Michigan Town Ball

[stevem810]

Paradise has achieved the repeat, winning its second consecutive Town Ball Championship by sweeping the Ypsilanti Jack Rabbits in four games.

Never mind that they were out-hit every game; they pitched well, hit home runs, and were clutch.

[stevem810]

The Award Voting is complete, and the two major recipients are from the playoff teams. Town Ball has migrated to version 27 and has begun the off-season tweaking of rosters, mostly to replace retirees and to add some punch to the teams in need.

Rumor has it that Whitefish Bay, the natural rival of the Paradise White Pines, has recruited a local player who is still in high school, attending Newberry High, who just might win the Rookie of the Year Award.

He's a shortstop and labeled a 'once in a lifetime player' by his H.S. baseball coach, who recommends that Whitefish Bay give the kid a uniform and then get out of the way.

[jksander]

Accidentally misread the uniform as "****e Pines" lol but that would be inappropriate considering they won

[stevem810]

Yeah, the White Pines are loaded with talent. It will be interesting to see if they can maintain the current dominance over the rest of the league.

Whitefish Bay is situated at the polar end of the standings, but they do have a promising rookie for next season.

Let the rivalry begin.

[stevem810]

The two teams with the most wins are from the Upper Peninsula league. Collectively, they have won 5 of the 7 titles. The other title, belonging to the U.P. was accomplished by Drummond Island.

That leaves a single championship for the Lower Peninsula that belongs to Fricano's Pizzetta's. The team's record was 28-26, but in the first six years, each league had 2 divisions.

[stevem810]

New Season, same story.

The White Pines dominated behind the stellar pitching of McCarter and the heavy lumber of two time Platinum Award winner 2B, Mike Reis. Reis blasted two homers and batted in 2 runs.

[stevem810]

His fastball sits between 87-89 mph. His bread & butter pitch is a changeup, but he has 3 others in his repertoire. Hailed as a GB artist, the question is, can Julian succeed with an FB below 90 mph?

His first start was less than what the Jiffies hoped for as Will labored for 6.1 IP, yielding 5 runs on 9 hits.

It's a long season with plenty more starts for Julian and he has nowhere to go but up.

[stevem810]

There were some sweeps in the first week of the season. The Ann Arbor Barn Owls, the team I occasionally manage, unleashed the offense to the delight of their followers.

Ann Arbor was led by the middle of the order as indicated by the graphic below.

[stevem810]

A number of players are approaching milestones in the TBL. Note the most proficient K pitcher is just 25 years old, and miles ahead of the pack. Brujan made an immediate impression winning the strikeout crown in his first 3 seasons.

[stevem810]

The highly touted SS from the Whitefish Bay area made his first series debut and did not disappoint.

[stevem810]

Dylan Bouchard had a huge grand slam with 2 out in the 9th to steal a win from the Chelsea Jiffies, closing out the series with a 2-1 edge.

LF Billy McGill of the undefeated Iron River Gulls received was the POW based on his 8 for 14 week. These Gulls swept the champs in Paradise, no small feat.

[stevem810]

Jiffy management announced that Chelsea will begin playing with a new uniform top, pants, and socks in the coming week.

There are new caps but the equipment manager has temporarily misplaced them.

[stevem810]

The mini box score lends a glimpse into the frustration of the home team vs the elation of the visitors. Despite tying the record for K's in a 9-inning game, Otneil Niedbala could not capture the first win for the Freedom.

The 32-year-old pitcher from the Motor City fanned 12 without giving up a walk, but Rocky Garth spoiled it for Ontonagon with his winning base hit in the 9th.

[stevem810]

Iron River seems to be back to its winning ways as we begin the 1987 season. The two-time champs with a 63% historical win % are beginning to look like themselves.

The matchups are set for Saturday. Ted Ball led the league with 13 wins last season. The Mad Katz hope he will be their stopper.

[stevem810]

The Kingfishers, with their highly touted 16 y/o SS Jim 'Cactus' Knight, are in a pitchers duel with Joe Jones on the mound. The bases are loaded in this scoreless duel, but Bobby Navejas is at the plate batting just .154.

[stevem810]

doubles in 2 runs.

[stevem810]

The rivalry may be beginning to heat up.

[stevem810]

One was an 8-0 start by the Copper Harbor Minors, and the other was the 0-8 beginning for the Ontonagon Freedom.

Without fanfare, well, there was a bit of that on the shores of Lake Superior, as the Freedom parlayed the starting pitching of Jeff Grimm along with the, er, hitting of Jeff Grimm.

The two way player pitched a CG shutout, allowing 5 hits and 0 walks, and clubbed his first homer and second double of the year.

Danny Lovitt broke an 18-game no-hit streak as he collected three at the top of the Freedom order.

[stevem810]

Jamaal Williams of the Traverse City Bears receives the POW award for his 6/12 and 2 HR week. He scored 2 and batted in 5.

Jamaal was born in the same hometown as me, Dearborn. Levagood Park, anyone?

Ed note: It was an amazing dose of nostalgia that I just experienced perusing a park photo for this post. I spent, like, 90% of my free time in that park growing up. Baseball, skating, swimming, sledding, and later, well, just hanging out smoking cigarettes and playing cards.

[Jimdingleberry]

Will this be available as a quickstart? As a UP resident i'd love to give this a playthrough.