Liberty Lake's Bob Wilber sent a note after reading Monday's Slice.

"In 1973, '74, and '75 my father, Del Wilber, was the manager of the Spokane Indians. At the time, they were the were the Triple-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers, so only one step from the big leagues.

"The summers of '73 and '74 were after my junior and senior years in high school, back in St. Louis where we were all raised (my father's first Major League team after WW II was the Cardinals and St. Louis remained home for my folks until just before they passed away).

"In '73 and '74 I traveled west to spend much of each summer with Big Del. We lived in the Ridpath in '73 and the Davenport in '74, and at the time neither hotel was anything to rave about. I also brought a high school buddy with me in '74, and we got to enjoy the Expo as well as afternoons and evenings at the ballpark.

"Four years ago, my wife was recruited by Itron Inc., out here in Liberty Lake to become vice president for the company, and when they flew us out for a recruiting trip they put us up at the now fabulous Davenport. It had only been 38 years since my previous visit and everything downtown brought back a flood of memories, as did street names like Sprague and Division."

Bob is writing a book about his life and career in sports marketing. He said Spokane figures prominently in the early chapters.

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