Roy Hobbs Baseball November 13, 2010

The Pheasants Roy Hobbs World Series championship quest ended at about 5 PM on the 13th, with a heartbreaking 13-12 loss to the Georgia Classics.

Lee Goldammer's outstanding performance on the mound was wasted when the Classics put up an 8-run inning after the Pheasants had taken an 8 - 0 lead; and were preening in the dugout after scoring 4 runs with two outs to reach that total of 8 runs. Overcoming some great plays in both the infield and outfield, legitimate and seeing-eye hits coupled with errors (mostly due to the walking-wounded lineup I mentioned in yesterday's blog) allowed Georgia to tie the game. In the next inning we went ahead 10 - 8; they came back to 10 - 9, and then scored 4 runs in a big 8th inning to go up 13 - 10. We did not score in the 8th, but got two in the bottom of the 9th and had the bases loaded with 2 outs when our last hitter popped up to the 3rd baseman.

Will there be a next year?

We now head back home with stops in Ellenton and Palm Harbor, FL and Morton, IL to visit family and friends.

Roy Hobbs Baseball November 11, 12, 2010

The Pheasants were involved in two more 10-run games the past two days. We beat the Midwest Saints (from Minnesota) 10 - 0 Thursday night, and lost 10 - 0 in 7 innings this morning to the San Diego Western Silver Foxes. The result of today's loss pushed us into the bottom bracket of 8 teams for the playoffs. There were 4 x 4-1 teams and they will make up the top (Championship?) bracket. We will play the New England Red Sox tomorrow at 10 AM. If (WHEN!!) we win, we will play again at 1:45 PM; opponent to be one of the winners of the other playoff games. Lose either game and we are on our way home. Win both and we will be in the championship game on Sunday.

In yesterday's game, Gary Croon threw the first 7 innings and Charlie Feiner finished up. The Pheasants scored a few runs in almost every inning, but did not get the 10th run until the top of the 9th, requiring a full, 9-inning game this time. I entered the game in left field in the 8th inning. Before that, I did some "courtesy running", but in the early innings had the misfortune of getting hit by a batted ball between 1st and 2nd...which is, of course, a no no resulting in an out. For some reason, I was not asked to run again! I also had one at bat and beat out a hit off the pitcher's leg. Unfortunately, this was in the top of the 9th with us ahead big and the ump wanted to go home. Meaning....I was called out at 1st!

Before the game, the umpire called both teams to the lines and said a few words in honor of Veteran's Day.

Today, Charlie pitched the entire 7-inning game. The Foxes got 5 runs in the top of the 1st and didn't look back. They scored one in both the 2nd and 3rd, and got 2 more in the 5th I think. They scored their 10th and last in the bottom of the 6th. We, on the other hand, hit into double plays in both the 1st and 2nd innings, and could not string any hits together the entire game. I played left field and, for one batter, 1st base and got two at bats. First time up I hit a rocket back at the pitcher who gloved it before I was out of the batter's box. Second time up, I rolled one between 1st and 2nd for a hit.

We are becoming a team of walking wounded. Feiner pulled a hammy in the first game of the tournament; Gary Croon pulled something in one of the earlier games chasing a pop-up and aggrivated it in today's game; Ty Wacker is cramped up; Mike Held twisted his "good" knee; and today Ray Johnson and Shaggy both pulled hamstrings. Hopefully we will have enough bodies to conclude the 3 next games.

In the picture above, the boys are checking out Wayne's injury.


After the game, the Smiths, Wackers, Goldammers, Biches and Beatties went to the end of Captiva Island for the sunset followed by dinner at Timbers on Sanabel.

Roy Hobbs Tournament November 10, 2010

Today, the Pheasants defeated the Rhode Island Silver Fox 19 - 7 in 7 innings. (This was our 3rd consecutive 7-inning game!) The game was played at City of Palms field, the spring training stadium of the Boston Red Sox.

The Pheasants started 8 Hall of Fame ballplayers; 7 from South Dakota and 1 from Minnesota.

Lee Goldammer was on the mound.




Bob Beattie (middle with one of our other catchers, Kenny Foster (left) and Howie Bich) was behind the plate.




Gary Croon played 1st (Howie Bich behind him in right.)



Tyrone Wacker (from Minnesota) was at 2nd



Red Loecker was at shortstop.



Charlie Feiner (on left with manager Bob Kopel) was at 3rd.



Tom Gordon started in left, but yours truly replaced him in the second inning for medical reasons.



Howie Bich was in right.



Adrian Mohr, Ty Wacker, Jack Sayles, Wayne Shjegstad and yours truly watch the action from the top step of our dugout.

As the game wore on, substitutions were made.

Mike Held went to second base.




Dave Wheeler pitched the 7th inning.



Jack Sayles went to 3rd


Ray Johnson went to right


Nick Lumby played center the entire game.



Ginnie Beatty is our diligent scorekeeper.



Howie Bich, Paul, Bob Beatty and Lee Goldammer after the game.


We play the Midwest Saints tomorrow at 5:30 PM. The game was supposed to be played at 10 AM but for some reason was switched. Personally, I don't like playing under the lights very much. Hard for this old man to see the balls in the lights. This will be our last game of pool play. We will find out later tomorrow night where we are seeded and whom and when we play on Friday.

Roy Hobbs Baseball, November 9, 2010

Well, we are now 1 -1. We lost to the Spirit today 10 - 0. I believe we had only 6 hits. As opposed to yesterday, when the opponents hit everything on the ground right to us, today those hit balls found the holes and gaps. On the other hand, we did not hit anything well, and as the numbers say, didn't hit much. I relieved in the 6th inning and gave up the "winning" run (10 run rule) in the 7th. If there is anything good in this, the shorter games are easier on all our old bones! This will help us stay fresh for the games later in the week.






Tomorrow we play in the spring training stadium of the Boston Red Sox, City of Palms Stadium. (It is a beautiful ballpark, but the Sox have convinced (coerced?) Ft Myers to build them a new complex on the east side of I75 near the airport.) The plan is to start the 7 (amateur) Baseball Hall of Fame players we have on our team. Six are from South Dakota and one is from Minnesota. Maybe this will give us the spark needed to get back on the winning path.

Roy Hobbs Baseball - 2010

Monday, November 8, 2010

The South Dakota Pheasants started their quest for the 2010 Roy Hobbs Wooden Bat World Series Over-65 (age group) title today, with a 12 - 1, 7 inning victory over the New England Red Sox at the Boston Red Sox Player Development Complex here in Ft Myers, FL.

Yours truly started the game in left field and had the only outfield putout of the day on a fly ball in the 4th inning. I was not in the original batting order, but did use my blazing speed as a "courtesy runner" for some of our mobility-challenged players. (Scored 2 runs!) I did enter the game as a "shared batter" in the bottom of the 6th and coaxed a bases-loaded walk to force in a run!

We will play 3 more pool games to determine our playoff future. Tomorrow we play the Chicago Spirit, the twice-defending (and maybe 5 of 6) champions in our age group. If we keep winning we will pay into the weekend. If we don't continue winning, we might be on our way home on Saturday!

St Paul Saints - Over 60 Baseball Phoenix

From October 18 to 23 Joan and I were in Phoenix for the MSBL World Series. I played with a team mainly made up of guys from Minnesota. We did, however, have guys from MI, FL and CA on the team. Our team name was the St Paul Saints and our uniform tops and hats were courtesy of the St Paul based independent league St Paul Saints!

The team played well ( 6 - 0 in pool play) and was seeded #1 into the playoffs.
















We won our semi-final game, but lost in the finals (were blown out, actually) to a very good team from Canada. Unfortunately, we were 4 short on starters for both the semi and final game. Who knows if we might have won with these players involved, but it did not help with them gone.


I was one of those out of these games. I had played 1st base when not pitching, but did pitch on Tuesday and Thursday. This was too much for my old, out-of-shape shoulder, and on Friday morning I could not raise my arm to horizontal. By Saturday it had improved to the point where I thought I could play 1st. But, after testing it in warm-ups, it was evident I was not ready to throw or hit, so I sat again.


We were going to travel from Phoenix to Las Vegas for the NABA tournament with the South Dakota Pheasants, but instead drove back to MN via Denver. I had a friend in MN set up an appointment with the Twin's orthopaedic docs to check things out and to determine if we would continue on to Florida for the Hobbs tournament November 7 - 14. The doc said it was a go for FL, but when we get back, I will head to PT for the shoulder for few months. After the 1st of the year, I will decide if I am going to play more, and if so will enter a "back to throwing" regimine of PT.

At this writing, Joan and I are sitting in a Red Roof Inn just south of Atlanta. We will drive into the Orlando area tomorrow and spend the night with friends from Lake Crystal, Carol and Pat Butson. In Orlando I am joining a group from the Minneapolis area, including Donavon Roberts and John Gordon, the Twins radio play-by-play announcer, for 4 days of golf before heading on to Ft Myers and the Hobbs. We plan to see Aunt Jessie, Pete and Diane Donio, and other friends as possible as we travel back to MN from Ft Myers.



On the way to Phoenix, we stopped in Albuquerque to visit with Jim and Robin Rook, friends from our Caterpillar days. Jim and I started with the company at the same time, and they are probably one of the few that have had as many international assignements/moves as we have.











Our friends Russ and Rita Northup joined us in Phoenix where we stayed at the Cibola Vista Resort in Peoria, AZ.


We drove Sunday from Phoenix to Grand Junction, CO. On Monday we continued into Lakewood to see Kjirsten and the kids (Scott was hunting in Montana.) Had we known what we were going to get into weather-wise, we might have continued on to Lakewood on Sunday.