One of the four new franchises in the CDMSBL got its first taste of competition last Sunday. Jim Ansel had worked tirelessly to assemble the team but had to be out of town on account of his daughters graduation. Might have been different if he had managed. The poster here did volunteered for the job. I spent up and thru the 4th inning getting the names right. I don't make any preseason practices so it was my introduction to the team and its 5-6 new to CDMSBL players. We sported some familiars, Jim Dalton, Don Wixon, Herb Carter, Nick Kanellis, Howard Becker, Dave Plew, you've seen these guys on the fields for years and in the 55 division. That day we also were honored with long time CDMSBL'er Pete Westfall. Petes fought back , tired of observing and being one of our prolific , provocative posters here, he donned the Gray. Cept he didn't have his jersey yet? But he did have years of experience which he took to the plate and rapped a clean single to right. We also have on the roster Rich Garbarino , long time Cubby , and American . Rich couldn't make this game, he was slated to start but we got a great performance from a rookie.....and Jim Wing is on the roster too . Jim couldn't make it either. along with Ed Rogers, Eric Kohl and a player to be named later. We an enthusiastic bunch hoping to win innings and play 7 innings. We old for this division, but we hope to mix the younger rookies in so they can chase things down while we offer sage advise on pursuit angles, hitting cuts, and bringing refreshments. Rookies Darrell Waylong, Kevin Beiter, Ted Valenti, and Leo Curasone had that "were playing baseball again!!" look on their faces till about the middle of the third inning.
With specific directions on where to play people and who to bat i quickly scribbled in a lineup that tried to uphold the spirit of that guidance from our absent leader. we took the field. in the immortal words of Sue Caputo , we looked good in our uniforms. those who had them. But we looked pretty good in the field too. a dropped soft liner to me in RF caused the whole team to lose confidence in any other direction I might try to offer. Man I was just glad i got to it and it didn't hit me in the face. As i ran to the slicing ball , I chanted , Doubt, Doubt, Fear, Doubt, Fear, Fear, Doubt. plop. all that running on your heals , ball bouncing, BS, is just cover for an error. I owned the mistake and cost my team the two runs that first inning. Choosing to promote fun play and with no willing replacement I stayed out there and found some positive in that after that play teammates didn't feel so bad when they too goofed. We made mental errors, we made physical errors, and existential errors too. I was happy to break the ice for these guys.
But we made some plays and batted well. I think we had a lead. though it was so short lived the planned gala celebration was cancelled. Early on Herb Carter got on, followed by Waylon , followed by me and then Nic . all that produced a lead. Opposing pitcher Jon Mueller had just pitched 7 innings a couple days before for the 55 Yankees, so we took advantage of that somewhat as he otherwise would have humiliated many more of us. Later Jim Preller of 38 Pirates and 55 Whiz fame came in to toy with our ambitions. Dave Plew I think had the best at bat. 25 pitches into it Jon finally thru a ball off the plate that Dave couldn't foul off and he lined a 2 RBI single to right. the pitched around Nick. they hit Wixon, they otherwise did enough to protect their 20 run lead. later we found it was only ten run lead. felt like 30.
mostly it was good to play . I asked about Tom Bradley. Everyone sends their best wishes. A slimmer Bob Noto had to catch. he still can't stand up. John Kalinski's Red Sox team also looks very good in their uniforms. though they also play well in them. good to see familiar friendly faces after a long winter even though we got run ruled , or so we thought. Our Sox side of the scorebook looked liked a late game bingo card.
Next game fearless leader returns. good luck to the SOX , I think we play the Cubbies next week. Sox play the Royal Brewers. I'm thinking upsets. everybody in uniform, Wing, Rich and Eric and Jim back. sunny day, ginger ale on ice. We may even have Tommy Smith start cook some dogs for his team in the second inning, slow those Cubbies down with dough and ersatz meat. And the Royal Brewers will be so full of themselves after defeating the defending champs they won't know what hit them when the Sox are raking the field during and after the romp.
Long live the Grays. but I wanted some Teal trim piping on the uniform just to recall the past. strange to stash the fish gear. here we go though.
