EC's South Island League

[Eugene Church]

MY LIFE IN 2023
EC's Life's Is Filled with Glee in '23

"Wit, Quips and Quotes from the Diamond Minds"

Yep, EC thinks Ichiro Suzuki is more than just a great ballplayer... Ichiro is a heck of a human being, too.
The following story is taken from Joe Posnanski's book "The Baseball 100"... his list of the 100 greatest baseball players.
Posnanski also wrote the book "The Soul of Baseball"... he spent a year traveling with Buck O'Neil around the country... O'Neil was a fine Negro League first baseman and Kansas City Monarchs manager... he was featured in Ken Burns' Baseball documentary and won the hearts of all of us with his commentary and stories about the Negro Leagues... Posnanski went to all of Buck's promotional events for the whole year and came to know and love him.

Buck O'Neal was elected to the MLB National Baseball Hall of Fame, sadly after his death.

Posnanski is a former Kansas City Star and Sports Illustrated sportswriter, who lives in Kansas City, the home of the Negro Leagues Hall of Fame... Ichiro contacted him and asked if he would show him around the Negro Hall of Fame... though he didn't really know Ichiro, Posnanski agreed to do it... Joe said it was one of the best days of his life spending it with Ichiro... he was enthralled with all the wonderful stories Ichiro shared with him from his life.

From Posnanski's "The Baseball 100":

"One day after Buck O'Neil died, there was an enormous bouquet of flowers delivered anonymously to the Negro Leagues Baseball Hall of Fame in Buck's honor.
Word got out that Ichiro sent the flowers... Ichiro had never met Buck O'Neil... never spoke to him... but he admired him.
Ichiro told people at the museum, "Buck was a man of honor".

On the tour that day with Posnanski, Ichiro was mezmerized by Negro League history, particularly the section that showed a barnstorming team of Negro Leaguers coming to Japan decades before Babe Ruth's famous tour in 1934... Negro stars had gone to play the Japanese players years before the MLB stars did.

As Ichiro and Joe walked around the Negro Museum that day, he didn't say much at all... but he did pay special attention to the photos... he looked into the faces of these men who played ball, who hit home runs, who pitched strikeouts, who stole bases, who made diving catches and brilliant throws, but were never allowed to play in the Major Leagues... they were disregarded and ignored and dismissed for years.

At the end of the tour that day, Ichiro quietly wrote the largest check any player has ever written to the Negro Leagues Hall of Fame".

[Clovidequano Dovatha]

Deleted.

[Eugene Church]

Originally Posted by Clovidequano Dovatha

Should be Buck O'Neill, I think, not Buck O'Neal. Could be wrong about that, of course, though. CD out.

Thanks, CD... it's Buck O'Neil.

[Clovidequano Dovatha]

Deleted.

[Eugene Church]

MY LIFE IN 2023
EC's Life's Is Filled with Glee in '23

"Wit, Quips and Quotes from the Diamond Minds"

Yep, EC thinks Ichiro Suzuki is more than just a great ballplayer... Ichiro is a heck of a human being, too.
The following story is taken from Joe Posnanski's book "The Baseball 100"... his list of the 100 greatest baseball players.
Posnanski also wrote the book "The Soul of Baseball"... he spent a year traveling with Buck O'Neil around the country... O'Neil was a fine Negro League first baseman and Kansas City Monarchs manager... he was featured in Ken Burns' Baseball documentary and won the hearts of all of us with his commentary and stories about the Negro Leagues... Posnanski went to all of Buck's promotional events for the whole year and came to know and love him.

Buck O'Neal was elected to the MLB National Baseball Hall of Fame, sadly after his death.

Posnanski is a former Kansas City Star and Sports Illustrated sportswriter, who lives in Kansas City, the home of the Negro Leagues Hall of Fame... Ichiro contacted him and asked if he would show him around the Negro Hall of Fame... though he didn't really know Ichiro, Posnanski agreed to do it... Joe said it was one of the best days of his life spending it with Ichiro... he was enthralled with all the wonderful stories Ichiro shared with him from his life.

From Posnanski's "The Baseball 100":

"One day after Buck O'Neil died, there was an enormous bouquet of flowers delivered anonymously to the Negro Leagues Baseball Hall of Fame in Buck's honor.
Word got out that Ichiro sent the flowers... Ichiro had never met Buck O'Neil... never spoke to him... but he admired him.
Ichiro told people at the museum, "Buck was a man of honor".

On the tour that day with Posnanski, Ichiro was mesmerized by Negro League history, particularly the section that showed a barnstorming team of Negro Leaguers coming to Japan decades before Babe Ruth's famous tour in 1934... Negro stars had gone to play the Japanese players years before the MLB stars did.

As Ichiro and Joe walked around the Negro Museum that day, he didn't say much at all... but he did pay special attention to the photos... he looked into the faces of these men who played ball, who hit home runs, who pitched strikeouts, who stole bases, who made diving catches and brilliant throws, but were never allowed to play in the Major Leagues... they were disregarded and ignored and dismissed for years.

At the end of the tour that day, Ichiro quietly wrote the largest check any player has ever written to the Negro Leagues Hall of Fame".

[Eugene Church]

Monday, April 25, 1960

UNBEATEN NY YANKS SANK MYSTIC MARINERS SUNDAY FOR 4TH STRAIGHT WIN
The New Yerby Yankees are picking up where they left off last year... the Yanks are still on top of the South Island Supreme League
and looking to win their second successive league crown... but it's still a long way to go... the Delta Stars are waiting in the wings and
just one game behind.... New Yerby outgunned Mystic 11-6 Sunday... other league results were Delta over Jackson 5-1... Zebulon edged
Bar Harbor 4-3 and Meraux continued Braxton's misery 9-2... the newcomers from the Secondary League have fallen all 4 times so far
and have yet to register a victory.

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

MY LIFE IN 2023
EC's Life's Is Filled with Glee in '23

"Wit, Quips and Quotes from the Diamond Minds"

Monte Irvin came to the New York Giants in 1951 past his prime at age 32 with a banged-up knee... he played left field and first base and led the Giants to the NL pennant and World Series... in his heyday Irvin had once played center field like dream... 1951 was the year of Bobby Thomson's historic homer that beat the Dodgers... "The Shot Heard Around The World"... Irwin batted .312 with double-digit doubles, triples, homers and stolen bases... the only other MLB players that did this this year were Milwaukee rookie Sam Jethroe and Chicago's Minnie Minoso, two Negro players... Irvin led the NL with 121 RBIs... MLB scouts in the late 30s rated his skills as the "next Joe DiMaggio"... Irvin was bitter about what could have been... he couldn't ever quite leave the bitterness behind... his friend Buck O'Neil had defeated the bitterness.

Here's story from Joe Posnanski's "The Baseball 100".

"Buck had defeated the bitterness. He had turned the pain of this into joy. He called his autobiography "I Was Right On Time". He believed that the life he spent playing and managing in the Negro Leagues and celebrating the Negro Leagues was the best life he could have lived. When asked how hard it was to have to stay at blacks-only hotels, he talked about how much better the food was. When people asked him how sad he was that he didn't get to face Bob Feller and play with Joe DiMaggio, he talked about he did get to face Satchel Paige and play with Josh Gibson."

Buck O'Neil often said, "The people I feel sorry for were the ones that didn't see us play"... He said it was easier to let his bitterness go because he wasn't half the ballplayer Monte Irvin was.

Yep, Buck is one of EC's favorite people... he never saw a cloudy day in his life... nothing but sunshine... wish EC could be more like Buck.

[Eugene Church]

Monday, April 25, 1960

LITTLEVILLE FALLS TO GRIN HILL... SUPERMEN, SMILEYS AND STOUTS ARE IN A 3-WAY TIE IN SECONDARY LEAGUE
After 4 weekends of play in the South Island Secondary League Littleville, Grin Hill and Cherrywood are deadlocked for first place...
Grin Hill was the troublemaker... the Smileys ended Littleville's perfect season with a 3-1 victory, while the Stouts were taking care
of the Billings Rams 8-1... in the other two contests Joliet upended the Pelham Oaks 6-3 for their first win this season and Parkland
blanked the St. Dominic Saints 9-0.

Littleville, Grin Hill and Cherrywood share the league lead with 3-1 marks.

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

MY LIFE IN 2023
EC's Life's Is Filled with Glee in '23

EC read about "The Big Cat" this morning... that's Hall-of-Famer Johnny Mize of St. Louis Cardinals and New York Yankees fame... I discovered a fascinating fact and thought I would share it.

"Quips and Quotes from the Diamond Minds"

From Joe Posnanski's "The Baseball 100"

"How good a hitter was Johnny Mize? He was Lou Gehrig good, Stan Musial good, Mel Ott good, Frank Robinson good, Joe DiMaggio good. Albert Pujols good. There is only one player in baseball history, just one, who hit more than 50 homers and struck out less than 50 times in a single season. That was Johnny Mize in 1947.

And he did that as a 34-year-old, who had come back from the war."

Mize hit 50 homers and only struck out 42 times in 1947... he batted .302 with 128 runs scored and 137 RBIs, topping the National League in HRs, Runs and RBIs.
He finished third in the MVP voting... Mize wound up second twice in the MVP poll in his career... if the Cards had won the pennant those seasons, he would have won the MVP awards... instead Cincinnati pitcher Bucky Walters and first baseman Frank McCormick won those years, 1939 and 1940... the Reds were the NL champion those seasons.

[Eugene Church]

Monday, May 2, 1960

UNBEATEN YANKS ON TOP OF SUPREME LEAGUE, LEAD STARS BY ONE GAME
Last year's Supreme League champion is playing better than ever... the New Yerby Yankees have blitzed through the first 5 weekends
of the season without a loss... the Yanks thumped the Zebulon Zips 7-1 yesterday afternoon... the Delta Stars also won their game,
trimming the Bar Harbor Acadians 4-1... the Stars are one game off the pace... Meraux outscored the Mystic Mariners 13-12... and
Braxton finally registered a victory in the South Island Supreme League, stopping the Jackson Jackalopes 6-4.

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]