The Team
MVP (Dave Bourland)
The Team
MVP (Dave Bourland)
My impressions (by Bill Graf):
We arrived at the beautifully manicured field early and were given an hour
to warm up since most of us had not warmed up in over 20 years. I tried
to hit some fungos to the outfielders
-- unsuccessfully at first. My first attempts
were whiffs. Finally, the balls were lofting out there and it was
obvious that we were a little weak at those outfield positions, although
Merrill, Bellows, and Dan Johnson were pretty solid, as long as they
didn't have to run very far. Any ball hit to the
outfield would be an adventure. I took my turn in the
infield spelling 3rd basement McGrew. It was obvious we
were also a little weak at the infield positions. Shortstop Charley Bond
was in good shape having just won a triathlon, but he
had difficulty bending at the waist. Schwar and Mason
looked they could handle 1st base, although both were
panting heavily having just run out there from the dugout. I saw
Lindquist chase down a slow grounder. Any ball hit to the infield would
be an adventure. I fielded a grounder and threw over
to Graves. My arm went with it. Uh oh, no arm. Wally
Ward went down during warm ups and spent the rest of
the day in a wheel chair (Achilles I fear).
We started by lining up on our respective baselines and introducing
ourselves. Then the lines passed each other. We shook hands. Several of
the Pensacolians said things like "Thanks for serving
our country," and, " Thanks for keeping this country
safe." It was an emotional moment. We were up first
and went down 1-2-3. Their first batter sent a foul ball to
Left Field. Bourland lumbered after it. The ball hit the heal of his
glove and bounced in the air. Dave and the ball
continued their relentless movements forward and
toward the ground, until Dave finally grabbed the ball
in his bare hand. The stands, filled with some 40 or 50 wives and
classmates, went wild. We had our first out. Actually, after the first 3
innings we were ahead 2 to 1. Then, the tide turned. They started
hitting. Their terrific shortstop, Jake Woods, who
played for the Detroit Tigers, was banging balls off
the fences. Their infield played like 4 human vacuum
cleaners, scooping up everything we sent at them. We had a few good hits.
Grete singled and signaled for a pinch runner. Bourland, holding his
damaged hamstring, limped out to replace him. Grete,
holding his damaged hamstring, limped back to the
bench throwing kisses to the cheering stands. Schaffer
had some good hits, limping to first base holding his damaged hamstring with
one hand and waving his hat to the crowd with the other. Phillips did his
best to fill in the gaps. He was good! I did not get a chance to show my
patented head first slide because I never got on base. I contributed by
playing a tough 3rd base. In a late inning, Jake Woods turned 2nd and
headed for 3rd. He chose not to slide. It was his
mistake. I took the throw and jammed the glove and
ball (accidentally) hard into his groin. It slowed him
down the rest of the game. I also prevented one guy from scoring by getting
him in a bear hug and headlock. Despite these heroics, Bourland beat me
out for MVP. In addition to being our most
enthusiastic player, Dave stumbled and collapsed on
3rd base. It kind of looked like a head first slide.
After the game, Kenny gave out the trophies. One was an MVP award for the
other team. Afterwards, I went over to congratulate the MVP who was not
their best player, by far, but one who worked very hard and enjoyed it
the most. I put my arm around the old guy and said,
"congratulations." Tears were rolling down his cheeks.
He was crying. Is this a great country or what!