Walk-Offf Win in Home Opener!

There is nothing more exciting in baseball than to have a walk-off win and the Magnolia 15's did this in their first game together. A wonderful start to the season with a 2-1 victory over FM Sports.

This game was won with great pitching, fairly solid defense and timely clutch hitting.

Stuart Fairchild pitched a tough, gutty three innings. FM Sports had some very pesky hitters and put Stuart in trouble in each of his innings, loading the bases twice. Each time he was in trouble, Stuart reached down for something extra and worked his way out of three jams.

Russell Madche was impressive as well yielding just one unearned run in his three innings. Russel displayed poise and strength and turned the ball over to Riley Duffy who pitched a scoreless seventh.

Offensively both Ethan Clements and Spencer Hogger had two hits, Spencer included a double over the center fielder's head. Nick Reeves had a clutch single to deliver MBC's first run and the BIG hit of the night came off the bat of David Becker.

Ethan Clements started the seventh off with a picture perfect line drive to left. After moving to second on a passed ball he was replaced by the speedy Alex Mitchell. David Becker then launched a ball into the right field gap, and Alex (with an inhuman jump) raced around to just barely slid home with the winning run.

Trade With House of David** Brings New Player to MBC

MBC traded a future draft pic and a player to be named later for Adam Hinthorne. Adam is the bearded fellow on the right in the top picture. Adam currently attends Lakeside High School and is a teammate of current rosteree David (no relation) Becker. Adam is a catcher, and plays other spots. The addition of Adam finally gives the MBC 15 year old team two viable (want to be there)catchers. This was a huge trade for MBC and has brightened our future.

Please extend a hearty welcome to Adam and note that one of the conditions of his coming on board is shaving the monstrous beard and getting a decent haircut.


PS I tried to get the dog in the trade and the House of David (HoD) had agreed in principal to the deal before they found out that Riley Duffy had a broken wrist. Once that cat was out of the bag the HoD refused to part with the dog for Riley.


**Known the world over for their famous bearded baseball teams, the House of David was something America and the rest of the world had never seen the likes of before. These men traveled the country with their long hair and beards, heavy wool uniforms, and a truck full of laughter and talent. They went down in history for entertaining America with their uniqueness on the field, their absolute superb playing ability, their own invention of the Pepper Game, and their ability to break the color barrier as they traveled many years with the Negro League teams. You see, these bearded baseball players from Benton Harbor, Michigan were something very special.

The very first teams were made up of strictly members of the famous House of David religious colony, who lived a communal life, a life of Christianity, vegetarianism, celibacy, and love for mankind. But they had to find something to do with a lot of extra energy, so they set out to play the game of baseball. Starting in 1914, they began to take on outside teams, and soon found out that they were better than most that they encountered, so they went outside even the local teams, playing the best talents of the State of Michigan, and then eventually by 1917 taking on talented teams around the country. They continued their winning ways, and began to be invited to play better and better teams across America, until they were actually playing semi-pro and pro teams everywhere. They actually beat over 70% of the teams they played year after year, and were invited to play so many teams around the country, (even into Mexico and Canada), that they had to soon build up a second, third, fourth and even fifth traveling team to fill in all of the demand.

So it goes that by the early 1930's, there were House of David teams scattered around the country, taking on anyone and everyone who wanted to play, beating most, and leaving the stadiums full of laughter and amazement everywhere they stopped. Almost anyone we have interviewed over the past 10+ years that remembered the House of David teams told us that it was the most amazing group of baseball players they had ever seen, and absolutely the most unique! We have had experts in Negro League Baseball spend literally days studying the House of David Museum files, only to tell us that they have been told by the old Negro League Players that the House of David Teams were to be given credit for breaking the color barrier that kept them out of the Major Leagues during those same years.

News Around the League

Coach Cougan was a traveling man yesterday. He drove out to Bellevue and watched the amazing MBC freshmen of Odea at Newport High School. He saw Nick hit a deep drive to right center (which was caught) to lead off the game. Three batters later Ethan slapped a sharp single to drive in a run. Quin flew out to right and later walked. Nick hit a sharp single his second time up.

I then drove over to Bannerwood to see Spencer playing VARSITY (!) third base for Bainbridge Island against Eastside Catholic. Spencer had two hits while I was there and had yet to wet his pants (or at least not so you could see from the stands).

I was pround of all of you guys and the hustle and determination you brought to the game. Just one thing though,and I hope I am not asking too much. When I am there, and watching you play could you AT LEAST do that Sammy Sosa thing when you get a hit or do something good. You know, do a little hand movement thingee, kiss your fingers and point to me in the stands.

It is Now a Giant Hardware Store

Years and years ago, in the old black and white days, Seattle had a wonderful old baseball stadium. It was called Sicks Seattle Stadium. That is Rainier Avenue to the right and Martin Luther King (Empire Way in those days) Way to the left. It was located in the Rainier Valley about midway from Dearborn and Columbia City.

I was lucky to attend games there (season ticket holder for the Rainier’s in the early 70's) and even more lucky to actually get to play there. For my sophomore and junior years at Seattle U this was home.

It was pretty run down then, but hey, it was still a big league park to us. The drinking fountain in the dugout was horrible (see the scene in THE NATURAL where Pop tries to take a drink), but they were real "dug"outs and there was a locker room and bathroom available up the ramp. The outfield walls were big and tall and had old signs on them. Our crowds were small, parents and girlfriends and wives all sitting in fold up chairs. My brother still has a wonderful picture he took of his wife Patti, sitting alone amid the scattered chairs just as the sun is setting and the lights were coming on. As you can just imagine, you got a little pumped up every time you came to that glorious palace to play a game.

I wish the picture*(that I have stolen from Dave Eskenazi and Steve Rudman's Wayback feature on sportspressnw.com) was a more full shot. I wish it showed more of the left field corner. As a young player I had many faults, none greater than my impatience at the plate. In a round field I would have made the big leagues as most of my best hits were on the wrong side of the left field line. Against Gonzaga my sophomore year (with the bases loaded and two outs in the ninth) I hit a ball OUT of Sicks Stadium, over the fence, over the bleachers and saw it bounce on Empire Way and attack the apartments....just foul. Maybe Carlton Fisk could have kept it fair, but my ball wouldn't listen no matter how hard I waved my hands. On the next pitch I swung five times on a change-up to end the game.

Link to Wayback archive at sportspressnw.com:
http://sportspressnw.com/author/daveeskenazi/


* Postscript. After asking Dave's permission for the post (thanks Dave) Dave provided a better picture of Sicks Stadium (taken during a Pilot game) that shows the true magnitude of my my blast. And now that I have a picture, I guess my memory of the ball hitting the apartments has been proven WRONG (but what are memories for), but it did bounce in the street, just between the light pole and the foul pole!

March Madness

I sent an email out this morning. I am having a March Madness Limited Pool contest. The picture above is from the size large Ebbets Field Flannel's T-shirt that we are competing for.

The rules are simple. Pick 16 teams. You get a point for each game they win. You MUST pick one of every seed #. That means you pick one #1, one #2 all the way to a seed #16. Email your picks by tomorrow.

AND... if you have never been to Ebbets Field Flannels, you should go sometime. Real cool old time baseball jersey, jackets, tee shirts and hats. They also have old hockey and old football gear. They have a web presence www.ebbets.com that you can go to and look at stuff. There is typically some history involved when you look at an item.

Speaking of history, and speaking of reading - both BIG things for old Coach Cougan, I just finished the new Mickey Mantle biography, a sad tale and am currently reading a memoir of Carl Erskine's. I BETTER not have to tell you who Mickey Mantle is, and Carl Erskine was a standout pitcher for the Brooklyn Dodgers (and stayed with them when they ran off to LA). Here is a GREAT quote from Carl on how he pitched Stan the Man.

"I've had a pretty good success facing Stan (Musial) by throwing him my best pitch and backing up third base."

The Mantle book is on my kindle, but the Erskine memoir is a real book and is open to loan to any avid readers out there. And Carl Erskine ACTUALLY has a web site - www.carlerskine.com

Doors closing at McNeil Island prison after 135 years

Coach Cougan likes to tell people that he spent 30 days locked up at McNeil Island in the late 70's. I like to tell the story just for shock value. It is true, I spent time at McNeil Island.

I played semi-pro ball during the summers then and McNeil Island was in our league. They played all their games at home (obviously) and it was a weird experience going there. Their teams were tough (duh) and they had some pretty good ball players. The entire place smelled like one giant ashtray.

After a hit and you were standing on a base, if you had the courage (I have always been a yapper) you would ask the first baseman, or second basemen etc what he was in for. They ALWAYS looked you right in the eye and said "murder". I was the catcher and the scariest moment I ever experience was when our pitcher hit a batter. He got so nervous after that he hit the next guy.... and then two more! As the guy who has to protect my pitcher, I was sweating bullets, but other than more cursing (and vile words and evil threats) nothing came of the matter.

We always drew a pretty good crowd, what else was there to do. The thing that struck me the oddest was that in the stands, all the white guys sat together, all the Hispanics sat together and likewise all the African Americans. The crowd was always for us, and derided the home team. It goes without saying that depending on race, two of the three sections hooted and made fun of anyone who made an error or an out.

Security wise, we were searched on the way in AND out. We were not allowed any gum (jambed the locks) or anything that could be construed as a weapon or turned into a weapon. The oddest part of the security was that behind the dugout there was a bathroom. The bathroom consisted of a toilet (just like every other toilet in the world) with the only difference being that it was just out there in space. No walls, no screens.....just a toilet in the middle of the yard, with a crowd of people in the bleachers. Needless to say it was not something one looked forward to using.

The wildest game and time on the island came after a game that went late. We missed the scheduled boat and were invited to eat dinner in the prison mess hall. The food was very bland, the company was chilling and I felt like I was in a James Cagney movie.

Man About Town

Coach Cougan was a man about town last night. I won't name names, or even give out initials, but I was stunned to see one our players out past curfew dining in West Seattle. It was kind of awkward, and I could tell the un-named player was hesitant to notice me. He was running with a fast crowd and it made me wonder whether he was making good choices in life. It looked like, well I don't want to call it a gang, but it was a pretty tight group and there was some social order going on. There was one bright looking kid who was younger than the player, but the other two people with him were older, and seemed to have a pretty strong influence over him. I guess it is just best to see how this develops.

Anyway, I won't name this left handed outfielder that goes to O'dea and lives in West Seattle because he is new to the team. I still think there is a chance that he can straighten his life out. But goodness, as the photo suggest, maybe the first thing is to learn how to eat and use utensils.

I was pleased to see him start with a salad, but then it really hit me.....what kind a guy has a salad, and then doesn't put the lettuce and tomato on his burger?????? And we were sitting so close...do you think he would offer his coach some fries???????