Volume 294

(All opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author. In no way does this reflect the opinions of members of the Tri-C Youth Athletic Board or any other affiliated with the program.)

Yesterday pitchers and catchers reported to their respective major league spring training camps. The full squads will report next weekend. In Sarasota, this writer will visit the Orioles’ complex on Tuesday and Thursday this week. A private party will be held on March 3 and the first game is March 5. Yes, I am ready for some BASEBALL!

With baseball on my mind and the fact that today is President’s Day I dusted off an article I wrote five years ago. It is hoped my fictional Presidential team may be a momentary distraction from the realities of politics today. In an attempt to combine history and humor I offer the following.

R. Norman’s Presidential Dream Team:

The lineup:

Leading off, John F. Kennedy, Third Base. JFK’s ability at water sports served him well when he would go swimming into the stands for foul balls. He was very popular with the young fans. A special section in the stadium was named the New Frontier.

Batting second, Theodore Roosevelt, Second Base. Teddy was nothing short of a bully player. His enthusiasm for any competition was beyond belief. He was often heard to yell “charge” when fielding a ground ball.

Batting third, George H. Bush, Centerfield. As a former first baseman (see the trivia contest) and captain of Yale’s baseball team, he was the team’s leading hitter. In being kinder and gentler, he stepped aside to allow Lincoln to play first.

Batting cleanup, Abraham Lincoln, First Base. Abe was a big target for the infielders. Throws rarely got past him. His power was next to none. It is believed that with the “live ball” of today, had he faced current pitchers, he would have hit four score and seven home runs every year.

Batting fifth, Gerald Ford, Leftfield. This former football star from the University of Michigan made the transition to baseball with ease. Ford could have been even better had he not been so injury-prone. He led the league in running into walls trying to catch fly balls.

Batting sixth, Dwight Eisenhower, Shortstop. As with Ford, he played college football. He was a member of the team at West Point. Ike was fairly soft-spoken, but when he made a decision to go on the attack, he went full-force. He was the true General of the infield.

Batting seventh, William Howard Taft, Catcher. At well over 300 pounds, Taft was not the most finely tuned athlete in the mix. His strength came in the fact that, as a catcher, no wild pitches could have gotten to the side of his mass.

Batting eighth, Ronald Reagan, Right field. Reagan not only played George Gipp, but also baseball Hall-of-Famer, Grover Cleveland Alexander. In both movies, he looked great in a uniform. He probably could have been higher in the line-up, except he began his career as a Cub announcer.

Batting ninth, George Washington, Pitcher. All of the things you looked for in a starting pitcher reside in Washington. He had a great arm. It was reported that he once threw a dollar across the Potomac River (granted, a dollar does not go as far today, but still very impressive). With Washington starting for us, is it any wonder that this team and our country have been great for over 200 years.

***

ODDS and ENDS

Please try to attend our annual shoot-out to be held this coming Saturday, February 25, at Tri-C Elementary. The shoot-out will take place from 10:00-1:00. After the completion of that, held we will have our coaches’ game. This year, it is planned, that the coaches will play the referees. It should be a fun time.

Also, please, please, mark your calendars to attend the benefit spaghetti dinner for Rich Lentz on March 23. This is one of those times that the community needs to come together.

A few other dates are listed at the bottom of this column.

***

Rick Stanley, Jim Hunsaker, and Jim Wallace recently met with Mayor Mausey and Phyllis Emery and John Gooden from the city council. The recommended improvements to James Street and Cannon Parks from the meeting were acted upon by the council at large this past week.

They include safety issues regarding the trees and improvement in the parking lot at James Street. Cannon Park will become a facility that can be utilized by the older age groups.

A big thank you is due those mentioned above from Tri-C Youth Athletics and to those members of the City Council who supported the proposed improvements.

***

Hall of Famer, Gary Carter passed away this week at the age of 57. Even though he was never a favorite of mine, probably due to which teams he was a member. The smiling Carter was an eleven time all-star. Carter made himself into a good catcher, after beginning his MLB career as an outfielder. At that time, the Montreal Expos had a number of young talented outfielders including Warren Cromartie, Ellis Valentine, and Andre Dawson. It was a natural move to put Carter behind the plate, full time, and it became a great move for that franchise as well as the Mets after he was traded there.

One of the things that I will remember best about Carter was long after his playing career. Tim McCarver had Carter, Johnny Bench, Yogi Berra, and Carlton Fisk on his talk show. The four Hall of Fame catchers did not disappoint this viewer. Catchers are a different breed and some of the points were made with a fire not necessarily found in retired athletes.

Highlights of the show included Yogi maintaining Jackie Robinson was out on his famous steal of home plate off Whitey Ford in the 1955 World Series. I have watched film of this at least a 100 times, over the years, and Yogi was right. Even though the others laughed at Yogi’s insistence, he did not budge an inch. It obviously was a matter of pride, even over 50 years later, and he was not going to find any humor in people giving any credibility to Robinson being safe.

Another highlight was Carlton Fisk sharing a conversation he had with Deion Sanders in his short lived baseball career. Sanders was performing one of his show off routines, which were well known to NFL fans, when Fisk slowly walked in front of the plate and told Sanders in no uncertain terms that this was major league baseball and he could knock off his #$%& or he would kick him in the posterior right there on the spot, if he didn’t act like a big leaguer. Somehow I believe Fisk meant it.

Carter added some insight into the personality conflicts that the Mets had in the 1980s. It was one of the best hours of television that I have ever seen. If you are a baseball fan and never watched it, you have missed something.

***

The death and subsequent coverage of Whitney Houston has been the biggest news story of the week. We sometimes seem to have knack for going over the top when it comes to celebrities. In no way am I down playing the talents she possessed and the fact that she was important to many. However, this kind of reminds me of when Princess Dianna died. In the same week Mother Theresa died, but the latter received very little news coverage. Maybe, this is because it is younger people dying well before what would be there normal life span. I do not know the answer here, but do believe that if former Presidents Carter or George H, W. Bush had died this week, Ms. Houston would have received more coverage than either. Enough said! It is just something to think about.

***

In addition to celebrating our anniversary, enjoying some great weather, making new friends, and winning $3.00 playing pinochle, I received a facebook note that brought a smile to my face.

It was sent to me by Gail Johnson, who said---thinking of you today…we get back from JJ’s 5th/6th game…which we won by quite a bit…but out of the blue he says…”Mom, why can’t Roger ref our games? I wish he could!” The timing could not have been better; no more than an hour before I had told Martha that I missed Tri-C basketball and, in particular, being able to officiate the games.

Thanks Gail and Justin. Some may disagree with you, but I truly appreciate it.

***

What in the world was ESPN thinking in running a racially insensitive tag on the success of Jeremy Lin? I will hope that the intent of the writer was not to be so, but regardless, something was going on in his cranium that I do not understand.

***

Again, a big thank you goes to Dave Draper and Bill Rosado for passing along the information to post standings. The final standings may be found under each individual league. They also provided this writer the information to update our scoring leaders. The final list of leading scores is listed below.

Scoring Leaders

Boys A

1 Nik Lamb--------------------166

2 Christian Albert-------------110

3 Ryan Gaddis-----------------85

4 Matt Turner------------------82

5 Connor Bybee---------------72

**Alex Meade-----------------72

7 Brandon Teal----------------66

8 Brock Evraets----------------57

9 Dante Boens-----------------54

10 Kestutis Lazdinis----------54

11 Markas Lazdinis-----------52

12 Grant Garbe----------------46

13 Isaac Cordero--------------39

14 Ethan Krumrey------------38

15 Austin Knight-------------26

16 Zach Schlindwein--------22

17 Hunter Whitecotton-----20

18 Noah Farris----------------18

**Austin Hodge--------------18

20 Seth Rhoades--------------16

Boys B

1 Luke Stritzel-----------------92

2 Trent Glidewell-------------85

3 Cedric Jordan---------------72

4 Tyler Bittle------------------58

5 Cody Rector-----------------56

6 Peter Baker------------------55

7 Keenan Williams-----------49

8 Connor Hawkins------------40

9 Haden Vaughn--------------38

9 Caleb Knight----------------36

10 Cameron Hall--------------35

11 Luke Brown----------------29

**Zack Smith------------------29

13 Mitchell Kidd--------------28

** Carson Pearson-------------28

15 Travon Boens---------------26

**Tanner Sizemore------------26

17 Colin Laczynski------------24

18 Nate Watts------------------23

19 Logan Jerrells--------------21

20 Nick Hunter----------------19

**Jaxon North-----------------19

Boys C

1 Bryce Anderson------------65

2 Nick Brown-----------------57

3 Taylor Siemer---------------51

4 Ben Haake-------------------41

5 Eric Bybee-------------------33

6 Matthew Wallace------------30

7 Quentin Myers---------------27

8 Max Poole--------------------24

9 Keaton Rosado---------------21

10 Bradon Ingle----------------20

11 Lance Thomas--------------17

12 Graham Dynis--------------14

13 DeAndre Boens------------10

14 Clay Webb-------------------8

15 Mikey Null-------------------7

16 Brody Eigenraugh----------6

**Matthew Edwards-------=--6

**Aiden Liss---------------------6

19 Aiden Harris-----------------4

20 Chase Gibbs------------------3

**Connor Giblin----------------3

Girls A

1 Caitlyn Culp-----------------113

2 Brittney Morgan-------------64

3 Brittany Swain---------------50

4 Taylor Morgan---------------49

5 Brianna Perry----------------42

6 Hannah Hooks---------------36

7 Georgie Ren------------------28

8 Maria Starkey----------------27

9 McKenzie Rogman---------25

10 Summer Rains--------------24

11 Madilyn Billington--------20

**Sydney Billington----------20

13 Elizabeth Dennison-------18

14 Kate Crosby----------------17

15 Erin Robertson-------------16

16 Reese Herrin----------------11

17 Alexi Swalls----------------10

18 Shelby Olson----------------8

**Olivia Stearns----------------8

20 Kelli Halliday---------------4

**Delaney Howerton----------4

Girls B

1 Abbey Crain----------------109

2 Madison Fleege--------------65

3 Megan Beach----------------61

4 Julia Stroud------------------58

5 Emma Robinson------------56

6 Alaina Reno-----------------32

7 Abigail Krumrey-----------30

8 Emma Watson--------------24

9 Emily Perry-----------------21

10 Maddie Campbell---------19

11 Mallory Sizemore---------17

12 Averi Vanderzille---------15

13 Allie Hottensen-----------12

14 Jayden Stanley------------11

15 Maddie Olson-------------10

16 Kirsten Jordan--------------9

17 Courtney Larimar----------8

**Maddie Olson---------------8

19 Audrey Norman------------7

20 Gracie Laczynski----------4

***

With our basketball season now behind us Tri-C Athletics is planning for the upcoming baseball/softball season. Please make note of the following dates:

Registration dates: Tuesday, Feb. 28; Thursday, March 1; Saturday, March 3; Tuesday, March 6, and Thursday, March 8 at the Junior High multi-purpose room.

The mail-in deadline for all registration is Monday, March 19.

The assessments will be in the junior high gym on Saturday, March 24 – the assessments will be done by league, so that coaches, players and parents have specific time frames.

The draft will be held on March 25.

The first practice will be Saturday, March 31, and games will begin on Saturday, May 5.

Fun Day is Saturday, June 2.