some members of the cdmsbl community who were lucky enough to meet tommy yeates, a superb person, catcher and hitter from san antonio, texas, over the past three years when he made what was becoming his annual summer pilgrimmage here would, i'm sure, want to know that he died on tuesday, august 30.

tommy was 52 and killed in a car accident. (tommy's pickup had stalled at the confluence of two highways in san antonio. he pulled over, opened the hood, and was then hit by an oncoming pickup, sending him over a railing 40 feet to his death.)

the loss is breathtaking and nearly beyond words for me: tommy had been my friend since we competed against each other in over-28 ball in texas going back
to 1994. he he had a roundish face, reddened by the sun, clear blue eyes, white hair, burly chest and you could hear him coming from a block away with his loud texas twang. he also had a great batter's eye, and a kind word for almost everybody. in the 11 years i knew him, i never heard him swear once - for tommy, "dad-gummit" or "goll-dang" were charged words. he could find humor in almost everything - except a forfeit, because it meant there'd be no game.

working with league president skip bradley, tommy helped get san antonio's msbl off the ground in the mid-90's - at one point he was managing three teams, the over-18, over-28, over-38 pirates - and he directed the league's fall ball program. he also had his truck and strong back available to help build or maintain any field in the league - and for that matter, to help teammates put in patios, dig trenches or repair roofs. all you had to do was tell tommy of your troubles, and he'd say, "you stay right there, me and my truck are coming."

after visiting me and albany four summers ago, tommy, a technician at the san antonio water board and a single father (his son is in the coast guard, posted to new orleans), decided that the rest of texas should know about our city and players here, so he started organizing. the next summer he brought skip - the two played in a couple of peppers games; tommy got an rbi in his first at-bat against the spartans - and last summer he brought a dozen guys, mostly over-48's, to albany and we played what amounted to two pickup games at the knick with about 20 different guys from cdmsbl. we also toured the area and took in a yankee game in new york. just before he flew off, he said, "y'all gotta come to texas now, in the spring, and we'll have some fields and games waiting for ya," and he was as good as his word. a day before he died, he called me and left a message on my machine saying, "eee-aw, i got 12 maybe 13 guys and we're coming to al-bany, newwww york, to play the best of albany's msbl."

tommy's group was was to come here monday sept. 19-thurs. sept. 22. i'd hoped to set up a game with some 48's here on monday the 19th. i'd also reserved doubleday field for them to play my peppers on wednesday. his death threw that into question.

but the fellow who's taken over the group, a terrific fellow named glenn grossenbacher, told me that they're still coming. john reel suggested that
we might have a memorial game for tommy on monday the 19th followed perhaps by a barbecue. it's a good idea. details are still to be worked out. they but will be posted soon. needless to say, all the fellows who played in last year's game are more than welcome to join us. and those of you who would have liked to have known tommy are equally welcome. he would like that.

-mike hart