Michigan Town Ball

[stevem810]

The throwback in time island of Mackinac is a favorite of all the ball players in the Michigan Town Ball League. First off, the only way to arrive, unless you own a private small plane, is by ferry. So, the players meet in Mackinac City ahead of time for the short 15 minute jaunt across the bay.

Secondly, there are no motor vehicles on the island. Horse and buggy, or rent a bicycle. It's quiet, void of street noise other than frolicking children and adults, and there is more than a fudge shop on every corner.

The Pizzeta's, always the underdog, played their usual role with 1-7 #3 SP Greg Waggoner on the mound (teams use a 3 man rotation). But, someone needed to tall Waggoner that he had no chance. Greg worked a full 9 IP and allowed 5 hits and 1 run, 0 walks.

.213 hitting B.J. Douglas, lead off man for Fricano's iced the game with his 3 run homer to left center in the 8th. The Pizzeta's went on to win 5-1, taking 2/3 from the Mackinac Island Eclipse.

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There is an ancient saying, 'Every dog has its Day', that over the years we've used to draw analogies for human behavior. Has it ever been more appropriate to use that old saying than in regard to 19 year old Kyle Ellingson of the Drummond Island Lucky Clover, and his accomplishments last night at the park?

In 1980 Kyle hit .143 in 19 PA's. Many have described him as unmotivated, unloyal, and unwilling to do the work to improve. But, Ellingson lives on the island, and his father was just the opposite in his day. So, maybe the lads cut Kyle some slack.

"Not a bad kid", quips the Organizer of the team Kevin Bain, "just needs to mature."

Ellingson helped tie the game in the 9th with a ground out to second base which sent the contest into extra innings. It was there, in the 10th, that Kyle picked up his first hit of the season, first homer of the season, and certainly his first slam of the season.

The team, to a man, extended high five's to the seldom used outfielder originally from Essexville, MI. Kyle now has a batting average of .100, but, he is slugging .400.

The Lucky Clover take down the home team Miners 11-4 in ten.

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A bit surprising on the choice of the Player of the Game in this one. Fletes seems to outshine Tillman in most regards in the box score, except hits and an extra walk. So, maybe some logic in that regard.

He even picked up 2 hits to just for Tillman.

Close call on the POG.

The important thing for the Bears is the W, and they are now 17-14.

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I traveled to Ironwood to watch the Ironwood Mad Katz host the Copper Harbor Minors. I was interested in getting a glimpse of SP Tim Graham who was starting his first game of the season for the Mad Katz. He pitched effectively in 18 games last season AND posted a .983 OPS for Ironwood.

Graham has not played because his job required him to work the beginning of the summer. A bread baker by trade, Graham needed to fill in on the weekends to cover for another baker on maternity.

How did Graham do in his start? That was the question on the mind of Ironwood faithful.

At the plate he went 1 for 4 hitting out of the #9 hole. On the hill, he worked 8 innings. He had a 2 run lead in the top of the 4th but an infield error put a runner on and second sacker John Tohill took advantage as he lined a ball into the 11th row of the cornfield in left.

A second infield error the next inning led to the 3rd Minor run putting Copper Harbor up, 3-2. Graham's dream of a winning debut started to look a bit in doubt until the 7th when the Mad Katz exploded for 3 runs. They literally ran the Minors off the field swiping 5 bases in 6 attempts.

When the final 3 outs were recorded with Mike Tate on the Mound, the Mad Katz had a nice 6 to 3 win.

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The most compelling divisional race is in southeastern Michigan between the Ann Arbor Barn Owls and the Zing's Z's. The Barn Owls have a 1 game lead over Zing's but the Z's have ripped off 11 straight.

Zing's is ranked #1 in most of the measured team categories and our led by SP Kevin Reiber, 11-2/ 2.17 ERA.

A2 team is ranked 2nd in most categories, but first in runs scored and WBA. Team Captain Bill Ault is a terror at the dish putting up these numbers: .363/.457/.719 for an 1.176 OPS.

The two teams will go head to head August 21-23 at the home of the Z's.

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A few close calls down the stretch. Somehow the Minors figured out how to win the close ones as they took the division with a negative Run Differential, but were 12-5 in one run games.

Can this 'good fortune' hold out against the Sea Gulls and the team with the best overall record?

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Copper Harbor continue to play above their heads, although they would put an argument that they understand when it's important to hit the gas.

The Sea Gulls better solve the Josh Mikus riddle because he is tearing them up. Down the 3-1 in the series they are running out of time.

In the Lower Peninsula Grand Haven's Adrian Brujan, a high school product of Grand Rapids, is pitching above and beyond his 20 years of age. This kid has the goods.

[pauwoo]

I’m really enjoying this.

[stevem810]

Originally Posted by pauwoo

I’m really enjoying this.

Thank you for the kind words.

[stevem810]

SP Phil Stoke, at 36 years of age, has played a lot of town ball in his life. He never made the majors, was never invited, and never cared that he wasn't.

You'd think that at his age, with the veteran experience, that he might be one of the more admired players in the Michigan league. He's not.

He only has two pitches. His stuff is often ridiculed. He's been called lazy, lacking in motivation, and a real pain to be around.

It's the third tagline that has meaning today. He is a real pain to be around, but, only if you play for the Zing Z's. Stoke, for all his faults is a gamer. You don't go 14-1 like he did last year if you are not. While his fortunes dropped off a bit this year (9-6) he was crazy good in game 4 of the first round.

The Player of the Game went the distance allowing 5 hits. His pitch to contact methodology (just 1 K) had the Z's frustrated all game long. Adding insult to injury, he went 2 for 4 with a double, batted in a run, and scored a run.

Four and done. The upstart Waveriders punch the Z's ticket for the off season and now await the series winner between Copper Harbor and Iron River.

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Iron River won more games than any other team in the Town Ball League (38) so they are not quitting until they get the job done. A convincing 8-2 thrashing of the Miners on their turf sends the series back home to Iron River where the Gulls are 22-5 on the year.

Billy McGill's 9 hits in the lead off spot (.474) is causing problems for the Copper Harbor staff. It doesn't help that Jim Rodriguez in the #2 hole has 8 hits for the series.

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A modern day Murders Row, or just some dang good talent? No matter the explanation we know the result is a game 7 for Iron River as the top portion of their line up pounded the Miners pitching staff.

The top 5 guys batted in 12 runs while totaling 12 hits (4 by McGill) as they rolled to a 13-6 win in front of 196 rabid fans.

Billy McGill's batting line is a sick .542/.607/.1.524 for the series. The 31 year old from Redford Township played his sandlot ball just off of Telegraph and Plymouth Roads. Billy, nicknamed 'Catfish' by his team mates, promises a Catfish Dinner like no other if they can go on to win the final game. At this point, the Drakes mix has already been ordered.

Game 7 will be played tomorrow. Ryan Olson (11-6/ 2.73) will face off against Nate Hoffman (1-0/ 2.16 ERA) as Hoffman will try and win the U.P. championship for the home team and pitch a CG W for the 3rd consecutive time. He is on a current win streak of 3 (one in relief).

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Just when you think the Miners good fortunes were coming to an end and that the Sea Gulls would claim their spot in the finals, Copper Harbor explodes with home run power to seize the final game of the series. It was a fun game to watch.

In the bottom of the first it was pesky Billy McGill ripping a base hit as the lead off man and two batters later coming around to score. But, McGill's hot streak would not continue as he had opportunities later in the game to make a difference but ended up stranding all 4 runners.

31 year old CF Joel Hanneken had only 3 homers all year long but he went deep twice in this game. Combined with Seigfried's shot, it was all too much offense for the Gulls. All the Miner position players had at least one hit for the Miners.

It was the bullpen that let down Iron River in the end. Two relievers had identical 1 inning stints in the 8th and 9th giving up 3 hits and 2 runs apiece spoiling a pretty good effort by Sea Gull SP Kalista who last minute insert getting the nod over Hoffman.

SP Ryan Olsen, born in Grand Haven, MI., but a resident in Copper Harbor for the past 15 years was the winning pitcher. Olsen's 11 W's topped the UP League this year.

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In its second year, the Michigan Town Ball League has a new champion for the year 1981, the Copper Harbor Miners. Having narrowly edged in Round One what many called the 'best' team in the league (Iron River Gulls), Copper Harbor took a close final series knotted at 1-1 and ended it with three straight road wins.

The team ranked 6th in runs scored, 5th in Batting Average, 4th in both Starters and Relievers ERA, 4th in Defensive Efficiency, but apparently first in heart.

Series MVP Josh Mikus a .232 regular season hitter hit .619 while slugging .905. Garcia and Hannekin had 8 hits apiece while hitting an identical .381, but it was Josh's 13 hits that propelled the Miners to post-season glory.

While few have ever tagged Mikus a team leader (he loves to hog the spotlight), most have to admit he is a force to be reckoned with when the chips are on the line. From Redford Township, the 24 year old is likely to be big part of the Copper Harbor arsenal for years to come. As Josh likes to point out to anyone who will listen, 'he's not just a big bat'. "I really have thought about tinting my glove 'gold', it's that big for me. And, don't forget the 4 four assists I had from right field this season." While he didn't mention it himself, Josh has not missed a ball game in 2 years. 108 straight for the rightfielder.

For Grand Haven it was a bitter pill to swallow as they lost last season's championship series to the Iron River Gulls. The 'Uppers' now have a 2-0 edge in the competition.

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With the 1981 season in the books we now advance to the 82 season. There were approximately 30 retirements announced at the end of September translating to 30 new ballplayers entering the league. There is no trading or free agency in Town Ball League.

The league operates without spring training, too. Teams expect their players to be ready to go by the designated opening day of May 7th. Weather is iffy in Michigan so Town Ball prefers to make all its games count.

For better or worse the local prognosticator (it changes every year) Jason 'Dumbo' Rexrode (he retired after the 81 season) after receiving a cup of coffee with the Miners, came up with the following predictions. Rexrode is an engineer in his day job and claims to have formulas for determining his numbers.

No one has any idea if Jason is actually qualified for this endeavor, some say what he's laid out is just 'common sense', but we do know it's made for interesting conversations in some of the rural taverns north and south of the Mackinac Bridge. Here they are. Of interest to many is the fact that Jason has picked the lovable Pizzeta's to escape the cellar, albeit by one game.

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The Fricano's Pizzeta's are widely known for their Town Ball futility and even they know it is an uphill battle. Lacking more dynamic players at the key positions it could be another labor of love for the franchise that is often referred to as 'no bat, good crust'.

But, all the news is not bad for the Pizzeta's as they have the #1 prospect in the Town Ball League, according to Jason Rexrode. Heath Bone was thrown into the fire immediately and slotted in the 3 hole while playing LF for Fricano's. Bone went 0 for 4 in his debut.

Bone, being new to Town Ball, has no statistical record to refer to but Cobb has him profiled as an above average contact hitter who will drive balls to the gap and beyond while working his fair share of walks. Defensively, a strong arm but otherwise average across the board.

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In the second contest of the season the often maligned Pizzetta's have sent a message that this may not be the same version of the team that we have become accustomed to watching each weekend of the summer.

Led by their 'new star' Heath Bone, Fricano's changed up the recipe for batting and it apparently had an impact. Witness the convincing win in game two of the young season. B.J. Douglas had quite a day at the top of the lineup.

"Pizza's on the house boys"!, was the rallying cry after the game as the family was more than happy to reward the team for their efforts.

As the bar/pizza parlor emptied out in the wee hours of the morning Jimmy Manicotti's deep voice could be heard proclaiming, "...and it IS a helluva crust, too, ya know."

editors note: Opener had to be replayed because of an improper closing of the game.

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It was an all Ann Arbor game with the Barn Owls of the north side of town traveling to the south side to take on Zing's Z's. I was fortunate to watch this game from the first to the last pitch.

The estimated attendance was 420 fans for the contest as both sides of the city, and everything in between, wanted to see if the Z's could remain the only unbeaten team in the Town Ball League.

Logan Wilson, 7-4 last year for the Z's, got the call. His 1.04 ERA entering the game was a stark contrast to the 34 year old Doug Horton from Battle Creek, Mi. The Mackinaw Island Eclipse roughed up Horton in his only other appearance as Ann Arbor lost 7-3.

The Barn Owls opened the scoring in the top of the first as they plated an unearned run. That would be it for Ann Arbor scoring as Wilson went the distance cutting his ERA in half as he recorded his 2nd win in as many starts.

Jerry Dees had a pair of doubles and a homer leading the Z's to an easy 8-1 win leaving the team from the south side with a perfect 7-0 record. Ownership, in anticipation of another Zing W, passed out bagels and cream cheese to those in attenance. Even the Barn Owl fans were treated to the special new york style bagels. The Lox, however, were reserved for home fans and the Z players.

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The Saugatuck Joes were the one thing prognosticators declared standing between the Fricano's Pizzeta's and another last place finish. Where the Pizzeta's are surprising the Joes are disappointing.

Yet the Joes can breathe a bit easier this evening having finally posted a W in a game played in Grand Haven. The Waveriders pounded out 9 hits but left a whopping 13 on base in the 1-0 loss to the Joes.

Adrian Brujan, the 20 year old who has been featured here before, was the unlucky pitcher as he surrendered just a run in the 9th leaving him with an 0-2 record despite a microscopic 1.11 ERA. Adrian went 13-4 and made it to the championship series last year but the road ahead may be a bit more challenging as Grand Haven trails both Traverse City and, believe it or not, Fricano's by 3 games in the standings.

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While the Joe's streak ended the Z's did not. Led by Dewey and Dees (each has 4 homers and 11 ribbies) the Z's are making it look easy.

Matt Eddings, at the top of the line up is hitting .389 and has scored 7 runs in the last 4 games.