A Salute to Lee Balterman 3/31/11 by:Jerry Pritikin

Top Picture and 2nd Lee Balterman with Nurse Misha, 3rd Lee at the Apollo 11 Astronaut Parade and 4th Lee Between friends and Hall of Famers Ernie Banks and Billy Williams






(Chicago March 31,2011) I spent time with my good friend Lee Balterman today, on the eve of the 2011 Cubs Baseball Season. I first met Lee on the last day of the 1984 "ALMOST" Cubs season, and today we spoke about the good times we have had since. Many of times we spent New Years, Opening Days and 4th of July and often with our sidekick Carmella Hartigan. After Carmella died in 2002, we have hardly spent time at Wrigley. A few years ago, Lee had a stroke and it looked like he might be meeting up with Carmella, Jack Brickhouse and Harry Caray and my dad in the Heavenly Confines. However, be that as it may... he has bounced back like a cat with nine lives. He gets around with a wheel chair, but his mind is a sharp as a Ginsu Knife! In the past few years he has spent much of his times putting his thousands and thousands of negative and slides in order. He has had shoots with several Presidents,Astonauts, Movie Stars, Athletes and street people. Over the last 40 years he has spent many shoots on Milwaukee Avenue, showing the great changes during that time. Lee has had several succesful shows at Chicago's Daiter's Gallery. At 90, he does not use glasses and still takes his camera with him whenever he leaves his apartment at the Kenwood Senior Assistant Living on Sheridan Road. I have noticed that over the past few years, that Lee gets more hits then most of my postings, and for sure, more than the Cubs on most days. If you have any questions or comments that you would like me to give to Lee, please do. I am one lucky fellow, over the years Lee has documented many years of me as the Bleacher Preacher in and around the Friendly Confines. Tomorrow, along with Lee, we will not be at the Cubs Opener... but I'm not complaining. I spent on the avaerage 5 hours at each of the thousand games I witnessed since the mid 80s. Please come back and spend some times in my archives, and later this year... I will be featured in an upcoming documentary about my photographs of San Francisco in the 1970s.
Cheers for Now... Jerry