Sunday March 30

 Bud's Boys Sunday Sum Up

Results from Thursday and Friday play, plus the last entry in my baseball journal. But first, this reminder.

Last March Leroy's proposal of a Bud's Boys Memorial Day was presented and approved. 

Sadly, that day has arrived. Tuesday will be our first observance. Come a little early if you want to participate.

Thursday March27

Thursday brought baseball opening day to St. Louis and Medalist Day to Kimbeland.

Medalist Day brought out several contenders for the big prize. Doc, Clint, and Wayne all tossed their +4's into the ring only to see them trounced by Wilhelm's +7. Teammates Leroy (+3) and Allen (+2) chipped in to allow the team to sweep the FBT as well. 

Randy's CTP prevented the Royal Flush and also denied Glen's Floyd attempt by a step, also ending Glen's 16-game win streak.

Wayne killed his drive on #1, hitting it past the 150-post.

Friday March 28

Fourteen BB's participated in Friday's chase of the Rabbit.

Glen's Medalist best +5 put him back on the winning track, leading his team to victories on th Front and the Total.

Randy wins CTP for the second day in a row, setting up his Floyd attempt Monday.

Glen asks Jeff where he can get a pair of those shoes.

I-SC Hoosiers Part 6

Just as in the movie 'Hoosiers', the small, underdog team had made it to the State Championship Game. Sadly, I have no specific memory of that Friday night we spent in Springfield while awaiting Saturday's Championship Game. I am sure some returned to the 'Theatre Room', and some may have ventured into town with a family members car. I do remember I was in a 'good boys' room, no smuggled contraband hidden in a suitcase. Regardless, we had one last stop on our magical journey.

Saturday morning greeted us with the phone ringing in our room. "Anyone know how to work this projector?" Seems everyone has their own way of preparing for the game. 

A small group of us were headed to breakfast downstairs when we passed a newspaper machine. Someone put in a quarter and pulled out a paper. 

If you remember your 70's music, you may remember the Dr. Hook song, 'The Cover of the Rolling Stone'. One line in the song stated, "Gonna buy 5 copies for my Mother!" 

Well, I wasn't on the cover, but there I was on the frontpage of the Springfield News Leader sports section.

I didn't take 5 copies though, only 3.

We arrived at Meador Park for the game and things immediately seemed different. The wind was blowing over 20 mph (like some of our recent golf days) for one thing and then when the coin was tossed for home team, we won. We had lost 5 straight coin flips and had been visitors for all 5 games of our streak. We took the field, Don was ready for the first pitch.

Our catcher, Lynn, has always maintained that from inning number 1, the umpire was not giving Don the corner of the plate for his breaking pitch. The ump was well known for his showmanship, but Lynn still says he sucked at calling balls and strikes. When Don had to put it over the plate, their hard-hit balls were finding gaps, not our gloves. We made some miscues when we did get a glove on the ball. I remember our shortstop lamenting that he was probably the only sophomore to blow a State Championship after he misplayed one grounder. But that was not the main reason.

Our main failing was at the plate. Their number 2 starter was BY FAR the least talented hurler we had faced on this 6-game stretch. He was left-handed and we hadn't seen one of those in a while, but still the frustration of not knocking him out of the box grew as we fell behind 7 to 1 after 5 innings.

Looking back now, it seems that when I was picked off first the previous day, it was the devil telling me that our deal was over. Up till that moment I had played my best 5 games of the season, scoring 9 runs in the 5 games. Not today. My line at the top of the box score at the end of the day is the dreaded 4 0 0. Four at bats, no runs or hits. Kind of like playing 17 good holes of golf, but when it really counts on the 18th tee box, you chunk your shot in the water.

Despite my choking in the clutch, my teammates rallied for 3 runs in the bottom of the 6th to bring us within 3. That's when they brought their Ace, Don Petrie, in to finish the contest. As stated earlier, he had struck out 13 batters in only 5 innings yesterday. He promptly struck out the next 2 hitters to end the inning.

Kansas City added 2 more runs in the top of the seventh to stretch their lead to 9-4 going into the bottom of the 7th. 

Petrie struck out the first batter, but the catcher allowed the batter to reach first on a passed ball. My last chance to keep the dream alive. 

I had said that the day before was my first experience with a true 'slider'. Today was my first experience with a fastball with 'hop'. The ball looked like it was rising as it reached the plate. Brainiacs that use physics or whatever scientific jargon explain that the ball stays on a level plane due to velocity instead of dropping lower. Not sure I buy that, but I can say that after all the previous mentions of these 'hard throwing' pitchers we had faced, we had met the 'hardest' thrower. He struck me out and all 6 hitters he faced to record the 5 outs to end the game. A game that had no real drama, no crucial play, no 'what if' moment. A fictional book or Hollywood film would have had us win in the bottom of the 7th. It would have allowed Coach Willie to channel his inner Gene Hackman and say, "I love you guys." But it didn't, and in all honesty, even had we won, Coach would have done no such thing. Baseball was just what you did in spring and summer 50 years ago. We would have been ecstatic of course, but it just wasn't as big a deal as it is now. In fact, if you look in the 73 yearbook, they managed to add the state game scores but no mention at all of the 2nd place State finish. More important than the yearbook, we had a month-long journey of baseball and off field adventures to cherish. They did, however, finally hang a large banner in the school gym about 3 years ago to recognize the accomplishment. At least we have that going for us.

 Epilogue

Would you believe we made the same run the next year. In no way, however, did it resemble the journey of 73 other than we again played Kelly, Hayti, and Kansas City Pem-Day.

A new cast of characters to replace the seniors of course, but the script was flipped in other ways. This year we were the favorites all the way through, no underdog role. Rob, our big lefty who didn't last an inning in the 73 district championship, had found his control and was the dominant pitcher in the area. There were no sleep overs or long bus rides either. The District and the Regional were both played on our home field behind the school. The State tournament was in Poplar Bluff, no hotel necessary.

We breezed through the district and Don beat Hayti once more and Rob shut down Kelly and Urhahn.

This year we met Pem-Day in the semi-final and it was an epic battle between Petrie and Rob. They scored an early unearned run and Petrie sealed KC's 3-1 victory with a 2-run homer in the 4th inning. No championship appearance nor any songs, zany stories, or last second victories.

The biggest difference to me was, however, that I played no part in the tournament.

We were taking infield before the first game of the district, working on turning a double play. The shortstop booted the ball into short left field. I turned and headed back to my 2nd base position when everyone hollered, "Look Out!" Instead of replaying the grounder as we usually do, the ss fired the ball to the second base bag. Now, if the ball hits me in the back of the head, I am sure I would have had one heck of a bump. But noooo, when everyone shouted, I naturally turned around just in time for the ball to hit me in the eye. My glasses exploded and I fell in a heap. It didn't help that the first ones to arrive took one look, grimaced and said, "Eww, that looks bad."

Remember this was 50 years ago. No one calls 911 or an ambulance. Coach Willie looked around and some of our track people had come over to see what was going on. Willie asked if anyone had a car. Richard, our star discus thrower volunteered to take me to the hospital. Some others helped get me in his car and we sped to Cape. Knowing the members of our track team like I did, I was one myself after all, I knew Richard volunteered more to get out of practice early than being the good Samaritan. Anyway, he gets pulled over by a Cape policeman for speeding, but Richard explains our situation. The cop says, "Follow me!" We made the Scott City to Southeast hospital run in record time.

I lay still for 2 days, put on a liquid diet and prepped for surgery if needed. The blood clot moved away from any sensitive areas and surgery was cancelled. I would recover, but my senior year was over. No district or state track, and certainly no baseball. After about three weeks, the Doctor cleared me to travel with the team to Poplar Bluff, but absolutely no participation. spectator only. I did dress out so I could set in the dugout with the team. The top of the 7th arrived and we put the tying run on first with 2 outs. A gap shot could tie the game. The runner on first, however, was not one of our fleet of foot. There were no better options to pinch run on the bench so our assistant Coach looked at me and said to Willie, "What about Bohn?" They knew I wasn't cleared to play but, hey, this was for a State Championship! Willie asked if I would do it. I was smart enough to know that I had not done anything physical for 3 weeks and probably would fall down if I tried to run my fastest. I also knew that I was in no way cleared to play. So, naturally, I told them, "Sure", and trotted to first. We will never know what would have happened if there was a base hit as Petrie struck out the last batter to end the game. The box score in the Southeast Missourian has me listed, Bohn pr. My Mother never noticed that, nor my Doctor.

Mike Tenant, who we faced in the 73 semi-finals, turned out to be the most successful pitcher from that string of great pitchers we faced. He spent 7 years in the Dodger organization, reaching Triple AAA ball in 79. He spent 2 years on their 40 man protected list, proving that they thought he had the right stuff. By looking at his stats, it was clear he never harnessed his outstanding stuff with enough control. Some of the players he played with included Pedro Guerrero, Steve Sax, Mike Sciosa and Dave Stewart. Sadly, when I looked up his stats it showed he passed a couple of years ago.

More sad to me is the loss of 6 individuals in the team picture in Chapter 1. Glen, Vince, Rob, Darrell, Kenny and Coach. Rest in peace.

A last word on the generational differences in high school sports. 

The Sikeston Standard actually sent a reporter to our Championship game. His opening paragraph stated the game was played before a sparse crowd of 46 people. I know we had only 4 parents at most and maybe 4 students and a couple other adults in attendance for a State Championship game. It was the end of school and just didn't move the meter for students or the city. Not that that mattered to us. Parents didn't 'need' to see every game though some did. To us it was all about the game no matter the look of your uniform or quality of equipment or who was watching.

Flash forward 35 years. The Scott City Rams are playing in the State Championship Game. In Springfield, at Meador Park, the same field we had played. School was let out to allow students to attend. Half the town drives over as well. It is a packed stadium at game time. Future Atlanta Braves pitcher Shae Simmons throws a complete game for the Rams as they win by the 10-run rule. Scott City has its first State Championship. To tie this story together, Shae's father is the shortstop whose throw put me in the hospital. 

A big parade was held for the winners when they returned in 2008. Scott City had their first State Champion, 35 years after our improbable Cinderella quest came up one game short.  Our assistant Coach commented on the parade, "If we knew it was this big a deal, we would have won the thing."

The End