"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness......" Enough of Mr. Dickens. The Black Sox and the Marlins were set to play their second consecutive game against each other. It was the best of times, a sunny Saturday morning. It was the worst of times, a Stan Musial Tournament make-up game was being played at 10 when a 28 division game was scheduled for 9:30, and my starting catcher was playing the 9:30 game, which got moved to the A diamond in Schenectady along with the umpires. The Marlins only had six players, but the age and wisdom of all the players came to the fore, and Hoin and Stalvey joined the Marlins squad along with Jim K. Jim K. was willing to ump but it was more important for him to play, so the foolishness of age had meself umping behind the plate.
The first two innings of the game had a total of thirteen runs scored. The remaining five innings saw two runs cross the plate. The one team managed to score eight runs in the first two frames and the other five runs. There was a combination of hits, walks, hbp, and errors that led to the ugliness of those first two innings. It wasn't all ugly, as Hoin made a diving catch of a sinking line drive to center field ending a bases loaded threat by the Black Sox. And for the Black Sox substitute southpaw catcher Gary Fish nailed a Marlin trying to steal second.
Finally, in the third, good, solid baseball returned. With two Sox on base and two outs Treece struck out the next batter, which was a sign of what was to come from his arm the rest of the way. Johnson breezed through a 1-2-3 bottom half of the third. Treece responded with a 1-2-3 top of the fourth, with the last two batters taking called third strikes. With one out in the bottom of the fourth Maney banged out his third hit of a four hit day, and came around to score. The Black Sox answered in the fifth as Noto stroked a huge double to left center and scored on a single by Foreman, who chipped in with 3 hits and 2 rbi for the game. Foreman then shut the Marlins down over the next three to secure a 9-6 victory for the Black Sox.
This is a tale of a bunch of guys who know how much it means to play a baseball game. I want to thank all the players for making the right decision to play the game, and a competitive game it was. .
Great description, Wix, of what transpired Saturday a.m. at the Knick. But let's also credit the umps for backtracking once again to the Knick to relieve you and let you manage your team to victory. You guys have one solid, very scary team. JimK
My thanks to Donny, Jimmy K., and the entire Black Sox club for making a ballgame out of a dismal situation. Donny's club is everything a 48 division team should be. You have a great bunch of guys, love to play, and are alone in first place. We the seniors of CDMSBL are fortunate that all of our teams display the same competitive drive, mixed with sportsmanship, and a true love of the game.
Jim and Tom thanks for the supportive words for the Black Sox. They are a bunch of good man who love the game of baseball and they are appreciative of your comments.
Thanks Jim for mentioning the men in blue. They put on a lot of miles to cover the games they were assigned. Thank you Blue.
