GREAT ARTICLE!!

Cooleyvol · 04-05-2002, 04:12 PM

I've read some good fictional write-ups about a guy's team, but this one is the best ever!! This league is set in 1926 to get you in the era:
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Lakeside Ledger
Duluth, Minn.
~1927~

The days are getting longer, there is a sense of the new on the air, and the breeze off the lake is restrained in its harshness as if in reverence to the holiest of seasons, that time when all men are boys and all boys thoughts turn to that peculiar American pasttime...

...baseball has, indeed, come to Duluth.

A visitor journeying onto the field at Kennicott Stadium is overwhelmed by the atmosphere of excitement that pervades the place. Standing at home plate one takes in a panorama of action: in leftfield workmen are finishing the installation of two large ship's bells - bells that will ring out Derbie victories, and bells that testify to the lakeside shipping community here in Duluth.

Derbies players are out in the sun taking the first of several practices before joining the rest of the Heritage League on a pre-season barnstorming tour. Four men huddle together, sharing secrets of the pitchers craft, one of them, lanky southpaw Ty Dabney, a Minnesotan by birth, grins as he expounds upon the virtue of the shine-ball.

"Zelda cannot be hit, for what man would dare be so bold as to hit a woman?"

Veteran outfielder William LaTour shags a flyball near the quartet and addresses Dabney before tossing the ball back in, "me for one, if'n it means I can get some runs across." Dabney's audience laughs, which pleases the clownish hurler all the more. Diverted from his discussion of "Zelda's" virtues, Dabney then turns his attention to centerfielder Jesse Clothier...

...Clothier, his cap tucked in his back pocket, chats amiably with young fans near the centerfield bleachers. His face, tanned from days on his family's Kansas farm, breaks into a broad smile as one child annoints the speedy centerfielder his "new favorite player".

Young giant, Ryan Maria, the 6'7" right-hander, breaks off from listening to Dabney to toss some pitches to back-up catcher Kevin Wimbage as Al Denning, the teams starting backstop, looks on. "Good stuff beanpole," he says, "you keep throwin' like that and we'll win some games."

"Hey Princie!" another player calls to Denning, "yer' fanclub is here," he says pointing to a gathering of young ladies with parasols standing behind home-plate.

Infielders Jason Rarick and Emmitt Quinn discuss batting techniques, Rarick launching balls out for LaTour to grab, Quinn leaning on his bat and admiring the team's offensive ace at work. Quinn adjusts his cap to shade his eyes and strokes a flyball out towards LaTour, though not nearly with Rarick's power, he then regales Rarick with stories of his days on the Pittsburgh sandlots. "This one fella, an ironworker by trade, boy, he could mash 'em..."

The 'Cot is alive with the sound of the new season, and as this writer heads off to get some pointers from Dabney, he realizes that the little boy in him is alive and well, and thank goodness for it!
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Check out some of the other articles as we get ready for our first season at

<a href="http://www.ootplinks.com/hlbforum/index.php" target="_blank">The Heritage League Forum</a>

The author is "The Professor" on this board.

Nice job Nate!!

Dargone · 04-05-2002, 08:00 PM

Awesome

04-05-2002, 04:12 PM	#1
Cooleyvol Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Union City, TN Posts: 6,383	GREAT ARTICLE!! I've read some good fictional write-ups about a guy's team, but this one is the best ever!! This league is set in 1926 to get you in the era: ________________________________________________ Lakeside Ledger Duluth, Minn. ~1927~ The days are getting longer, there is a sense of the new on the air, and the breeze off the lake is restrained in its harshness as if in reverence to the holiest of seasons, that time when all men are boys and all boys thoughts turn to that peculiar American pasttime... ...baseball has, indeed, come to Duluth. A visitor journeying onto the field at Kennicott Stadium is overwhelmed by the atmosphere of excitement that pervades the place. Standing at home plate one takes in a panorama of action: in leftfield workmen are finishing the installation of two large ship's bells - bells that will ring out Derbie victories, and bells that testify to the lakeside shipping community here in Duluth. Derbies players are out in the sun taking the first of several practices before joining the rest of the Heritage League on a pre-season barnstorming tour. Four men huddle together, sharing secrets of the pitchers craft, one of them, lanky southpaw Ty Dabney, a Minnesotan by birth, grins as he expounds upon the virtue of the shine-ball. "Zelda cannot be hit, for what man would dare be so bold as to hit a woman?" Veteran outfielder William LaTour shags a flyball near the quartet and addresses Dabney before tossing the ball back in, "me for one, if'n it means I can get some runs across." Dabney's audience laughs, which pleases the clownish hurler all the more. Diverted from his discussion of "Zelda's" virtues, Dabney then turns his attention to centerfielder Jesse Clothier... ...Clothier, his cap tucked in his back pocket, chats amiably with young fans near the centerfield bleachers. His face, tanned from days on his family's Kansas farm, breaks into a broad smile as one child annoints the speedy centerfielder his "new favorite player". Young giant, Ryan Maria, the 6'7" right-hander, breaks off from listening to Dabney to toss some pitches to back-up catcher Kevin Wimbage as Al Denning, the teams starting backstop, looks on. "Good stuff beanpole," he says, "you keep throwin' like that and we'll win some games." "Hey Princie!" another player calls to Denning, "yer' fanclub is here," he says pointing to a gathering of young ladies with parasols standing behind home-plate. Infielders Jason Rarick and Emmitt Quinn discuss batting techniques, Rarick launching balls out for LaTour to grab, Quinn leaning on his bat and admiring the team's offensive ace at work. Quinn adjusts his cap to shade his eyes and strokes a flyball out towards LaTour, though not nearly with Rarick's power, he then regales Rarick with stories of his days on the Pittsburgh sandlots. "This one fella, an ironworker by trade, boy, he could mash 'em..." The 'Cot is alive with the sound of the new season, and as this writer heads off to get some pointers from Dabney, he realizes that the little boy in him is alive and well, and thank goodness for it! ________________________________________________ Check out some of the other articles as we get ready for our first season at <a href="http://www.ootplinks.com/hlbforum/index.php" target="_blank">The Heritage League Forum</a> The author is "The Professor" on this board. Nice job Nate!!

04-05-2002, 08:00 PM	#2
Dargone Hall Of Famer Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Interwebs Posts: 2,862	Awesome __________________ I was never one to patiently pick up broken fragments and glue them together again and tell myself that the mended whole was as good as new. What is broken is broken -- and I'd rather remember it as it was at its best than mend it and see the broken places as long as I lived.-Margaret Mitchell