Victory - A Double Edged Sword

Baseball is a game of cliches - he's pitching a gem; he's swinging a hot bat; he was out by a mile - you get the idea. It seems there is no phrase that hasn't been coined to make the casual fan say 'huh?' and die hard say 'ah gotcha" all in one breath. Today, though, I offer you a cliche stolen from life's long list of coloqualisms - There are two sides to every coin.

It's been a week now since our win in the District Championships and while the boys deserve all the credit in the world for their accomplishments, the other day I started thinking what of those young men on the other side of the diamond. Those on the losing side. Yes, I may have had my fun in previous posts with our victories over High Park, but I trust you gather I mean no ill will toward them. They competed just as hard as our team, it just so happened that on on one night in July the baseball gods were on our side.

Unfortunately for them, their Little League experience may always be coloured by that loss. Some may never play baseball again beyond this year and that one game may very well be what they remember. Hopefully not, because they were a deserving winner too, but such is the case in sport. There must be a winner and a loser. And that is why victory is often a double edged sword - one team walks away with fond memories, the other with the sting of defeat.

In previous posts I have lamented my one chance to win this tournament many years ago. I look back now on my time playing with nothing but great memories and better stories, but for awhile I'm sure that this loss will sting a little for those boys from High Park. History may say the Ancaster Cardinals won 3-0 over High Park. What it won't tell you though is just how hard they made us work for that victory. Hold your heads high boys, we were very appreciative of the competition you gave us.

record to date: 23 W, 3 L

Ready for Canada

It's taken five years of planning and preparation, but Ancaster is set to strut its stuff at the 2010 Canadian Little League Baseball Championship.
The competition, scheduled for Aug. 7-14, brings together six teams who will be vying for a chance to represent Canada at the Little League World Series next month in Williamsport, Pa. The host Ancaster Cardinals are entered along with representatives from Atlantic Canada, Quebec, Ontario, the Prairies and British Columbia.
Little League is for boys and girls ages 11 and 12.
Ancaster won the bid to host the event five years ago. Since then, the park's major diamond on Jerseyville Road has undergone a transformation. There's new dugouts and fencing, a new electronic scoreboard, a new clubhouse with double concession stands and washrooms, new and expanded bleachers, plus a redesigned old clubhouse with a World T-Ball/Little League hall of fame. Impressive upgrades have also been completed to the six-decade-old playing field.
"It's crunch time, but we're really on track," said Jennifer Miller, project co-ordinator for the national championship. "It's a million-dollar project. Our diamond is 100 per cent beautiful."
Ancaster's team has been equally as impressive on the field this season. The Cardinals -- 24-3 overall -- captured the District I championship Thursday night, blanking Toronto High Park 3-0. Justin Mignardi belted a solo home run and Caleb Radley tossed a complete-game four-hitter.
Earlier in the robin-robin district tournament against High Park, Oakville, Stoney Creek, Erindale and Dundas, Ancaster won four of its five games by the mercy rule -- a 10-run lead after four innings. And their other victory was 8-0.
Two of Ancaster's losses this season came against American opponents in Buffalo playing non-Little League rules.
"I think we have a good chance of winning," said shortstop/pitcher Mark Szostak. "We always hold the other team from scoring because of our pitching and defence. And all our hitters, from the first batter to the last, have been getting on base."
Szostak and two others have been members of the same Ancaster Little League team for five years, winning the minor District I title in 2008 and coming within one run of taking the provincial title. Said Szostak: "The new people who joined this year have made us that much better."
About half of the current Ancaster team travelled to Little League's Holy Grail in Williamsport last year as spectators. "It was a great experience," Cardinals coach Dave Whalen said. "It motivated them. They want to be those guys on the other side of the barrier."
As the championship host, Ancaster won't have to qualify through the provincial championship tournament next week in Thunder Bay.
At the national championship, many celebrated Canadian athletes and performers will be in attendance. Don Cherry, of Coach's Corner fame, will throw out the first pitch of the championship game on Saturday, Aug. 14 at 1 p.m.
Former Canadian Idol winner Brian Melo of Hamilton will sing O Canada prior to the Ancaster vs. B.C. game on Sunday, Aug. 8 at 3 p.m. Other first pitches will be delivered by Canada's Hall of Fame pitcher Ferguson Jenkins, Hamilton Tiger-Cat legend Angelo Mosca, former Canadian boxing great George Chuvalo, Ancaster's Olympic halfpipe snowboarder Brad Martin and members of Stoney Creek's 1965 Little League World Series finalists. Cable 14 will televise the Ancaster games and playoffs.
"They're excited about all the pomp and circumstance," Whalen said. "Our players are focused and aware of the opportunity."
Parking will be at the Ancaster Community Centre with connecting shuttle buses running from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. With a natural amphitheatre setting, about 5,000 fans could watch the games.


CANADIAN LITTLE LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP
When: Aug. 7-14
Where: Ancaster Little League Park near Ancaster High School on Jerseyville Road
At stake: Teams from Quebec, the Atlantic, the Prairies, Ontario, B.C. and Ancaster will compete for the right to be Team Canada at the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa.
For full schedules and more information: www.ancaster2010.com


ARTICLE COURTESY OF:
Larry Moko
The Hamilton Spectator
(Jul 24, 2010) 
TheSpec.com - Sports - Ready for Canada 

21 yrs in the making

So far so good for us in the Ontario District 1 Championships. After three games we are 3-0, with three kinda convincing wins - 11-1, 11-0, and 14-4.

It's our first game, against High Park that I liked most for a few reasons. One, we were playing at the very park I grew up playing all of my Little League baseball in, Erindale. I can still remember my first home run there. As can my friend that I hit it off. I think the ball travels 10 ft further every year I tell the story! It also seems as though everyone throughout recorded GTA Little League history has a story about getting beat by High Park. And I'm no different.

Twenty one years ago we (Erindale) lost to the eventual Canadian Champions, High Park, in the District Championship game. So, it may have taken two decades and four presidents, but Friday night I was able to gain some measure of revenge with the 11-1 win. And how's this for a "small world" moment - Last week at practice we had a player who played on that High Park team we lost to come out and talk to the boys about his Little League World Series experience. We both remembered that game we played, players on either team, and moments in the game. In baseball there is always one constant - the stories. And oh how they grow in grandeur with each passing year.

Last week I watched part of the Ken Burns baseball series and actor Billy Crystal recanted a story of when he first met Ted Williams 30 years after he actually saw him play for the first time live. He told Williams who was pitching and how he had tape of it and said he had struck out in one at bat. Williams, without needing any more details, looked at him and said "curve ball low and away."

Nobody forgets their first homerun. I know I haven't. Apparently the greatest hitter of all time also never forgets a strikeout either.

record to date: 19 W, 3 L

my alma mater

This past weekend was a short trip down memory lane for me. Yes, there was the game Friday night where we got even with the Hamilton Cardinals for beating us at the beginning of the season. On a side note, I'm learning something about baseball these days. The default team name seems to be Cardinals and the default colour, red. I say that because we are the Cardinals, we played the Cardinals, and I used to play for the Cardinals. And that brings me to Sundays game. Sundays game was against my alma mater, Erindale.

Up until last year when I started with the Ancaster organization, all of my baseball experiences were with Erindale. Highs, lows, wins, losses, and memories - they were all with one team. I remain friends still with some of the guys I grew up playing with. And almost every time I tell them about one of our games, we come up with a story of our own from our Little League days. There is something about sports that forges a bond unlike that of school or everyday life. Maybe it's that where the days of school and life blur together in one continuum a team is only a team for a short time. They are memories suspended in time.

Undoubtedly, these boys are creating memories from the summer of 2010 that they will recant to each other years down the road in much the same way I do now.

record to date: 16 W, 3 L

The Voice of God

Love them or hate them, the Yankees are a team rich in tradition. Two years ago I experienced some of this when I went to Yankee Stadium for my first and only visit to this historic building. You can't help but be struck by two things: the low ceilings in the concourses and some of the legends of the sport that played there.
    
Today, though, isn't so much about players like Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, or Derek Jeter. It's about the man that was the voice of Yankee Stadium, Bob Sheppard. Sheppard died today, two months shy of his 100th birthday.

From 1951-2007 Sheppard's eloquent prose reverberated around Yankee Stadium. His voice was comforting, yet ominous, like a grandfather who didn't say much, but when he did you listened. Anyone who ever had the pleasure of experiencing this, be it on TV or live, can relate.  He was to the Yankees what Paul Morris was to the Toronto Maple Leafs and Maple Leaf Gardens for so many years. Hall of Famer, Reggie Jackson may have said it best when he dubbed Sheppard "the voice of God."

He may be gone, but he will never be forgotten. Next time you watch a Yankee game, listen to Derek Jeter being announced - that's a recording of Sheppard's voice - the voice of God talking to you.

Revered Yankees PA man Bob Sheppard, 99, dies - SI.com

one month today

It's getting closer!

One month today we play our first game in the Canadian Little League Championships against Atlantic Canada.


For both the boys and volunteers around the league this one week in August is the culmination of years of hard work and preparation. All involved, both past and present, deserve a thank you. To those that I have met, thank you for making my relatively short time in the league truly unforgettable. I have enjoyed every minute of it. To those that I haven't met and may no longer be involved with the league, another thank you. Thank you for paving the way for these twelve incredibly talented young men.

twelve and counting...

Two more games this past weekend. And two more wins. That's twelve in a row now.

First up was a team from Quebec. Yes, we won, but they did have one distinct advantage - the language barrier. Sign stealing is at a definite minimum when not one of us on the field had anything beyond a high school education in French. I'm sure if they had wanted to they could have called pitches audibibly from the dugout and it would have left us scratching our heads. Who knows, that may have been exactly what they were doing!

And then there was High Park/Etobicoke. Yes, that High Park. The one I have been waiting for 21 years to play again. The last time I remember facing them I was watching a home run ball scream over my head at first base somewhere into the abyss in Dundas. This is one moment me and my friends that were on that team still talk about to this day. Fast forward to present day. We played what amounted to one of our best games of the season against a very good team. Playing from behind for just the third time this season the boys rallied to tie then go on to win 6-2. A great all around game by all 12 guys.

After a day in the sun, it was time to party poolside. Many thanks to the Miller's for playing host. We ate. We drank (age appropriate beverages to be clear). When you're 12 yrs old you are limited to what you can legally drink out of a championship trophy. So, Coke it was. Mind you, most of it ended up all over Matthew Grabstas when it was dumped on him. (that's him holding the trophy just after this happened) Thank you Matthew for my highlight of the night!

O Canada

Make no mistake, we will always be known as a country that produces athletes that wield hockey sticks and not baseball bats. The (old) HNIC theme is our second national anthem, not Take Me Out To the Ballgame. That said, there is a baseball tradition in Canada that is almost as old as the game itself.

For the average Canadian, baseball extends back as far as the Toronto Blue Jays existence and for an older generation, the Montreal Expos. I can remember where I was when Joe Carter hit his homerun in the '93 World Series or George Bell caught that flyball in '85. There are however, many other significant moments in baseball history that either happened on Canadian soil or were a product of Canadians playing the game.

Some of the ones you may be aware of:

* 1914 - Babe Ruth hit his first professional homerun at Hanlan's point on Toronto Island

*1946 - Jackie Robinson broke the colour barrier playing for the Montreal Royals (AAA affiliate of his future team, the Brooklyn Dodgers).

This pic is one of hate mail he received while playing in Cincinatti for Brooklyn. These letters can be found in the Cincinatti Reds Museum.

 

 * 1991 - Fergusun Jenkins becomes the first Canadian elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY.

He will be at the Canadian Little League Championships on August 7th to throw out the first pitch.






Some you might not be aware of:
* the Pawtucket Red Sox (AAA affiliate of the Boston Red Sox) were originally the Toronto Maple Leafs from 1895-1967
* the Vancouver Asahis, formed in 1914, were a professional baseball team comprised of Japanese Canadians that played in the Terminal City League. They toured Japan in 1921 in much the same way current MLB All-Stars do.
* prior to Toronto being awarded a Major League Baseball team in 1977, the San Francisco Giants were rumoured to be moving to Toronto if not for Bob Lurie, who purchased the team to keep it in SF.
* one of the earliest baseball games on record dates back to June 4, 1838 played in Beechville, Ontario

I realize this is a VERY simple list. If you have any other interesting facts, please share.