This is the much awaited report on my trip from April 30 to May 10, 2026 to the midwest to join my friend of over 65 years, Martin Sneider as we traveled to see minor league baseball and their venues. Not an auspicious start. The flight to St. Louis was two hours delayed. And it was raining when I arrived. As our first game was Dodgers v. Cardinals at the third Busch Stadium in St. Louis (and of course I have been to the two predecessor Busch stadiums), the next day, I was concerned about a rain out. Unfortunately, this was not to be. Rainouts are bad but not as bad as a loss. May 1 was even less auspicious. Went to the beautiful Busch Stadium in downtown St. Louis. Such a pleasure compared to the inaccessible and price gouging Dodger Stadium. For example, parking 100 yards from the entrance to the stadium is $30 compared to $100 for a spot in a massive lot 500 yards from the entrance to Dodger Stadium.. But the bottom line was that the Cardinals thumped the Dodgers 7-2 in a game in which the Dodgers did nothing but blow opportunities. As a continuation of our exploration into the Midwest heartland in search of endearing customs of the indigenous citizens took place on May 3 when we drove from St. Louis to Memphis to attend a home game of the Memphis Redbirds, the AAA “farm” team of the St. Louis Cardinals at AutoZone Park. You will recall that last fall we commenced our anthropological investigation that included a posthumous interview of the late Sam Walton, dined at Cracker Barrel on chicken fried steak, shopped at the world’s largest gift store and were enticed by the prospect of fun and games at Uranus. The most informative part of this day was the visit to the thriving metropolis of Sikeston, MO to shop and dine at Lambert’s restaurant. We first examined the inventory of the gift shop. After extensive analysis we have learned that there is little more informative about the customs and habits of the indigenous people than a study of the artifacts that appeal to them. Here we found all manner of tchotchkes that cannot be found in the Beverly Hills bubble. As tempting as it was to make a purchase or two, the lure of the massive and unusually decorated dining room was impossible to resist. The decorations included what seemed to be Missouri’s greatest collection of expired (I assume) automobile license plates that festooned every inch of wall space. Our appreciation of

this display was interrupted by a fanfare heralding Lambert’s signature event — the tossing of dozens of freshly baked rolls from the limber arms of the wait staff to the diners throughout the room. This is the activity that was repeated every five minutes or so that allows Lambert’s to call itself the home of the Throwed (not thrown) Rolls. These missives in some instances were caught on the fly by patrons, others were not but struck random patrons or other unintended targets. In case you were wondering, the Throwed Rolls were warm and tasty. While this indigenous delicacy was appreciated it did not preclude our enjoyment of fried chicken a la Southeast Missouri and numerous unique sides including fried okra nuggets, hog jowls and turnip greens and candied yams. May 4 was a rest day as all minor league teams are off on Monday. Then they play a six game series with another team in their league. They play a home and home six game series with each team. We selected five home teams. We started with the Memphis Redbirds who were completing a six game series against the Indianapolis Indians. The next day we watched the Iowa Cubs play the Columbus Clippers at home in Des Moines. In the morning we drove to Des Moines from St. Louis and visit Westminster College in Fulton MO (where Winston Churchill gave a famous speech). That night, while still in St. Louis we visited an institution, Ted Drewes, for a “concrete”. And just what is concrete? Before I tell you, I shall observe that the concrete is to St. Louis what a Pink’s chili dog or a Phillips’s French Dip or a Langer’s pastrami sandwich is to Los Angeles.. But in the case of Ted Drewes, it is a very very thick frozen custard which was created by Mr. Drewes in response to a challenge from a customer who wanted something really really thick. Whereupon Mr. Drewes created a shake with no milk just frozen custard and famously asked: “There, how’s that — thick enough?” This was named the “concrete” because it was thicker than the popular “cement shakes” sold at other St. Louis ice cream shops at the time. The concrete is presented to the customer upside down to prove its thickness. Lest you think that we focused exclusively on Throwed Rolls and frozen very thick custard, on May 5, we visited Fulton, MO which is the home of Westminster College where we found a gem of a museum dedicated to Sir Winston Churchill. In 1946, in Fulton, a tiny central Missouri town, Mr. Churchill delivered one of his most famous speeches in which he coined the phrase “Iron Curtain” to describe the

control of Eastern Europe by the Soviet Union. The museum has an astonishing collection of Churchill related artifacts, including a model of his birthplace Blenheim Castle, his paintings, recordings of his speeches, books by and about him and a detailed presentation of highlights of his life and his contributions to western civilization. The exhibits did not ignore his lifelong pursuit and defense of colonialism. It was a great treat to find all of this on the campus of a tiny college (600 undergraduate students) in a tiny town (population 12,000) in Missouri. Next time you are driving from St. Louis to Des Moines, Iowa, you should pay a visit. On a cold and windy night, we attended the baseball game between the Iowa Cubs and the Columbus Clippers in Principal Park. We knew we were in the friendly midwest, when a very pleasant and effusive young woman, Elyse Byrnes, [Danielle — please add Elyse.byrnes@gmail. com to the electronic circulation list] seated in front of us insisted that I accept not one but two handwarmers to defrost my fingers. I have attended baseball games at Dodger Stadium for more than sixty years and have received nothing from my fellow fans other than an occasional dirty look. On the next morning as we started the long drive (9 hours) from Des Moines to Louisville for a game between the Louisville Bats (not the wooden kind) and the Nashville Sounds, we discovered a minor flaw in my heretofore perfect planning. Our ETA in Louisville was approximately 6p. Shortly after hitting the road very early to ensure an arrival in the late afternoon, we learned, quite by accident, that the game time was Noon. This required that we develop a Plan B that did not include Louisville. We returned to home base in St. Louis in anticipation of a drive to Little Rock for a game between the Arkansas Travelers and the Tulsa Drillers. We double checked and learned that it does not start before 7p. On arrival on May 7 in Little Rock, went directly to the William J. Clinton Presidential Library. It is a beautiful building in a beautiful park. At the entrance, we were met by docent Bill who promptly informed us that the Library contained everything that happened in the Clinton Presidency. I pressed that by asking: “Everything?” And he backtracked a bit. Nonetheless, as I was focused, as always, on a Beverly HIlls connection, I scoured all three floors in a search for Monica Lewinsky’s famous blue dress that almost ended President Clinton’s time in office. Alas, it was nowhere to be found. Maybe it was at the dry cleaners. Quite apart from that omission, the Library is magnificent and is well worth a visit the next time you are in Little Rock. Notably, for you newspaper junkies, I note that the Arkansas Democrat Gazette has far more extensive coverage than the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. I could not find the famous Des Moines Register. We then attended the game between the Arkansas Travelers and the Tulsa Drillers. This was the only AA game that we

attended. The others were AAA which is the highest level of Minor League Baseball. The Tulsa Drillers are the Dodgers AA farm club and their outfield include two of the Dodgers’ top prospects, Zyhir Hope and Josue de Paula. Both may be patrolling the outfield at Chavez Ravine in the near future. Our last stop was Oklahoma City to see the game between the Salt Lake City Bees and the Oklahoma City Rockets, the Dodgers AAA farm team. This was a special treat because not only was longtime Dodger utility man Kike Hernandez playing thirdbase for the Rockets, but also, Dodger shortstop Mookie Betts was there playing shortstop for the Rockets while he rehabbed from an injury that has kept him out of the Dodgers lineup. We saw them up close in a way that would not have been possible at Dodger Stadium. In ten days, I went from LAX to St. Louis to Memphis to St. Louis to Des Moines to St. Louis to Little Rock to Oklahoma City to St. Louis and then back to the Beverly Hills bubble. Quick impression – the USA is a great country and several of these cities are thriving. The people are friendly and always very hospitable to this visitor from the Beverly Hills bubble. Minor league baseball is a special treat because there is no traffic, seats are plentiful and very, very inexpensive compared to Dodger Stadium. So, I leave you with the longtime motto of the Brookly Dodgers until they finally won the World Series in 1955 (the year of my Bar Mitzvah) – “Wait ‘til next year!!” and my own motto: “Do it While You Can.”

*** Tonight the Beverly Hills Education Foundation is celebrating the renewal of its Apple Awards with a gala at Beverly Gardens Park from 5p to 9p. In addition to honoring outstanding and retiring teachers, BHEF is honoring three community members who have done a great deal for our schools, Gaby Alexander, Michael Libow and Frederic Zenmour. Gaby is a highly regarded visionary communications leader and bold political strategist. She brings a bottom-line business approach to each project, skillfully problem-solving and collaborating with the public sector. Through more than 30years of experience she specializes in community outreach, government relations, real estate development, hospitality,philanthropy and luxury retail. Her gifted, beautiful and charming daughter Grace will be entering 10th grade at BHHS in the fall. Michael, a local realtor, has been very generous to the schools. The stage in the K.L. Peters Auditorium is named for him. Frederic is the General Manager of the L’Ermitage Hotel. He has spearheaded true collaboration with the high school, both through significant donations to BHEF through the hotel’s social impact fee, as well as participating in the school’s career technical program and hiring Beverly graduates.