8/15/2010: Saginaw ‘Old Golds’ Effort Falls Short
The 2009 Champions of the Greenfield Village World Tournament of Historic Base Ball
Saginaw ‘Old Golds’ played five games but didn’t repeat the game results of last year.
They certainly did themselves proud with their play. The ‘Golds’ started off by pounding
the ‘Unknowns’, a collection of players from different teams (including Nate “Bull Frog”
Hall & Richard “Professor” Curry from Saginaw) 28 to 4. Game Ball: “Bull Dog” Daig
two doubles/2 triples. Saginaw then found themselves down to the Fremont, Ohio
Spiegel Grove “Squires’ 13 to nothing after five innings of play. The ‘Golds’ never gave
up as they chalked up 13 runs in the last 3 innings, but lost 16 to 13. Guerra was 4 for 4 &
Tesch 3 for 3. The ‘Squires’ were called for illegal bats in that game, & they had the gall
to bring them back (3 in all) on Sunday and tried using them again against the Lah-De-
Dahs in the Semi final on Sunday, having known they were already illegal. The bats were
thrown out by the Umps before the game and the ‘Squires’ rightfully lost. The word
integrity lost meaning in a sport that prides itself on gentlemanly play. The ‘Golds’ then
played the Bay City ‘Independents’ for the right to come back on Sunday & play for the
Reserve Championship Trophy. The ‘Golds’ put their hitting shoes back on & ripped Bay
City 28 to 13 (for the 5th straight time in their local rivalry-once leading 28 to 6) to
advance for another day. Game Ball: Beemer: 4 for 4, w/ double/triple. The ‘Unknowns’,
found themselves playing into the next day with an upset win over the
Bonneyville ‘Millers’. The ‘Unknowns’ played Forest City, a team from the Cleveland
area, on Sunday for the right to play Saginaw in the next game. They were leading 8 to 7
after two innings, but then the fateful third inning arrived. With Richard ‘Professor’
Curry catching, Forest City hammered out 14 runs and absconded numerous bases. After
nearly 30 minutes, with glaring sun in his face Richard told the batter, “Dude if you don’t
tip the ball back soon, I may have to beat you with your own bat”, sure enough, the ball
ended in Richard’s hand. Forest City moved on with a 29 to 8 win. Saginaw returned the
favor for Nate & Richard with an 18 to 7 beating of Forest City. Game Ball: “Vanilla
Gorilla Konuszewski: 5 for 5, double, 2 way out of the park. This set up the Reserve
Championship game for the “Golds’ with the Indianapolis ‘Blues’. With “Slink” Spitz
not returning from Saginaw to play Sunday, “Big Wheel” Beemer bursting a vain in his
finger, “Hustler” Guerra pulling a hamstring, & “Ducky” Mahan suffering from the heat
exhaustion (He went a foul in the 90 degree heat), the ‘Golds’ ran out of gas and lost 15
to 8. Short went 5 for 5 & Gorilla hit 4 bombs. Columbus ‘Capitols’ won the overall
2010 Championship with a victory over the Lah-De-Dahs 25 to 18. Saginaw had beaten
the ‘Capitols’ the previous two years 23 to 3 & 19 to 9. Tourney Highlights: Dennis K.
hit .810 with 12 monster shot (over the train track/3 tiered fenced walls & trees) doubles
&14 RBI’s, Ryan Dost .750, Toby Larkin .700 & 5 P.O.s, Short .696 w/ 16 Putouts,
Guerra .682 w/10putouts, Daig .667, 10 RBI, & 3rd fastest around the bases, Beemer .647,
Piersall .619, & Hammond .579, 5 P.O s. Mahan, McCauley, & Tesch: 9 hits each.
Unknowns: “Bull Frog” Hall .667 w/2 doubles/6 hits & a triple and the “Professor”
Curry: 2 for 6, a double, 2 RBI’s, run scored, & 3 putouts. Saginaw (13-9 record) moves
on to play in Columbus against 35 teams from nine states for the Ohio Cup: Sept. 4th &
5th.

Richard Curry. clarkson1883@yahoo.com.

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