Michigan Town Ball

[stevem810]

It's a small community, just like its archrival Whitefish Bay, and every summer the two communities battle for baseball supremacy. But, when the dust from the diamond disappears, and the fall season takes over, residents of the area all enjoy the beauty of this pristine land. Home of Tahquamenom Falls, it's a paradise for fans of the White Pines and Kingfishers.

[stevem810]

Both teams had runners at the corners in the first, but McCarter picked off Williams at first base with 2 out, and then the White Pines bounced into a 3-6-3 DP to end the bottom half of the first.

[stevem810]

TC centerfielder Grant Mitchell threw out a runner at the plate to end the 6th, but if the Bears don't start hitting the ball and getting on base, it's academic.

[stevem810]

Ryan McCarter threw over 130 pitches before leaving with 2 out in the 9th, but the outcome was never in doubt as Game 5 progressed. Paradise swatted three homers in their domination of the Lower Peninsula Bears.

It was the fifth time in six years that the U.P. captured the Town Ball Championship. Billy Zimmerman captured the series MVP. HIs stats are listed below.

[stevem810]

Approximately fifty players retired from the Town Ball League. Nineteen of them were active with a team or on the 6-man reserve roster. The remaining thirty one were not actively associated with any of the 16 teams.

Almost all of the roster players were between 36 and 42 years old. Town Ball has a number of 'free agents' who hope to fill openings someday.

The top nine, including previously featured Mike Shuster, are almost exclusively pitchers.

Ezra Schick, a former platinum bat winner, is one of the more notable retirees.

[stevem810]

We were all thinking Whitefish Bay or Paradise for this highly regarded pitcher. He crossed us all up when the Ironwood Mad Katz announced that Shuster would be selling tractors in Ironwood beginning next month and would logically be pitching for the hometown Mad Katz.

[stevem810]

The Freedom have been known for their town players having gumption and fight, despite their woeful record over the course of league history. Until last year, the Upper had two divisions of four teams, so those 4th place finishes are actually all last place.
The town paper (yes, they still have a once-a-week newspaper called the Herald, printed on Wednesdays) has announced that it has hired a new editor and an office manager, both part-time.

The names have been withheld pending a related announcement that has to do with recreational baseball. I guess that's code for Town Ball. No details are available, but the locals are already buzzing about a new outfielder and pitcher. Hard to say if they have inside info on this one.

[David Watts]

Originally Posted by stevem810

It's a small community, just like its archrival Whitefish Bay, and every summer the two communities battle for baseball supremacy. But, when the dust from the diamond disappears, and the fall season takes over, residents of the area all enjoy the beauty of this pristine land. Home of Tahquamenom Falls, it's a paradise for fans of the White Pines and Kingfishers.

Please tell me you've created a fictional player(a catcher) named Alex McKnight and put him on the Paradise team. Steve Hamilton writes a great private detective series starring Alex McKnight with Paradise Michigan as the main setting. McKnight is a ex cop, but in his early days he played minor league baseball.

[stevem810]

Ryan McCarter stole the show this past year. MVP, Pitcher of the Year, Town Ball Championship. The three time all star was unanimously selected as the Pitcher of the Year (Bruhan, notwithstanding) and edged Ann Arbor's Jerry Dees as the Most Valuable Player.

Bartosik captures the Reliever of the Year.

Grant Mitchell is the Rookie of the Year.

[stevem810]

Dean Morley, 2b, has announced he is relocating back to the Ann Arbor area, the city he grew up playing ball at the corner of Dexter-Ann Arbor and Maple Rd. He hopes to find a spot with the Barn Owls or the Z's when an opening surfaces.

In a related announcement, Paradise has recruited one of the more popular players on the wait list, catcher Alex McKnight.

McKnight is billed as an inherent leader who emphasizes team discipline and strong moral values. But he has a playful side to him, too, and the locals expect Alex to fit right in with the rest of the guys.

[stevem810]

Alex McKnight, after some prodding, agreed to model next year's uniform.

[stevem810]

Just two players per team are allotted for the off-season development program. Ryan McCarter, winner of Pitcher of the Year and MVP, had this report at the halfway mark.

This is not good news for the other 15 teams.

UPDATE: MARCH 1986
McCarter after gaining movement before the practice facility, lost it during the course of the session and into preseason. Half way through the practice facility he was on track to succeed.

[stevem810]

The Ontonagan Freedom have introduced two new players who have other Town Ball teams drooling over their potential. Grimm is a legit two-way player, so it's almost like landing three new guys.
Will it be enough to get them to the .500 level in the standings? If so, it would be a first.
They will be first up in the live action when play begins this week.

[stevem810]

Opening Day, 1986 is just around the corner.

[stevem810]

Noteworthy events of the first game of the season:
-Adrian Bruhan (Grand Haven) sets the all-time mark for wins (59). He has an undefeated 13-game streak.

-Newcomer Jeff Grimm had a pretty good outing but was saddled with the loss because of an error allowing 2 runs to score. Grimm went 7.1 IP with three earned runs and collected one single in 4 AB's. He's the only P/DH at the moment. Still, the Freedom lost, again.

-MVP/POY Ryan McCarter got the W for Paradise as he fanned 8 (walked 5) but had the support of the White Pine bats in the 11-2 win over Iron River.

-Paradise newcomer Alex McKnight went 1 for 2 with a double and a pair of walks.

[stevem810]

We wrapped up the first weekend of Townball baseball and take not of a few items of interest:

• The two Ann Arbor teams are both 3-0 in the L.P.
  The champs and the Eclipse are the two 3-0 teams in the U.P.
  Four time GG winner Jesse Ullery is leading the league in batting. No stranger to awards but batting has never been included on his resume. He hit .198 last year. Expect a drop off, soon?
  Copper Harbor's Billy Moser swiped 5 bags in 3 games (5/5).
  The popular Alex McKnight is leading the league in OPS, Batter WAR, and RBI's.
  The highly touted Mike Shuster (see earlier threads) K'd 9 guys in his first Townball start. Sadly, Shuster was saddled with the loss in the 2-1 pitchers duel.

[stevem810]

He's one of my favorite players and is definitely adored along the sands of the Grand Haven area. Bruhan is about as automatic as it comes when you look at QS's. He got the Waveriders off on the right foot with his solid outing.
Fans on the east side of town are accustomed to his 'rude' behavior. One of them remarked, 'Sorry, but the after-game pizza doesn't ever taste as good after facing Bishop.'

[darkcloud4579]

Checking back in on this one!

[stevem810]

Chemistry, cohesion, esprit de corps. Got a lot of names. Can we put a value on it? What's it worth in terms of wins and losses. Better to have a big bopper who everyone can't stand or a solid player that is a team leader?

The Saugatuck Joes are the only team that checks all the checkboxes. Right now they are 2-1. We're going to keep an eye on this happy group of Western Michigan to see how they do this season.

[stevem810]

I sat in on the Joes vs. the Waveriders because I wanted to watch Adrian Bruhan pitch and observe the 'High Chemistry' Joes in action.

Bruhan didn't disappoint and left the game after 6.2 IP and the lead. What happened after can be attributed to a big power bat or....team chemistry??

With one out in the 9th, PH Jerry Browers, in his first AB of the season, drilled one into the LC field seats for a walk-off one-run win.

Amazing.