Opening Weekend; And Wouldn't You Know it, it is Poetry Month!

A poem to inspire you prior to Opening Weekend:

Making an Effort

Our so-called limitations,believe,
apply to faculties we don't apply.
We don't discover what we can't achieve
until we make an effort not to try.

Piet Hein


Let us play inspired baseball this weekend. Let's put our tongues out, hustle, give it absolute all and have a bucketful of fun.

First Game Results - Optimism Abounds

The Magnolia 13's had their first action Saturday April 9 and a lot of good things happened. This team has a bunch of strike throwing pitchers - a plus. This team puts the ball in play - a plus. This team has some power - a plus. This team has the ABILITY to play good defense - will be a plus. This team can run - a plus.

I liked what I saw. The best thing I saw during the practice game was us making some very good mistakes. I believe it is best to make mistakes early. There is NO better way to learn than through making mistakes and making them early.

Things we learned yesterday:
1. It is VERY IMPORTANT to keep your eye on the ball while on base. Signals need to be taken from the safety of the bag (but it is good that we are actually looking for signals). Eyes on the ball before and during leads - always a plus. And we stay on the ball even when the other team is doing something routine, like throwing the ball back to the pitcher

2. The game is a little faster this year. When the other team bunts we need to jump on the ball and act fast. OUR CATCHERS NEED TO YELL WHERE THE PLAY IS. Middle infielders may need to cheat in bunt situations for coverage issues. Everyone must MOVE, and move fast, when a batter squares around to bunt.

Things we maybe didn't learn so much that Coach Cougan will be talking about at the next practice:

1. Flyballs in the air need to be caught IN THE AIR by outfielders. They are outs when caught, they are hits when they land. We are trying to get outs, ASAP!

2. Different players come in different sizes. Outfielders need to start acting on their own when they see six foot batters come up versus 4 foot players. Think for your selves, try to impress me with what you know.

3. The game of baseball is played on our feet. Bad things happen when we go to our knees. On dives we land on our chest, we do not drop to our knees.

4. Another player's bad throw (and we are 13 we will uncork bad throws) become a fielding opportunity for the recipient of the throw. Stop the mistake at your end. Move to the ball, stop the ball, stop the resultant mayhem associated with a bad throw.

But all in all, I was impressed by hustle, I was impressed by the focus on the bench, I was impressed by the effort. I was glad we made the mistakes we made. Now we can go to work on learning more and getting better and better every time we are out there!

Stop Shaving NOW!

Hey guys, I just had a great idea. I want to put it to a vote and we will only go for it if the majority of you want to do it.

I say we all grow beards this summer and let our hair go long. I will see if Karen will spring for some authentic House of David jerseys from Ebbet Field Flannels.

What do you say? Are you in?

Here is a blurb on the House of David:
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 travelled 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 travelled 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, celebacy, and love for mankind. But they had to find something to do with alot 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 travelling 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.

Baseball is Fun

Baseball is fun. I am the biggest believer in that statement. My #1 goal in life is to make you guys experience how fun it is to play baseball. I want you guys to have fun this summer.

Now let me define fun.

Success in baseball is fun. When the game is going well, baseball is fun. When you are getting better everyday, baseball is fun. When the game rewards your efforts, baseball is fun.

Now let me define success. I do not think, and quite honestly I do not want to win every game. That is not my goal. Sometimes to grow in the game we have to make changes, and do things that make it difficult to win the current game, but grant us the most growth in the game of baseball. Sometimes LONG term growth gets in the way of 7 inning success. Most likely, winning more than we loose will be a by product of us – having fun – and getting better everyday.

Now, why am I bringing this up?

You are 13. You are learning. You have crazy energy. You sometimes lack focus. Relax, I realize this and are more patient than you will ever realize. But sometimes it is going to look like I am getting on you. I typically try to do this in amusing ways. I try to do it gently. But one thing I know about human nature is that nobody likes to be corrected. When authority speaks, it is human nature to defend what is and close off to what could be. That is okay, but please try to think about it and know that I am always available to talk more about it – just not at the immediate time. And know this; I have short term memory loss about it. I realize (because I needed it) that you will have to hear things 100 times before you actually “see it” and then it will take more time to “do something” about it.

Back to fun. Baseball is fun. Doing baseball things at practice is fun. Other things are fun. Have fun about other things at other times. There are 24 hours in the day, baseball only takes up two or three during a couple of your days in the week. When we are at baseball practice, and baseball games – let’s have baseball fun.

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 medium size 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 jerseys, 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.