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Post by Renfield on Jul 10, 2019 9:06:46 GMT -5
Yeah. It was kind of nice. I also thought Chapman's slider was the best I have seen all year. Sharp. Nasty. I don't get to watch near as many games as some of you (often, like noetsi, I have to "watch" on Gamecast), but the slider was "on" last night.
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Post by utahyank on Jul 10, 2019 9:16:36 GMT -5
Yeah. It was kind of nice. I also thought Chapman's slider was the best I have seen all year. Sharp. Nasty. I don't get to watch near as many games as some of you (often, like noetsi, I have to "watch" on Gamecast), but the slider was "on" last night. Renfield...you spoke about having a good arm at 17, then getting hurt....were you a prospect at one time? |
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Post by Renfield on Jul 10, 2019 9:46:23 GMT -5
Yeah. It was kind of nice. I also thought Chapman's slider was the best I have seen all year. Sharp. Nasty. I don't get to watch near as many games as some of you (often, like noetsi, I have to "watch" on Gamecast), but the slider was "on" last night. Renfield...you spoke about having a good arm at 17, then getting hurt....were you a prospect at one time? Borderline, maybe. Had a few scouts come out and look a few times. Was invited to a try-out camp once. In college I had to have an ulnar nerve transposition as my arm got increasingly sore over the course of a few years up to where I started losing feeling in some of my fingers. Never regained the velocity I had before it started getting sore which was about my senior year in high school. Played in college and semi-pro during the summers in college (sans one year off after surgery). Semi-pro coach was Bill Champion, former Milwaukee Brewers pitcher, if you recall. |
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Post by inger on Jul 10, 2019 10:07:35 GMT -5
Renfield...you spoke about having a good arm at 17, then getting hurt....were you a prospect at one time? Borderline, maybe. Had a few scouts come out and look a few times. Was invited to a try-out camp once. In college I had to have an ulnar nerve transposition as my arm got increasingly sore over the course of a few years up to where I started losing feeling in some of my fingers. Never regained the velocity I had before it started getting sore which was about my senior year in high school. Played in college and semi-pro during the summers in college (sans one year off after surgery). Semi-pro coach was Bill Champion, former Milwaukee Brewers pitcher, if you recall. Nice that you got to get a sniff...I hope that wasn’t horribly depressing for you at the time Renfield... I recall Mr. Champion. I always thought it was a terrific name for anyone in any sporting endeavor. Wasn’t there a PGA golfer named Champion for a bit also?...I imagine he might be hard to Google, as all the Championships would come up first. You’d have to know his first name...if he ever really existed... |
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Post by Renfield on Jul 10, 2019 10:27:02 GMT -5
Champ was an interesting character. Was your basic red neck from around Shelby, NC. Actually led the American League in winning percentage one year, I believe. Something like 13-6. Career cut short by elbow problems. He still knew the guys on the then current Brewer roster and would tell us about his overnight conversations with Gorman Thomas and Robin Yount, which we all thought was kinda cool along with his experiences in the bigs. Don't think he liked the Yankees much, but admired them. Interestingly, one weekend the Yankees had lost the opening game of some series to some team on a Thursday or Friday night. Champ said, watch it now, the Yanks will sweep the last 2 or 3 games. Said when some teams roll into the Big Apple and win the opening game, it was party time. And the Yanks would then kill them the next few games. My recollection is that the Yanks did just what Champ said they would do.
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Post by utahyank on Jul 10, 2019 13:08:24 GMT -5
Renfield...you spoke about having a good arm at 17, then getting hurt....were you a prospect at one time? Borderline, maybe. Had a few scouts come out and look a few times. Was invited to a try-out camp once. In college I had to have an ulnar nerve transposition as my arm got increasingly sore over the course of a few years up to where I started losing feeling in some of my fingers. Never regained the velocity I had before it started getting sore which was about my senior year in high school. Played in college and semi-pro during the summers in college (sans one year off after surgery). Semi-pro coach was Bill Champion, former Milwaukee Brewers pitcher, if you recall. thanks for sharing that....if you played college and semi-pro, you got more serious play than most of us.... my only organized ball experience was playing in Industrial Leagues in the 50's....the better players there were former college and semi-pro's....still, the league sponsors provided the equipment, including uniforms, and we probably looked better than we played... |
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Post by Renfield on Jul 10, 2019 13:59:14 GMT -5
Imagine Industrial League ball was not much different than semi-pro--which only means that there are no amateur requirements. Mostly college guys or former college guys playing on our team. Ages probably went up to 35. Occasional guys who had a cup of coffee in the minors, sometimes a little more. Played against a guy named Pete Peckham one time. Supposedly a roommate at one time of Yaz, but I don't think the timeline works. He hit a home run off of me that may be the longest ball I've ever seen hit in person. I say "may be" because I can't swear that it ever came down.
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Post by inger on Jul 10, 2019 14:57:27 GMT -5
Imagine Industrial League ball was not much different than semi-pro--which only means that there are no amateur requirements. Mostly college guys or former college guys playing on our team. Ages probably went up to 35. Occasional guys who had a cup of coffee in the minors, sometimes a little more. Played against a guy named Pete Peckham one time. Supposedly a roommate at one time of Yaz, but I don't think the timeline works. He hit a home run off of me that may be the longest ball I've ever seen hit in person. I say "may be" because I can't swear that it ever came down. I was once driving a remote stretch on I-40 westbound in NC just a few miles east of Marion and I saw a small object hit the road well in front of me and ricochet upward. Though it was distant I immediately thought it was a golf ball. Shortly thereafter of came down again and barely missed the front of my vehicle as it rebounded upward again, clearly recognizable this time as a golf ball. There were no overpasses, no visible golf courses or houses. The only thing I could assume was that someone had dropped it from an aircraft, though I didn’t see any in the area. If you’d have been playing golf that day, I could have blamed you for the hanger you threw... or if that had been a baseball. Anyway, you reminded me of that experience... |
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Post by noetsi on Jul 10, 2019 15:37:58 GMT -5
I am glad we can get back to real baseball.
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Post by utahyank on Jul 10, 2019 15:53:02 GMT -5
I am glad we can get back to real baseball. wait....real baseball according to you is bunts, hit and runs, and steals, isn't it.....you think we are going to get back to real baseball? |
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Post by Renfield on Jul 10, 2019 15:58:40 GMT -5
Imagine Industrial League ball was not much different than semi-pro--which only means that there are no amateur requirements. Mostly college guys or former college guys playing on our team. Ages probably went up to 35. Occasional guys who had a cup of coffee in the minors, sometimes a little more. Played against a guy named Pete Peckham one time. Supposedly a roommate at one time of Yaz, but I don't think the timeline works. He hit a home run off of me that may be the longest ball I've ever seen hit in person. I say "may be" because I can't swear that it ever came down. I was once driving a remote stretch on I-40 westbound in NC just a few miles east of Marion and I saw a small object hit the road well in front of me and ricochet upward. Though it was distant I immediately thought it was a golf ball. Shortly thereafter of came down again and barely missed the front of my vehicle as it rebounded upward again, clearly recognizable this time as a golf ball. There were no overpasses, no visible golf courses or houses. The only thing I could assume was that someone had dropped it from an aircraft, though I didn’t see any in the area. If you’d have been playing golf that day, I could have blamed you for the hanger you threw... or if that had been a baseball. Anyway, you reminded me of that experience... Well, you must have been near Old Fort. If you looked off to the right at Old Fort, there's a "baseball field" visible. We played some semi-pro games on that field. Nothing like driving an hour up I-40 on a Tuesday night to play a game in a cow pasture in front of tens of fans. Well maybe just ten fans depending on which players could get their girlfriends or wives to come watch. Maybe someone was hitting golf balls in that field when you drove by. It was more suited for that than baseball. |
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Post by inger on Jul 10, 2019 18:21:28 GMT -5
I was once driving a remote stretch on I-40 westbound in NC just a few miles east of Marion and I saw a small object hit the road well in front of me and ricochet upward. Though it was distant I immediately thought it was a golf ball. Shortly thereafter of came down again and barely missed the front of my vehicle as it rebounded upward again, clearly recognizable this time as a golf ball. There were no overpasses, no visible golf courses or houses. The only thing I could assume was that someone had dropped it from an aircraft, though I didn’t see any in the area. If you’d have been playing golf that day, I could have blamed you for the hanger you threw... or if that had been a baseball. Anyway, you reminded me of that experience... Well, you must have been near Old Fort. If you looked off to the right at Old Fort, there's a "baseball field" visible. We played some semi-pro games on that field. Nothing like driving an hour up I-40 on a Tuesday night to play a game in a cow pasture in front of tens of fans. Well maybe just ten fans depending on which players could get their girlfriends or wives to come watch. Maybe someone was hitting golf balls in that field when you drove by. It was more suited for that than baseball. Perhaps that solves the mystery. Then again, that sucker REALLY bounced HIGH. Maybe the guy that hit the tater off you practiced golf there, too!!! |
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Post by noetsi on Jul 12, 2019 17:47:16 GMT -5
I am glad we can get back to real baseball. wait....real baseball according to you is bunts, hit and runs, and steals, isn't it.....you think we are going to get back to real baseball? good point. I don't think we will ever get back to the that type of baseball. |
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Post by inger on Jul 12, 2019 19:32:43 GMT -5
Guys, that Industrial League play is some of what I used to do, but I was actually listed as a substitute where teams could call me to fill in, though I was not an official league or team member.
Sometimes I’d just sit, and sometimes I’d start, depending on need. Since I had a very busy work schedule, I would have to refuse often. That of course made some of the teams less likely to call on me. I played in 12-15 games some years. The teams had a 60 game schedule.
It was fun being up against someone one game and playing against them a few games later. The typical uniform was just jeans and company tee shirt, so all I had to do was get a shirt when I got there. When they offered cleats (seldom) I refused them and played in sneakers.
I wonder if somewhere in a dusty box my stats may still be out there?...
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Post by utahyank on Jul 12, 2019 20:02:32 GMT -5
Guys, that Industrial League play is some of what I used to do, but I was actually listed as a substitute where teams could call me to fill in, though I was not an official league or team member. Sometimes I’d just sit, and sometimes I’d start, depending on need. Since I had a very busy work schedule, I would have to refuse often. That of course made some of the teams less likely to call on me. I played in 12-15 games some years. The teams had a 60 game schedule. It was fun being up against someone one game and playing against them a few games later. The typical uniform was just jeans and company tee shirt, so all I had to do was get a shirt when I got there. When they offered cleats (seldom) I refused them and played in sneakers. I wonder if somewhere in a dusty box my stats may still be out there?... ….the industrial leagues gave we players who weren't good enough for college or pro teams a chance to feel somewhat what it would be like...some companies gave full uniforms including spikes...if my memory is right, most wore sneakers, and the few with spikes had to buy their own...you had to launder your own uniform, and by mid-season they were getting grungy from grass and dirt stains... Our leagues didn't play that many games...Tuesday and Friday night's with about 30-36 total games plus any playoff or championship games....often-times the mid-summer mosquitos were a challenge...the lights were problematic...and you were sure to get rained out of a few games...still, it was a great time, and I would have hated to miss it... |
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