Wednesday, January 18, 2068
TWO IPA GREATS WALSH AND MCCLOUD HEADED FOR THE HALL OF FAME
The Islandian Pro Alliance proudly announced the addition of two more great players to the Hall of Fame... this year the Class of 2068 will be Sligo hurler Mickey Walsh and Denton City shortstop Vincent McCloud... they have been selected this year and will be enshrined into the IPA Hall of Fame in Marston on February 12th... they will join the other 107 players currently in the historic baseball shrine... 69 of the IPA immortals are position players, 40 of them are pitchers.
Mickey Walsh starred for 18 seasons for the Sligo Rovers, while Vincent McCloud stood out for 19 years for the Denton City Redbirds.
Walsh went 311-207 from 2047 to 2064 and retired at age 37 in 2064... Walsh, a big, chubby right-hander appeared in 610 games and was a workhorse on the hill, famed for being a 240-pound knuckleballer... in 4833 innings he struck out 2978 batters and posted a very impressive 2.64 ERA, only permitting opposing clubs to hit .232 against him... Walsh won 20 games 6 times in his coveted career... was a 5-time All-Star and paced the Rovers to 5 pennants in the Ruthlandian West Division... Walsh was awarded the RU Golden Arm trophy in 2053 as he chalked up a 24-10 mark with a brilliant 2.28 ERA... he sparked Sligo in three postseason appearances... they never won the Pro Cup, however, Walsh was even tougher in the playoffs than the regular season... he compiled a superb 2.18 ERA in 18 postseason starts and 129 innings with 163 strikeouts, but sadly record-wise, he was only 2-6 overall... Sligo was notoriously woeful at the plate and often didn't support him with many runs... he lost a lot of well-pitched games in the postseason.
The hallowed halls in Marston gained a pillar of consistency in Mickey Walsh, one of baseball’s most dependable hurlers of the last few decades, as he takes his place among the game’s all-time greats... upon being told of his Hall of Fame selection, Walsh said it was a remarkable journey for him... he talked of growing up playing Wiffle Ball for hours on end, though his baseball career almost didn’t get off the ground... he reported for his first practice as an 8-year-old so early that nobody was at the field when he arrived... after riding back home on his bike, Mussina was told by his mom to turn around and try again... so he did and he never looked back, winning a state championship in high school .
“Thanks to my mom convincing me to get back on my bike and go back to that first practice,” Walsh said, “and for finally allowing me to stop taking piano lessons, because that just wasn’t working out.”
Walsh was a gamer, plain and simple... he wanted the ball and did everything within his power to get himself ready to contribute... he said he learned to throw and control the knuckleball out of necessity... he just couldn't throw the baseball hard... the best Walsh could ever glean out of his fastball was 89 mph... but, fortunately, he could make the knuckleball dance quite well and do the dipsy doodle.
Vincent McCloud's dream of playing IPA baseball started years ago... he said he had the good fortune to grow up in Denton City, a beautiful city with great weather, which allowed him to always be outside playing sports with his buddies... McCloud remembered playing ball in the summer like it was yesterday... hardball, tennis ball, rubber ball, Wiffle ball, cork ball... anything to keep us busy... he said they played ball sunup to sundown... 7 days a week... but they would take time to go to church on Sunday.
McCloud gave credit to his parents for his success... they were always supportive and saw early on how much he loved baseball... they were the ones that instilled the structure, discipline and preparation that is needed to be successful in life... Walsh said his parents will be proud of him going into the Hall of Fame.
McCloud also gave a lot of credit to Sammy Thornton, who was the Denton City shortstop in the 30s and 40s... Thornton convinced the Redhawks management to draft a skinny, 155-pound shortstop with no power... McCloud remembers Sammy telling him if he hit .250 and played good defense, he would play in the IPA a long time.
It turns out that Thornton was more than right... McCloud played and starred for 19 seasons with Denton City, batted .297 with 3261 hits, 383 homers, 1527 RBIs and scored 1779 runs... he made the All-Star team 8 times and helped the Redhawks win 4 pennants... but they never won the IPA Pro Cup trophy... in 4 postseason appearances Denton City never made it past the first round.
McCloud hung up his spikes at the end of last season at age 38.