Saginaw Old Gold’s Win Second Annual John Clarkson Classic.
The Saginaw Old Golds traveled to Boston to play this last weekend and came
home with the ceramic
Mudville Bowl and the Championship. Saturday’s Exhibition games were played
in Ft. Walton on
Georges Island in Boston Harbor, this place housed Civil War Prisoners from
the South during the
National conflict. In game one Saginaw lost to Essex 12-4. John “Hound” Smith
smashed a long
Homerun & Jason “Logger” Leppek and Matt Shaner collected two hits each.
Game two saw Saginaw
play the 1856 rules (you could hit the runner with a thrown ball for an out
or catch a fly out) & the
Gold’s came away with a 41-26 win over host Mudville. Kevin “Big Wheel” Beemer,
Smith, and
John “Lumberjack” Piersall all scored 5 times each. Championship Sunday had
Mudville and Melrose
facing each other for the right to play top seed Saginaw. Melrose won 2-0. Saginaw
playing flying out
rules won the Championship contest 11 to 7. The outfield of Chad “Shorty” Short
(6 putouts), Piersall,
and Smith played great defense in the outfield. Beemer & David Slingshot”
Simpson (Game Ball) each
had four hits. The old guy, “Professor” Curry for the weekend caught 13 innings,
made 3 putouts (two
more then Beemer), and picked up 3 hits. But the highlight for Richard was rounding
the third stick
and having his pants fall down. Harold “Lumber-Baron” Campau did a great job
umping all the games
& Heidi Krenz, kept score and took care of the Bell. The team later marched
through Mudville in
a parade with a fire engine leading the way to the unveiling of the Casey at
Bat Statue. At the site,
the “Professor” thanked John “Choo-Choo” Shannahan and talked about John Clarkson.
“John Clarkson
was a great pitcher in the late 1880’s and a Hall of Famer, who drank, smoked,
and chased the ladies just
like the Mudville 9 at Casey’s at the Bat Bar”. At Casey’s the ball players
shared stories and a big roast to
finish off an awesome weekend. The “Golds” visited Fenway Park Friday Night
for the Oakland/Red Sox
game & the team got to meet Curt Young the team’s pitching coach. Curt was
a major League pitcher
who graduated from Saginaw Arthur Hill High School. The team record for the
season now stands at 2-
2. This Saturday, the Golds play the Royal Oak “Wahoos” at Ojibway @ 1:00 PM.
Richard Curry