Sunday 10/25
Bud's Boys Special Baseball Edition!
We are two games into the World Series which has me ready to share some baseball talk with the 'Boys'.
Quick World Series trivia. Who threw the first pitch in World Series history? If you follow baseball, you hear his name every year around awards time.
We will review the past week and then get in some baseball talk, including an exciting story of one of our gang from his early baseball history. Here is a teaser.
Can you recognize this former terror of the sandlot? Read on for the full story! It is at the very end of a long blog this week. Skip ahead if needed.
The Week in BB's Golf
Could not have had 4 more magnificent days of golf weather than we had this week. The excellent conditions led to 4 days of good turnout and 4 days of above average scoring. Here are some highlights.
The group was +51 for the week.
Double jumps included KZ +8, Butch +7, Glen +6, Bill F +6, Keith +6, Dave +6.
Tom shot a 2-under 38 points and Glen had an even par 36 points.
Other BB's News
Raymond returns from his 3 month plus stay on the Injured List. Much better look without the neck brace.
Leroy returns after a 1 week recovery from viral concerns. Also, our new 'Champion Golfer' was returned his trophy with his newly engraved plate securely placed on the trophy for posterity. Congrats to Westy for that.
Speaking of Westy, he is more than a Champion golfer, he has quite the touch with a paint brush. Here is his victory inspired creation.
Tuesday 10/20
Random Skin Day counted 18 BB's. Glen +6, Doc +5, and Jeff +3 are the only 2-event winners.
Allen wins the CTP and Bill H cards a birdie on #11 for the Skin.
Butch is Medalist with +7.
Wednesday 10/21
Tom wins the CTP and his team wins 3 events including the Card Game with a kings over fullhouse.
Keith is Medalist at +6.
Thursday 10/22
Contenders on Medalist Day included a +5 and a +6, but today's winner with a +8 was KZ.
Glen takes the yearlong CTP lead with number 14.
Friday 10/23
The Match Play Championship finally concludes with Jeff closing out Leroy on #18. A back and forth match goes to the last hole with Leroy putting to tie the match. Alas, it slid by the hole allowing Jeff to hoist the 2026 Match Play Trophy, such as it is.
Doc, the 2025 Champion, presents the barely noticeable award.
In regular play, 4 of the 5 teams find a way to win. Bill F gets the CTP. Randy, Floyd and KZ birdie 9 through 12, giving them the extra hole Rabbit on #11.
Tom's +5 38 points leads to victories on the Back 9 and Total.
World Series Trivia
Cy Young threw the first World Series Pitch in 1903 (he lost the game, however).
Most of the following names were in my young baseball fan wheelhouse.
Most WS Rings - Missouri's own Yogi Berra with 10.
World Series Home Runs - Mickey Mantle 18.
Most innings pitched in a single game - Babe Ruth 14 innings. the Babe still has a pitching record.
Most Cardinal fans know Bob Gibson still has the single game strikeout record of 17 vs Detroit in 1968.
But did you know...?
Most strikeouts in a Series - Bob Gibson 35 in 1968. Interesting to me is who is in second place.
Second most strikeouts in a Series - Bob Gibson 31 in 1964. Sandy Koufax is third and Gibson's total in 1967 is tied for 5th. Gibson was indeed a stud.
1919 World Series Scandal (What does Perryville have to do with it?)
Most baseball fans have heard of the 1919 'Black Sox' scandal where 8 White Sox players were banned from baseball for throwing the series. But did you know Southeast Missouri had their own baseball controversy at the same time the 1919 Series was being contested?
Here are the basics. The Cape Capahas were scheduled to play the Perryville Red Sox for the 'Championship of Southeast Missouri' on Sunday October 5th.
Elam Vangilder, Cape Girardeau native, had returned home on October 1st from St. Louis after making his Major League debut for the Browns in September. His one start was a complete game victory over the American League champion White Sox, allowing only 1 run. He also had 2 effective relief appearances to close out the season. Upon arriving back in Cape, he visited the Capahas manager and volunteered to pitch the Championship game against Perryville.
The game was expected to draw the biggest crowd ever to the ballpark.
After hearing about this news, Perryville was not going to sit still. Their manager started recruiting and soon had a full team of professionals.
The back and forth leading up to the game is hilarious. A day later, Perryville updated their roster with more big leaguers. I try here to piece the article.
Loved the quote that Elam didn't care if it was the entire Cardinal lineup, he would whip them.
All the expectations of the professional players and the largest crowd ever resulted in this.
The game was never played as Perryville's pros moved on to other games, and their manager refused to play with only his regular summer lineup. The Missourian had a week's worth of articles basically calling Perryville a bunch of scaredy cats.
Baseball was once that important to every town and surrounding areas.
Now, the story you have waited for
In case you haven't guessed the young ballplayer, here is the team with their names.
The hard-fought game between the Knights of Columbus 9 and the National Guard Braves, two teams who plain don't like each other, came down to the bottom of the last inning. Trailing by one run and the tying runner on third, KC cleanup hitter Butch Zahner approached the plate. He rubbed some dirt on his hands and stepped into the box. Before the pitcher went into his windup Butch steps out of the box and points to centerfield. "My goodness gasped one fan, he is calling his shot just like the Babe." As it turned out, he was just pointing to a balloon that had escaped the grasp of a crying youngster. Anyway, Butch ran the count full to 3 and two and leaned in. The lanky Braves hurler fired the payoff pitch right down the middle. For some reason, young Butch was reaching down to the ground (some people speculate he was picking up a frog) and the pitch conked him right on the bean. Despite vociferous protestations from the Braves Braintrust, Butch was awarded first base, representing the winning run. The next delivery from the obviously still shaken mounds man was drilled into left-centerfield gap by the sturdy Balsman lad, sending the runners afoot. The run to equal the score touched the plate while the fleet Zahner kicked up clouds of dust as his spikes ripped the infield dirt and rounded third. A true and speedy throw launched by the determined centerfielder seemed to be on a collision with the now approaching baserunner. The catcher, concentrating on the arrival of both ball and runner, snagged the horsehide projectile firmly and braced for the tag and inevitable collision. To the surprise of everyone gathered at park grounds, but mostly the catcher, Butch had stopped halfway home..., to tie his shoe! Confused and unsure of the situation, an ill-advised toss to third struck Butch, again, right on the noggin. The ball caromed into the dugout and, by rule, home base, and the victory, was awarded to the KC youth. The hero was carried off on his teammate's shoulders in celebration while he was heard to mutter, "Where am I?" In all of this reporters' years, I have never seen anything like it.
Good work , Butch
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