Sometimes it’s the small, tangible things you can hold in your hand that live on strongest in memory.

For Wayne Sutton, all of five or six years old back in the years right after World War II, that’s how it is recalling the days when he, his little brother Ellis, and his grandfather sat back and enjoyed Texarkana Bears games. “What I remember is bags of peanuts, little snack bags of peanuts. I remember Grapette soda and also the train tracks right behind the field,” said Sutton.

When the trains rumbled past, the game would stop temporarily, he said. He and his brother...