EC's South Island League

[jg2977]

I can't believe Mystic blew it! About 3 weeks ago I proclaimed "It looks like they've got this!" They will have one chance to redeem themselves in the tiebreaking game.

Looking forward to seeing what happens in that logjam for 2nd place in the Secondary League.

[Eugene Church]

Originally Posted by jg2977

I can't believe Mystic blew it! About 3 weeks ago I proclaimed "It looks like they've got this!" They will have one chance to redeem themselves in the tiebreaking game.

Looking forward to seeing what happens in that logjam for 2nd place in the Secondary League.

Pitcher Logan Feeney lost his touch against Zebulon and Kofa... the Zips toasted him 13-10, but he only gave up 5 runs in 5 innings... they killed the bullpen after Feeney left... and the Kings hit him well and beat him 8-6...they got 4 runs in an inning and a half... he pitched well this past Sunday against Guedon, but got no run support in the 3-0 loss.

[Eugene Church]

Monday, June 17, 1957

CHAMP MERAUX, RUNNER-UP ANDERSON PROMOTED TO SUPREME LEAGUE
Chaos was avoided this past weekend... there will no playoff games needed in the South Island Secondary League... the 1957 league champion Meraux Tigers spoiled the New Yerby Yankees' hopes with a 5-3 victory... the Anderson Ravens registered a tense 5-4 win over Grin Hill in 11 innings... then the Parkland Perfectos ruined the Billings Rams promotion aspirations by outscoring them 13-11... Meraux wound up 11-1, Anderson 8-4, while New Yerby and Billings slipped to 7-5... in the other three contests Columbia kayoed the Braxton Bruins 7-0... Cherrywood edge the Littleville Supermen 6-5... and Gull Hill smashed the Delacroix Cubs 13-2.

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

[jg2977]

The Yankees had a good season, but beating the Meraux Tigers proved to be too big an obstacle to overcome.

[Eugene Church]

Originally Posted by jg2977

The Yankees had a good season, but beating the Meraux Tigers proved to be too big an obstacle to overcome.

Yep, Meraux played the Yanks twice and won them both... 9-2 in the opening game of the season... and 5-3 in the last game... tough that New Yerby drew the Tigers for two games.

[Eugene Church]

MY LIFE IN 1957
EC's Lookin' for Heaven in '57

School is out... my junior year at Murphy High School in Mobile is over... looking back on it, it was just another mundane and lackluster year for me... although looking back on it EC could have made it better, if he has just tried to make it better... my high school years are on me... not anybody else... but thank goodness, my basketball team had a good season... we won the YMCA title, but that was easy, not much competition... however, the Mobile Recreation League was a different story... not our usual great season... just a good season... we went 8-1... won our first 8 games... but then played our biggest challenger, the Toulminville Tigers, for the league championship... they were also unbeaten and always tough... it's a game EC's still remembers... we were playing great and had a 42-25 lead with 12 minutes to go... we thought we would play smart basketball and run out the clock... it didn't work... we lost our momentum to score and ended up losing 48-46 on a last-minute jump shot from the top of the circle by Billy Crow... Harvey Creighton, Bert Miller and Sonny Nowell were too good for us that year... my beloved Baltimore Knicks came in second place, after winning our league the past two years... we didn't lose a game either year... it would be 2 years before I would play basketball again... I would have to wait to play in Turkey in the Air Force.

I really missed baseball... my guys again won the City League title for the second straight season... I had moved away from Crawford Playground several years ago and missed out on playing with them... but I think I would have held down third base for them... George Hayes was the shortstop, George Hoyt at second and my best friend Richard Yelverton was in left field... all three of them played on my basketball teams at Baltimore Playground and the Mobile YMCA... the Y team would travel to Columbus, Mississippi and Pensacola, Florida for weekend tournaments... we would finish 4th or 5th out of about 20 teams in double-elimination tournaments... now that was some very good competition... better than what we faced in Mobile... but it made us play better... it is always good to compete against someone better than you.

Richard Yelverton located me in the early 2000's and visited me in New Orleans... it was great to see him again and to meet his wife... we hadn't talk or seen each other since high school in '58... it's a shame we drifted apart... we were close from 1953 to 1958... really good buddies... Richard was kinda rich as a teenager... he had a newspaper route... he always had some money... we often went bowling and to the movies and Richard footed the bill... as an adult he had a fine life working for Georgia Pacific in Tallahassee and had 3 wonderful kids and a nice wife... if you've got a good friend... stay in touch... keep them in your life on a regular basis... don't look back on it like EC does... with regret.

[Eugene Church]

Tuesday, June 18, 1957

SUPREME LEAGUE TITLE ON THE LINE IN SUNDAY PLAYOFF BETWEEN MYSTIC AND DELTA
The Mystic Mariners had almost everything going their way until the final month of the South Island Supreme League season... then the Mariners went into a tailspin and dropped its last 3 games of the year, allowing the Delta Stars to catch them the last weekend of the season... the Stars roared down the stretch with 3 straight victories and caught the Mariners... both clubs wound up with identical 8-4 marks... now the Supreme League title is on the line this Sunday afternoon at Seafarers Stadium in Mystic... the Mariners defeated the Stars 3-2 early in the season and won the homefield advantage in a tiebreaker.

Previous Supreme League champions were the Jackson Jackalopes (7-3) in 1955 and the Pelham Oaks (8-2) in 1956.

[Eugene Church]

MY LIFE IN 2022
EC's Found Heaven in 2022, too
actually it was a Sunday night in July, 1974 in Algiers, Louisiana, across the Mississippi River from New Orleans, that the Lord found me at Calvary Baptist Church... I gave my life to Him that night.... that the greatest gift I ever got... eternal salvation... actually all of my life has been good... life is good today... yep, life is good today... actually EC's life is Heavenly today.

Today is the day the Lord has made... I hope you will rejoice and and be glad in it... celebrate it for His Glory.

God bless all of you.

[Eugene Church]

Monday, June 24, 1957

MYSTIC MARINERS TRIUMPH OVER DELTA STARS IN PLAYOFF... MYSTIC IS 1957 SI SUPREME LEAGUE CHAMP

South Island Supreme League Stars of the Week

[jg2977]

Mystic survived! Must have been an exciting game to watch. Too bad it had to end anti-climactically on a wild pitch.

[Eugene Church]

Originally Posted by jg2977

Mystic survived! Must have been an exciting game to watch. Too bad it had to end anti-climactically on a wild pitch.

Yep, I feel the same way... it seems OOTP does that a little too much.

Having stated that, Markus knows how often something happens in baseball... that's why OOTP is such a great game.

I trust Markus more than I trust myself.

[jg2977]

Originally Posted by Eugene Church

Yep, I feel the same way... it seems OOTP does that a little too much.

Having stated that, Markus knows how often something happens in baseball... that's why OOTP is such a great game.

I trust Markus more than I trust myself.

It definitely does happen...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzEoN_cb1h0

[Eugene Church]

MY LIFE IN 1957
EC's Lookin' for Heaven in '57

Life is pretty good for EC today... EC spent the summer at Harwell Field, the home of the Mobile Bears of the Southern Association... I was a clubhouse boy earning $1 a game... during the game I was the right-field ball boy in the Bears bullpen... so far, the Bears are bad this year... they are last at midseason 32-50 and 16 games behind the leading Memphis Chicks... 20-year-old Gary Bell is the ace... in '57 he was 10-7 with a 3.25 ERA and led the league in strikeouts with 180 in 156 innings... he was sent to San Diego in the Pacific Coast League in 1958, went 6-2 with a 1.56 ERA and was promoted to the Cleveland Indians early in the season... Gary "Ding Dong" Bell was 12-10 for the Indians that year with a 3.31 ERA... at 22 he blossomed to 16-11 with a 4.12 ERA... Bell eventually played 12 seasons in the Majors, finishing up with a 121-117 record and a career 3.68 ERA... Gary is still alive today at age 85... Mobile did play better ball in the second half of the season, winding up in 5th place 11 and a half games behind pennant-winning Atlanta... Mobile signed several career minor leaguers like Jack Baumer, Andy Frazier, Jack Waters, Russ Rowe, along with future major league catcher Dick Brown and turned things around...the Bears were a torrid 43-23 in the second half... not bad at all...the Crackers set a minor league record for the most pennants this year... it was their 17th pennant, topping the Los Angeles Angels of the PCL... the Atlanta Crackers were known as "the Yankees of the minors"... it was a whale of a pennant chase in the Southern Association this year... the Atlanta Crackers won it on the very last day of the season by a half game... Memphis had the lead going into the last day of the season... the Crackers beat the Chattanooga Lookouts 10-2, while the Chickasaws lost 10-0 to the Little Rock Travelers... the Nashville Vols and Chattanooga were also close in the race, both winding up just 3 games or so behind... the Crackers won the playoffs and played the Houston Buffaloes, the Texas League champion in the Dixie Series... the Buffs beat them 4 games to 2 to claim the Double A title.

Another one of my favorite Mobile Bears, Bill Dailey, came back in '57 for the last third of the season... he was demoted from San Diego, where he was 3-6 with a 3.80 ERA... Bell and Dailey were prime reasons the Bears had a good second half... he was 6-2 with a 2.54 ERA in 12 starts... Bill would eventually make the Majors with the Minnesota Twins... Dailey spent almost nine full years in minor league baseball before his recall by the Indians in August 1961... in Dailey's one full Major League season—1963 with the Twins—he appeared in 66 games (second among American League pitchers), compiling a 6–3 record and a 1.99 earned run average... his 21 saves ranked third in the league that season... but he sustained a rotator cuff injury in 1964, and he retired from baseball after the season... Dailey is also still alive at age 87.

In 119 career MLB games pitched, all in relief, Dailey posted a 10–7 won–lost record, 22 saves, and a 2.76 earned run average. In 185 2⁄3 innings pitched, he struck out 109, allowing 162 hits and 59 bases on balls.

Boy, it would be nice to try and visit them on vacation and renew old acquaintances... yep, that would be a good thing to do... I know they would not remember me, but I sure do remember them... they were really nice to EC way back when in the Good Old Golden Days of Baseball.

"Summer's gone and no songbirds are singing
Because you're gone, gone from my arms
Gone from my lips but you're still in my heart"

Paul Anka nailed it in his song "Summer's Gone".
That's how EC felt in September of '57... Labor Day is here... senior year is here at Murphy High School in Mobile... yep, I still have a thing for Margie Pollard, my girl friend from the 8th grade... EC's last happy year... however, Margie has a thing for Jerry Wallace... 'nuff said, it's not likely EC will ride off into the sunset with Margie in his senior year... yep, EC is still drifting and dreaming through life... my senior year will be mundane and the same it has been in my sophomore and junior years... the more things change, the more they stay the same.

[Eugene Church]

I didn't follow the New Orleans Pelicans much in '57... I hadn't lived there for 3-4 years, so I lost touch... it was a tough season for the Pels... the mayor had to raised money to keep the team afloat... the Pelicans finished in the Southern Association cellar.