EC's South Island League

[Eugene Church]

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[Eugene Church]

Monday, April 10, 1961

BAR HARBOR AND PELHAM UNBEATEN IN 4 GAMES IN SECONDARY LEAGUE
The teams with the better pitchers are thriving in the South Island Secondary League after the first two weekends of play... the Bar Harbor Acadians and the Pelham Oaks are the class of the league with 4 successive victories... and it's good pitching that it getting them there at the top of the standings... thus far, the Acadians and the Oaks are doing it all... pitching, hitting and fielding.

Bar Harbor is the new kid on the block... the Cajuns were in the Supreme League their first 6 seasons, but they fell on hard times last year, slipped to 4-10 and last place and got demoted to the lesser league, the Secondary League... so far they have gotten outstanding pitching... this past weekend the Acadians totally shut down the Cherrywood Stouts, one of the better offenses in the league... Bar Harbor swept both games 7-0 and 5-1... Pelham got strong pitching in the first game of their twinbill with the Joliet Green Giants, winning 7-1... however, the Oaks used their bats in the nightcap, crushing the Green Giants 21-6... the St. Dominic Saints also won both ends of the doubleheader with Billings... they nipped the Rams 7-6 in the opener and demolished them 17-2 in the second game... Littleville and Parkland split a pair... the Supermen slammed the Perfectos 18-7 in game one, but dropped the nip-and-tuck nightcap 6-5.

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

MY LIFE IN 1961
EC's Havin' Fun in '61

Yep, for the most part, EC's life is pretty darn good in 1961... baseball is great with Mantle and Maris and the home-run chase... music is great ... and the movies are fairly good... and most of all, EC is back home with Mama and out of the Air Force, living in New Orleans and getting ready to go to my first year of college in September... and yep, EC is still a social recluse... it is still a lonely life for EC.

Just look at the top 25 songs of 1961... some really great songs.

[Eugene Church]

Monday, April 17, 1961

MERAUX, MYSTIC AND JACKSON DEADLOCKED FOR 1ST PLACE IN SUPREME LEAGUE
3 clubs are jammed tight in the South Island Supreme League at the top of the standings... the Meraux Tigers, Mystic Mariners and
Jackson Jackalopes are all 4-2 after Sunday's action... the Tigers took care of the Braxton Bruins twice, winning 6-2 and 4-3...
the Mariners won two the hard way over the Delta Stars, 9-5 and 7-5... it took 7-run innings in both games to do it... Jackson split with
the Grin Hill Smileys, dropping the opener 8-3 and the coming back in game two to win 9-3... New Yerby and Zebulon each one won a
game... the Yanks the first one 10-8 and the Zips the nightcap 8-4.

[Eugene Church]

Supreme League First Game of the Doubleheader

[Eugene Church]

Supreme League 2nd Game of the Doubleheader

[Eugene Church]

MY LIFE IN 1961
Yep, EC's Is Havin' Some Fun in '61

Yep, it was good year for baseball, featuring a home run race between two Yankees, Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle... both were chasing Babe Ruth's magical number 60 that year... Maris set a new record with 61 homers in 1961... Mantle fell short with 54... New York set a new MLB record with 240 roundtrippers... the Yankees won the pennant by 8 games over the Detroit Tigers... Cincinnati captured the National League title, finishing 4 games better than the Los Angeles Dodgers.

In the 1961 World Series it was the Yanks led by Roger Maris, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Bill Skowron, Elston Howard and Whitey Ford, challenged by the Reds, featuring Frank Robinson, Gordy Coleman, Gene Freese, Wally Post, Joey Jay, Jim O'Toole and Bob Purkey.

Cincy first baseman Gordy Coleman was one of my favorite Mobile Bears in the Southern Association... he starred with the Bears in 1956, then spent 2 years in the military... back in Mobile in 1959 he won the triple crown in the Southern Association (30 homers, 110 RBIs and a .353 BA)... Coleman was promoted to Cincinnati in 1960.

Cincy was managed by Freddie Hutchinson and New York by Ralph Houk... the Yankees won the World Series in 5 games.

Game One at Yankee Stadium:
Whitey Ford blanked Cincinnati 2-0 on 2 hits, outpitching Jim O'Toole... Elston Howard and Bill Skowron homered.

Game Two at Yankee Stadium:
Superb pitching by Joey Jay enabled the Reds to even the Series at one game apiece... Jay stopped sthe Yankees 6-2 on 4 hits... Ralph Terry was the losing pitcher... Gordy Coleman homered for Cincy and Yogi Berra for the Yanks.

Game Three at Crosley Field:
New York won a 3-2 thriller on a home run by Roger Maris in the top of the 9th to go up 2-1 in the Series... he only got 2 hits in the series... this was a duel between young Bill Stafford and Bob Purkey... the Yankees got lucky in the 7th to tie score... neither Frank Robinson in right field and second baseman Elio Chacon could handle a blooper by Yogi Berra... they collided and Tony Kubek scored.

Game Four at Crosley Field:
The Yankees really took command of the Series with a 3-1 lead in games... it was in this game that Ford broke Babe Ruth's scoreless innings mark in the World Series... Ruth held the record with 29 and two-thirds scoreless innings... Ford only worked 5 innings, running the record to 32 consecutive scoreless innings... New York shut Cincinnati out 7-0... Ford hurt his ankle and was replaced by Jim Coates in the 6th frame and he blanked the Reds the rest of the way.

Game Five at Crosley Field:
The sputtering Yankee offense finally came alive in fifth game of the Series... they had been held in check by the Cincinnati staff in the first three games... even without the injured Berra and Mantle, New York busted loose and boomed 15 hits and routed Cincy 13-5... subs Hector Lopez and Johnny Blanchard came through for the Yankees... both homered... Lopez drove in 5 runs, Bill Skowron 3 and Blanchard 2... this was New York's 19th World Series title in 39 years.

Ralph Houk was only the third rookie skipper to win the World Series... in 1924 Bucky Harris led the Washington Senators to the World Series crown as a 26-year-old player-manager... in 1946 Eddy Dyer and the St. Louis Cardinals won an epic World Series with the Boston Red Sox in 7 games, decided by Enos Slaughter scoring from first base on a single.

[Eugene Church]

Monday, April 17, 1961

CAJUNS AND OAKS FALL FROM UNBEATENS... BAR HARBOR SURGES TO TOP OF SECONDARY LEAGUE
Both of the unbeaten first place teams in the South Island Secondary League lost for the first time this season... but Bar Harbor only lost once, while Pelham dropped both ends
of the doubleheader this weekend... this means the Cajuns are all alone in the top spot with a 5-1 mark... the Oaks are tied with the Parkland Perfectos for the runner-up spot with
4-2 marks.

Bar Harbor divided a pair of games with the Littleville Supermen... the Acadians fell in the opener 6-4, but took the second game 9-2... Parkland whipped the Pelham Oaks twice
Sunday with some solid pitching... the Perfectos prevailed 7-1 in game one and nipped the Oaks 2-1 in the nightcap... the 4th-place clubs divided doubleheaders this past weekend...
St. Dominic lost to the Cherrywood Stouts 4-0 in the opener and captured the second one 7-5... and Joliet was beaten in the first game 4-3 by the Billings Rams, but the Green Giants
came back in the second one, winning 7-2.

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]