EC's South Island League

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

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

EC is on a losing streak... the last few baseball books have been boring... I only read about half of Baseball: The Early Years by Harold Seymour... much too much about the business of baseball... didn't really enjoy Long Gone, a fictional story about a lifetime minor league player-manager and a rookie second baseman in the Class D Alabama-Florida League in the 1950s... it was too much booze and sex and not enough about baseball... it was written by Paul Hemphill, a country music historian that authored The Nashville Sound and Lovesick Blues: The Story of Hank Williams... Hemphill should stick to writing about country music... Nashville Sound was very good... Hank's story was despressing... he was one of our greatest songwriters ever... sadly he was a drunk at age 12 and stayed that way for the most part of his depressive life... however, when Hank Williams went into the recording studio, he was sober and serious... Thank goodness.

My current book is Only the Ball Was White by Robert Peterson... it's the story of the Negro Leagues and their players... EC didn't enjoy the first third of the book... too much baseball business and not enough about the players... I will read half way... if it doesn't improve by then, I will get me another book.

EC is beginning to think I am getting too hard to please... don't really enjoy current-day movies and TV series... don't enjoy the restaurants in my home town much anymore... EC had gone back to an old standby from high school -- boloney and mayonnaise sandwiches... lately that's my favorite meal... and yep, EC gave up on pop and rock music in the early 80s... and gave up on country music in the early 1990s.

Thank goodness for pop, rock, rhythm and blues, and country Golden Oldies music and OOTP... EC sure would be bored without them.

EC did learn some things from the Negro League book... the caliber of Negro League players... were they equal to the MLB players?... were the teams equal to MLB teams?

"Wit, Quips and Quotes from the Diamond Minds"

Excepts from Only The Ball Was White by Robert Peterson:

There is general agreement that among men who played in the Negro Major Leagues that the level of play on the field was equal to Triple A Baseball, the highest minor leagues in Organized Baseball.

Major League Hall of Famer and 1920s Negro League star third baseman Judy Johnson:
"Not day in and day out, but of course you could have picked enough players then to put a team in each major league -- a whole colored team in each league and they would have been the same caliber as the other big-league teams. The Hillsdale Club that played in the Negro World Series in 1934 would have belonged in Triple A because there were a couple of positions where men would have had to be replaced. We had men in some positions who weren't major-league caliber."

Major League Hall of Famer Buck Leonard, a star Negro League first baseman, whose career spanned the 1930s and 1940s:

"We didn't have star men at every position. We didn't have -- as the majors did -- two good catchers and six or seven good pitchers. We had about four good pitchers and about two or three mediocre pitchers. We also had pitchers that we pitched in a league game and we had pitchers that would pitch against white semi-pro teams. We called them Sockamayocks.

The best team was the Homestead Grays from 1937, 1938, 1939 and 1940. We had another good team in 1945 when the fellas came back from the Army. -- I would say we would have been a good Triple A team for this reason -- we didn't have replacements that the major-league teams had, those fellas I was talking about who weren't first stringers. They might be Class B or C or D ballplayers. Our Sockamayocks might be Class B or D pitchers. And then our second string catcher might be Class B."

[Eugene Church]

Monday, April 24, 1961

NOTHIN' BUT BROOM TIME IN SUPREME LEAGUE... 4 TWINBILL SWEEPS
There were no splits in the South Island Supreme League games this past Sunday... all 4 doubleheaders were sweeps...
standings-wise Meraux and Jackson are still tied for first place with 6-2 marks... in a battle between two co-leading clubs
Meraux disposed of the Mystic Mariners 6-3 and 6-0... Jackson kept pace with the Tigers with twin thrilling wins over the
New Yerby Yankees 11-10 and 7-6... Braxton edged the Zebulon Zips two tense tangles 3-2 and 4-3... and Delta took a
pair from the Grin Hill Smileys 6-1 and 2-0.



What causes this big wide gap?

[Eugene Church]

What causes this big wide gap?

[Eugene Church]

Supreme League First Games of the Doubleheader


What causes this big wide gap?





And this big wide gap?

[Eugene Church]

Does anybody know what is causing the big gaps between each section of the post?

This just started with OOTP24... when I use Print Screen for a screenshot,. which I copy to Paint and upload it to OOTP to post on the Dynasty Forum.

A small gray box appears when I select Print Screen... choices are rectagular mode, free form mode, window mode, full screen and cancel.

Is there some place to change this back to what it was so I can cut it cleanly and get rid of the big white spaces?... is this OOTP, Google or Microsoft doing this?

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

Sorry, these big white gaps are just too much for me.

Hope I can find a way to disable this new print screen mode.

[Eugene Church]

Glory Hallelujah and Lordy Mercy, I did it... I learned how to post screenshots and get rid of those gosh-awful white spaces between screenshots.

I just had to be sure to crop the post before saving it.

Ah, EC is finally at peace again with the world of technology.

[Eugene Church]

MY LIFE IN 2023
EC's is Full of Glee in '23

Yep, I really enjoyed Lovesick Blues - The Life of Hank Williams by Paul Hemphill... like most of the country greats, he did not have a happy life, but Hank sure was talented... he didn't have a great voice and was not a great singer, but he was a great showman... Hank knew how to please an audience... most of all, he was really a great and gifted songwriter... Hank Williams was as good as you could get as a songwriter... right up there with the pop legends and immortals like Irving Berlin, Rogers and Hammerstein, Cole Porter, Jerome Kern and Lerner and Loewe... yep, this hillbilly could rival all of those high-faluting music makers... Hank Williams didn't have any schooling, but he sure wrote some of the greatest songs of all-time, bar none.

Hank Williams' songs were so special because he lived them... they came from his heart and soul... they were true-to-life... they were real.

That's not just my opinion... musical icon Mitch Miller, the head of Columbia Records Pop Division in New York City, recognized Hank Williams' greatness in songwriting... in 1951 Miller played Hank's version of "Cold Cold Heart" for a promising pop crooner named Tony Bennett and told him it was his next record... after hearing the fiddle and steel guitar and Hank's country pronunciations, Bennett told Mitch Miller, "Oh, no. don't make me do cowboy songs." Miller told him, "The words, Tony... just listen to the words"... Miller put a full philharmonic orchestra behind Tony Bennett and his gussied-up pop version of "Cold Cold Heart" rocketed to #1 on the Billboard Pop Charts... Miller did the same thing with "Half As Much" and Rosemary Clooney... yep, it went to #1, too... Columbia's Jo Stafford also scored a #1 with Hank's classic "Jambalaya"... Joni James didn't reach #1 with "Your Cheatin' Heart", but she was very happy to come close with a #2 song.

Sho 'nuff, Hank Williams could write a song... three #1 songs on the pop charts and one #2... not too bad for a little old country songwriter from Alabama... nope, not too bad.

COLD COLD HEART
Another love before my time made your heart sad and blue
And so my heart is paying now for things I didn't do
In anger, unkind words are said that make the teardrops start
Why can't I free your doubtful mind and melt your cold, cold heart?

There was a time when I believed that you belonged to me
But now I know your heart is shackled to a memory
The more I learn to care for you, the more we drift apart
Why can't I free your doubtful mind and melt your cold, cold heart?

HALF AS MUCH
If you missed me half as much as I miss you
You wouldn't stay away half as much as you do
I know that I would never be this blue
If you only loved me half as much as I love you

YOUR CHEATIN' HEART
[Verse 1]
Your cheatin' heart will make you weep
You'll cry and cry and try to sleep
But sleep won't come the whole night through
Your cheatin' heart will tell on you

[Chorus]
When tears come down like falling rain
You'll toss around and call my name
You'll walk the floor the way I do
Your cheatin' heart will tell on you

[Verse 2]
Your cheatin' heart will pine someday
And crave the love you threw away
The time will come when you'll be blue
Your cheatin' heart will tell on you

I'M SO LONESOME I COULD CRY
I've never seen a night so long
When time goes crawling by
The moon just went behind the clouds
To hide its face and cry

The silence of a falling star
Lights up a purple sky
And as I wonder where you are
I'm so lonesome I could cry

THEY'LL NEVER TAKE HER LOVE FROM ME
If today the sun should set on all my hopes and cares
There is one who's smiling face the gods would see
'Cause she'll walk along beside me up the golden stairs
Oh, they'll never, never take her love from me

I CAN'T HELP IT BUT I'M STILL IN LOVE WITH YOU
Today I passed you on the street
And my heart fell at your feet
I can't help it if I'm still in love with you
Somebody else stood by your side
And he looked so satisfied
I can't help it if I'm still in love with you

A picture from the past came slowly stealin'
As I brushed your arm and walked so close to you
Then suddenly I got that old time feelin'
I can't help it if I'm still in love with you

It's hard to know another's lips will kiss you
And hold you just the way I used to do
Oh, Heaven only knows how much I miss you
I can't help it if I'm still in love with you

YOU WIN AGAIN
[Verse 1]
The news is out all over town
That you've been seen a-runnin' 'round
I know that I should leave, but then
I just can't go, you win again

[Verse 2]
This heart of mine could never see
What everybody knew but me
Just trusting you was my great sin
What can I do? You win again

[Verse 3]
I'm sorry for your victim now
'Cause soon his head like mine will bow
He'll give his heart but all in vain
And someday say you win again

[Verse 4]
You have no heart, you have no shame
You take true love and give the blame
I guess that I should not complain
I love you, still you win again

I SAW THE LIGHT
[Verse 1]
I wandered so aimless life filled with sin
I wouldn't let my dear savior in
Then Jesus came like a stranger in the night
Praise the Lord I saw the light

[Chorus]
I saw the light I saw the light
No more darkness no more night
Now I'm so happy no sorrow in sight
Praise the Lord I saw the light

[Verse 2]
Just like a blind man I wandered along
Worries and fears I claimed for my own
Then like the blind man that God gave back his sight
Praise the Lord I saw the light

[Chorus]
I saw the light I saw the light
No more darkness no more night
Now I'm so happy no sorrow in sight
Praise the Lord I saw the light

[Verse 3]
I was a fool to wander and a-stray
Straight is the gate and narrow the way
Now I have traded the wrong for the right
Praise the Lord I saw the light

HOUSE OF GOLD
People steal, they cheat and lie
For wealth and what it will buy
But don't they know on the judgment day
That gold and silver will melt away
I'd rather be in a deep, dark grave
And know that my poor soul was saved
Than to live in this world in a house of gold
And deny my God and doom my soul
What good is gold and silver, too
If your heart's not good and true
Sinner hear me when I say
Fall down on your knees and pray
For I'd rather be in a deep, dark grave
And know that my poor soul was saved
Than to live in this world in a house of gold
And deny my God and doom my soul

[Eugene Church]

Monday, April 24, 1961

BAR HARBOR CAJUNS OPEN UP 2-GAME LEAD IN SOUTH ISLAND SECONDARY LEAGUE
League-leader Bar Harbor and Joliet won both games of the doubleheader in the South Island Secondary League on Sunday afternoon... this gave the Acadians a 2-game margin over runners-up Joliet and Parkland.

Bar Harbor belted the Pelham Oaks twice, 7-4 and 9-3... Joliet swept a pair from the St. Dominic Saints 4-3 and 7-4... Parkland split with the Billings Rams, losing game one 8-2 and copping the nightcap 11-7 in 18 innings... Littleville divided with the Cherrywood Stouts, taking the opener 10-1 and dropping the second game 8-3.