Batting Practice Y'all

rogergoehring
Jun 15
3 min read

Hey Y'All,

We came up short last Monday – only got in batting practice – needed at LEAST ONE more :-0 Was a good batting practice though with some great fielding skills displayed as I recall George with a one handed grab at 1st base :-0 Plus a new addition to the pool of players as Keith Ward joined us and went into the stop sign hall of fame as he pummeled the ball to no end and demonstrated some great hands fielding grounders and fly balls. A discussion arose about playing fields so after ‘practice’ we scouted out some green space over by the Teamon Road Exit, the POD where Keith lives. As Gordon commented in the quote of the day: “We’d just be opening another can of worms” That is to say, we’d start a new round of complaints to be filed and we’d be on HOA property – Not public roads – sure to get chased off by MANAGEMENT :-0 Other green space exists with the same drawbacks. I also revisited Spring Forest but that too is woefully inadequate as it lives up to it’s namesake with the forest is extremely dense on the right field side and the berms are not as friendly as those on Paperwhite at funneling the ball back to the playing field. Then there was the OLD FIELD OF DREAMS (the Del Webb Cul-De-Sac which no longer exists) which is extremely sloped and troublesome, now funneling all our balls to the creek (even if the fence was removed – no longer a dreamy place … CONCLUSION: we have the best field for play and have well-meaning neighborhood passing by and through (both walking and driving) who accommodate us on Paperwhite after the years of play – neglecting last weeks ‘incident’ of the sheriff’s visit as we neglected friction in physics problems :-0

Additionally, I admit to coming up short on my ‘Memorial Day Write-Up’ so I’m making an amendment here … Don’t know how I missed mentioning Gordon – how in the world … May make this a new feature – Player Highlights 😊 #1 Gordon Finn:

Gordon was our biggest fan when he started coming down to the cul-de-sac, the old field of dreams !! Gordon hit the ground running, so to speak, with many contributions to the club. First of all he produced a bat that many are using today, the lightning bat, or The Bolt as I christened it. Gordon immediately began to scout for players and brought many of our current players to the game. He devised a scoreboard holder to ATTACH to the Pulte sign that warned everyone not to proceed PAST the cur-de-sac. Back then we were PLAYING 3 times a week and Gordon posted a sign for the time to play M, W, and F (I think, may have been Sat.?) It didn’t survive long in the rain but was effective none the less. Then Gordon promoted the idea of wrist bands, Stickball Y’all, which are still issued today!!!! They come in 2 sizes to fit all the participants we have from small to adult – very fitting for our league!! Oh yeah, he drank enough wine to provide us with water jugs to hold down our street signs – Bronx and Stickball Boulevard !! Keeps them from blowing down very well even though only 2 of the four have survived 😉

Since softball is over for the summer we hope to see him and other softballers; let us welcome back the honorary ‘Mayor’ of Sun City who has still NEVER worn a hat :-0 :-)