EC's South Island League

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

Second Games of the Doubleheaders

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

MY LIFE IN 2023
EC's Life Is Nothing But Glee in '23
Still enjoying Bill Veeck's book "Veeck As In Wreck"... Veeck was vilified by some major sportswriters for his use of midget Eddie Gaedel in a MLB game... they used terms like "cheap and tawdry", "travesty" and "mockery" to describe the promotion... that was one side of the story, Bill had his side, too... you be the judge.

"Wit, Quips and Quotes from the Diamond Minds"

Excerpts from "Veeck As In Wreck" by Bill Veeck and Ed Linn:

"Dan Daniel, a well-known high priest from New York, wondered what 'Ban Johnson and John J. McGraw are saying about it up there in Baseball's Valhalla', a good example of Dan's lean and graceful style. Non-baseball fans should understand that baseball men do not die and go to heaven or hell when they die; they go to Valhalla where they sit around a hot stove and talk over the good days with Odin, Thor and the rest of that crowd.

To Joe Williams, Daniel's colleague on the New York World-Telegraph, I was "that fellow Veeck out in St. Louis".

"It didn't matter that this made a mockery of the sport or that it exploited a freak of biology in a shameful, disgraceful way, " Williams wrote... What he (Veeck) calls showmanship can more often be accurately identified as vulgarity."

I have never objected to being called vulgar. The word, as I never tire of pointing out to my tireless critics, comes from the Latin vulgaris, which means -- students? -- "the common people". (If you don't believe it, Joe, you can look it up. I am so darn vulgar that I will probably never get into Valhalla, which is shameful because I would love to know what John McGraw would have thought about the promotion. He spent many an evening at my father's house in Chicago telling stories over the dinner table. From what I can remember of McGraw, he would roar with delight about the promotion.

What that fellow Williams in New York didn't seem to realize -- or did he? was that it was he who was gratuitously and publicly calling Eddie Gaedel a freak. Eddie was a professional midget. He made his living by displaying himself, the only way we permit a midget to earn a living by displaying himself, the only way we permit a midget to earn a living in our enlightened society. In more barbaric times, they were able to achieve a certain stature as court jesters. My use of him -- vulgaris as I am -- was the biggest thing that ever happened to him. In the week that followed, I got him bookings that earned him something between $5,000 and $10,000. I kept getting him bookings here and there for the rest of his life.

The next day after the game, Will Harridge, American League President, issued and executive order barring Gaedel from baseball.

Naturally, I was bewildered and alarmed and shocked. "I'm puzzled, baffled and greived by Mr. Harridge's ruling, " I announced. "Why, we're paying a lot of guys on the Browns' roster good money to get on base and even though they don't do it, nobody sympathizes with us. But when this little guy goes up to the plate and draws a walk on his only time at bat, they it "conduct detrimental to baseball".

If baseball wanted to discriminate against the little people, I said, why didn't we have the courage to be honest about it, write a minimum height into the rules and submit ourselves to the wrath of all right-thinking Americans. "I think", I said, "that further clarification is called for. Should the height of a player be 3 feet 6 inches, 4 feet 6 inches, 6 feet 6 inches, or 9 feet 6 inches?" Now that midgets had been so arbitrarily barred, I asked, were we to assume that giants were also barred? I made dark references to the stature of Phil Rizzuto, who is not much over 5 feet tall, and I implied very strongly that I was going to demand an official ruling on whether he was a short ballplayer or a tall midget."

Yep, EC is enjoying Bill Veeck's book.

[Eugene Church]

Yep, Bill Veech looks for loopholes in the league rules... yep, he could be a pest... yep, Bill would sometimes go too far... but he knew baseball as good as anyone... he won pennants and a World Series... and he entertained the fans with good food and good times... people came to see his teams play.

[Eugene Church]

Monday, May 29, 1961

JACKSON STILL ON TOP IN SECONDARY LEAGUE, PELHAM 2 GAMES BEHIND
The best teams in the South Island Secondary League clashed yesterday afternoon in Joliet and split the doubleheader... the Jackson Jackalopes are still in first place and the Pelham Oaks are in second place, sitting 2 games off the pace in the pennant chase.

The Jacks won the opening game 7-2, but fell in the nightcap to the Oaks 4-3... 4 teams are logjammed in third place... Cherrywood took a pair of squeakers from hapless Bar Harbor 1-0 and 5-4, expanding the Acadians' losing string to 10 games... Littleville and Parkland divided the twinbill... the Supermen triumphed 3-1 in the first game and the Perfectos were victorious in game two 7-2... St. Dominic trimmed the Billings Rams 5-3 in the opening game and the Rams rapped the Saints in the second contest 7-3.

[Eugene Church]

First Games of the Doubleheaders

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

Second Games of the Doubleheaders

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

MY LIFE IN 2023
EC's Life Is Nothing But Glee in '23
Glory Hallelujah, EC is really blessed... I would like to go on record as thanking profusely the Being that is in charge of the universe and all of creation... personally, I am convinced it's the God of the Bible... you are welcome to your own views... each of us has been created with free will... we can choose for ourselves.

Yep, EC's life is good... after 21 years of retirement, I'm back on the radio... been on for about 5 or 6 weeks, playing Southern Gospel and Christian Country music... I'm lovin' every minute of it... it's only once a week for one hour, but I'm enjoying the heck out of it... send me a private message if you would like to tune it in on Sundays at 1 o'clock central daylight time and I will send you an internet link to the station that airs it.

Why such joy and jubilation?
Most of all, I am in good health for 83 years old... no major problems -- yet -- but sooner or later they will come -- very few people avoid the trials and tribulation of health problems... one of my prayers each day is that I avoid these problems... EC wants to go to bed one night and wake up in Heaven tomorrow... yep, that would be nice... that's the way my Mama passed away... she just slowly went to sleep and died peacefully 30 hours later... it was a great way to go.

EC still goes to 4 nursing homes and plays music for the residents... I have a great PA sound system and over 8500 songs... I think folks in nursing homes are some of the most neglected people in our society... they are starved for contact with people... I don't do much... just play music for them for 2 hours twice a month... and they love it... and I do, too... they think EC is really something special... and yet it's them that are special... all of them are not in good health... how they can smile sitting in wheelchairs is something to behold... it might be hard for me to smile should I be in their condition... for two hours I take them back to their teen years and play all the great old golden oldies of their lives... I get them to clap and sing... to tap their toes to the music... and we even dance... they are almost all in a wheel chair... I take their hands and we dance with our hands... some of them will dance with their feet, too... just a very few can get up and dance on their feet... we become teenagers again dancing at the high school sock hops that THEY used to go to after football or basketball games... sadly, as you all know, EC never had the courage to go to my high school sock hops or proms... yep, I missed out way back when... but I am making up for lost time now swinging and swaying and rockin' and bopping' at the nursing homes... no, I never learned to dance, I just move to the music and fake it... they think I can dance, but I really can't... we did the Watusi and the Twist yesterday... also danced to the Boot Scootin' Boogie.

Of course, I dearly love OOTP baseball... it is another of the great joys of my life... my leagues are going well, despite my recent playoff problem with the Islandian Pro Alliance... the game doesn't seem to be in the playoff mode... the OOTP Development Team is looking at it for me to see if they can fix it... they are great folks to do this.

Yep, EC's life is full of glee in '23... now if I can just go to sleep one night and wake up in Heaven.

In closing, it is my prayer that you will be blessed with a lots of blue skies and green lights in your own life... that you will love on somebody today and help them in some small way... and in some big ways, too... just ask for help from the Great Creator.

[Eugene Church]

Monday, June 5, 1961

DELTA TIES JACKSON WITH TWIN WINS SUNDAY, JACKS SPLIT WITH SMILEYS
The Delta Stars took a pair Sunday from the Mystiic Mariners, while the Jackson Jackalopes were spliting two with the Grin Hill Smileys... at the end of the day, the Stars and Jacks
are tied for the top spot in the South Island Supreme League... clinging close by are the third place Meraux Tigers, who swept the fourth place Braxton Bruins.

Here are the weekend scores: Delta stopped Mystic 6-2 and 5-4, while Jackson nipped Grin Hill 1-0 in game one, then lost to the Smileys 6-4... Meraux took two big games from
Braxton, winning the opener 2-0 and the nightcap 8-4... Zebulon and New Yerby traded victories... the Zips nudged out the Yanks 7-6 in the first game and lost in the second game 6-4.

[Eugene Church]

First Games of the Doubleheaders