Red, White and Whoa

We had a Red, White and Whoa game, as the players lined up on teams to represent the various branches of the military. Though we have players who served in all branches of the armed forces, we stayed with the Army, (Hitting team), the Marines, (Sitting team) and Navy, (Fielding team).

The Dog Faces consisted of: Zelazny, Gonzalez, Laffoon, Giordano, Alumbaugh JD, Herb O, Thompson, Moots and L. Baker.

By the way here is a little trivia from Wikipedia on the nickname, dog face, made popular in WW II.  Soliders lived in "pup tents" and foxholes. They were treated like dogs in training. They had dog tags for identification. The basic story is that wounded soldiers in the Civil War had tags tied to them with string indicating the nature of their wounds. The tags were like those put on a pet dog or horse, but I can't imagine anybody living in a horse tent or being called a horseface.  Correctly speaking, only Infantrymen are called dogfaces.  Much of the time they were filthy, cold and wet as a duck-hunting dog and they were ordered around sternly and loudly like a half-trained dog.

The Leathernecks consisted of Witmer, Edwards, Butler, Finnegen, Lopez, Schapler, Dampier, D. Hill, Wells, J. Smith and Restrepo.

 The term Leatherneck was derived from a leather stock once worn around the neck by both American and British marines—and soldiers also. Beginning in 1798, "one stock of black leather and clasp" was issued to each marine annually. The dress blue uniform still bears that stock collar today, while the service uniform's standing collar was changed to a rolled-flat type prior to World War II. Marines, in the days of Pirates, boarded ships and battled with sabers. A cut across the neck could be lethal. The leather stock offered protection.

The Squids consisted of Coffman, Hamilton, Scarbrough, T. Smith, Regan, Matta, Simon, Hite, Bess, Mills and G. Baker.

The term Squids is associated with the Navy because of the large amount of time the service men spend on the water.  The United States Navy recognizes October 13, 1775 as the date of its official establishment, when the Second Continental Congress passed a resolution creating the Continental Navy. With the end of the American Revolutionary War, the Continental Navy was disbanded. Under President George Washington threats to American merchant shipping by pirates in the Mediterranean led to the Naval Act of 1794, which created a permanent standing U.S. Navy. George Washington said “Without a decisive Naval force we can do nothing definitive - and with it, everything honorable and glorious.”

 All three teams played a close game throughout the 7 inning contest. After the first three innings the game was tied across the board 10-10-10. There is an old navy saying; “ loose lips, sink ships”, apparently so do dropped balls. All three teams had a difficult time hanging on to the leather sphere. For a while it looked like the team with the fewest errors would win the game. However, a few players did earn a salute because of their fielding. Don Scarbrough had a great over the shoulder catch in left center field, for the Navy team. JD turned a hot grounder into a DP that helped the Army team stay in the game. Starting pitchers Mills, Thompson and Wells all pitched strong games.

 As for the final results, like the 7^th Calvary, the Army team led the charge all the way until the last inning. That is when the Marines answered the call and tied the game, in the middle of the 7^thframe. The Navy team dropped anchor after the 3^rd inning, they were shut out the last 4 innings of the game. The final results were Army 13 – Marines 13 and Navy 10. More importantly, thanks to all our ballplayers who served their country.

 Top hitters:

Zelazny: 4 / 5 with a triple.

Laffoon: 4 / 4.

Alumbaugh: 3 / 4.

JD: 3 / 4.

Edwards : 4 / 4 with two doubles and a triple.

Finnegen: 3 /4 with two doubles.

Lopez: 3 / 4.

Hamilton 3 /4 with a triple and a double.

Scarbrough 2 /4 with a HR.

Submitted by Nick Matta