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THE ISLANDIAN TIMES
Friday, October 22, 2049
CORNWALL AND TINKER TURN CLUBS AROUND
Two IPA skippers picked up their first Manager of the Year trophies this season. The Ruthlandian Union honoree was Ricky Tinker of the Middlefield Roosters and the Tycobbian winner was Cotton Cornwall of the Bay St. Clair Buccaneers. Both of them won the awards because their teams went from rags to riches in just one year.
It was a miraculous recovery for Middlefield. Tinker turned them around from fifth place and 19 GB with a 73-81 record to an IPA high 104 victories and the RU West Divsion title. Tinker had a modest playing career, spending 19 years as a light-hitting first baseman for the Roosters. He batted .290 with 188 roundrippers. Tinker played from 2002 to 2020.
Two skippers came in second and third in the RU Manager of the Year competition. Bobby Gamble led his Sugar Valley Rattlers to their second straight pennant in the Ruthlandian East with a super 103-51 mark after going 95-59 last year. Slick Hammill guided the Belle Plaine Musketeers up from third place to a distant second to Sugar Valley. The Muskies improved from 84-70 and 11 GB to 95-59 and only 8 games off the pace.
Decades have gone by since Bay St. Clair last made the postseason in 2030. Cotton Cornwall's club rose up from a horrendous 57-97 to 93-62. They were last in 2048 and 38 games behind in the pennant race. This year they won the division flag, edging out Denton City in a single-game playoff and beating back the reigning Pro Cup champion Rolling Hills by three and a half games. Cornwall was an outstanding outfielder playing six years with Ginza and 12 with Bay St. Clair, putting a .303 lifetime batting average with 433 homers. He was a five-time All-Star, Batter of the Year in 2032 and Rookie of the Year in 2027. He retired in 2043 at age 38 and has been the pilot of the Bucs since 2044.
Cornwall got some stiff competition from three other skippers. Luxora's Joel Poche was the runner-up in the Manager of the Year poll as he sparked the Zorros in their rise from third place and 12 GB in 2048 to a tight second place this year behind White River in the Tycobbian North. The Z's went from 82-72 to 95-59, losing out to the Rascals by only three games.
San Alejo's Filipe Zamora skippered his Montaneros from third and 14 GB with an 87-57 record to the top spot in the TU South with a 97-57 mark.
Fourth in the polling was White River's Mick Cronyn, whose club won its second consecutive pennant in the TU North with a fine 98-56 record. In 2048 the Rascals were 94-60.
Ricky Tinker *** Cotton Cornwall
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