Who made their major league debut 100 years ago on this date?

That's right, like so many baseball trivia questions, the answer is Babe Ruth. 

One could not ask for better playing conditions than we had today, so it was surprising that so few players showed up to play. We had a total of nineteen players which was our lowest level since the morning it was 33  degrees earlier this year. This caused us to play ten, share a couple players, and suspend the running rules. For those at bat there was not much time to rest as at least one player was in the field, two coaches/umpires, a home plate umpire, and a score keeper had everyone busy.

 

The visitors were managed by Jeff Simon, Team Simon consisted of Witmer, Herbie, Coffman, Matta, Butler, Simon, Thompson, Chrest, and Baker. They built a five run lead through their half of the second with Herbie O's triple bringing everyone to their feet. Their bats went to sleep during the next three innings as they failed to score. Meanwhile, Team Moots went down on three pitches in the first and relied on the bottom of the lineup to score twice in the second. The team of Edwards, Hill, Zelazny, Laffoon, DeRidder, Lopez, Wells, and Moots managed to score seven runs in the next three innings to take the lead

 

The sixth inning saw Team Simon start to take command of the game as their first five batters reached base and scored. This was followed up with four in the seventh off Larry Chrest's home run and  two in the eighth. Meanwhile, Team Moots managed only one hit over the same period as Donnie Witmer's glove was like a magnet for that little yellow ball. At the end of six innings the score stood Team Simon 16 and Team Moots 9. 

 

The ninth was an open inning, and Team Simon took advantage by batting through the line up and scoring another seven runs. It could have been worse as they stranded two runners when the  eleventh batter made the last out. Team Moots was not about to quit and mounted a strong comeback, albeit not sufficient enough to overcome the huge deficit. The hits that had folks talking were Gerry DeRitter's  two balls hit to the warning track. Ron Butler ran one down at the fence and the other was as close to clearing the fence as I have seen. Team Moots scored four to make it seem closer than the game played out. Final score Team Simon  23 and Team Moots  13.

 

Key Performances

 

Donnie Witmer       6 for 7

Herbie O                 5 for 7 with a triple

Kirk Coffman         5 for 7

Nick Matta             5 for 7

Ron Butler              5 for 7

Larry Chrest           5 for 6 with a home run

Josh Wells              5 for 6 with a double

Rich Moots             5 for 6

 

Submitted by Bob Zelazny

And our teammate Jim Lafoon submits the following bit of good news.

Deanne is recovering nicely after 3 rounds of chemo, major surgery, loss of 50 pounds and minus her spleen.  Thanks to all of my softball pals in WH and Lakeland for the prayers and kind words during her ordeal.  

Thanks again,  Jim L.