fielder of a team how many runs his team scored.

“We scored four,” he would say, so you grabbed a “4” and hung it up.

Sometimes soon after your talk with the left fielder you would hear a booming voice from the PA announcer, “Attention scoreboard, there were three runs in the top of the inning.”

That saw the left fielder turn towards you, give you a smile and wave and turn around.

Now 60-plus years and three scoreboards later — Johnson Park has gone from hanging numbers to a new state-of-the-art video scoreboard thanks to the generosity of Terry and Mary Steinbach.

And 60 plus years and three scoreboards later, Joe Eckstein of the New Ulm Baseball Association, who Konz may call today’s modern day “numbers hanger,”and the person who is in charge of the press box and the new scoreboard, said that Friday’s test run of the video board was exciting for the park and for New Ulm.

“We had some trainers and we all got a good flavoring of the technology that is involved, the different components and how they work together,” Eckstein said. “I had prepared some sample video for the Brewers and I had it on a thumb drive. The trainers showed us the display studio and software and smaller things. We sat down and I loaded that video — we played that video with sound and the people in the press box just lit up.”

The video board — which made its debut Monday for the New Ulm Brewers vs. Courtland Tomahawk East League game — will be programmed by Eckstein for games.

“I may not do the core creative development, but as the different groups have their stuff developed they can share it with me and I can coordinate to get it out on the board for them,” said Eckstein. “And the fans at the games will be excited. It will be great for New Ulm and a great for Johnson Park. They will like the idea that they are seeing animation or video or more color to the board — everyone at the games will be excited by this.”

We’ve come a long ways from having “numbers hangers” on the scoreboard at Johnson Park.

Thank you Terry and Mary Steinbach for the gift.

From the City of New Ulm, their baseball teams and fans.

And from a former “numbers hanger.”