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September 21,
2005 The Dugout
(From Nerd’s Perspective)
Superstitions are crazy
things. More often than not their
origins stray from reality. Break a
mirror and get seven years bad luck - invented by rich landowners to deter their
servants from costing them loads of money to replace them.
Thirteen is unlucky. That is
because it takes twelve witches to make a coven, plus the devil.
Don’t see that too often nowadays.
Walk under a ladder and get bad luck – of course, that’s because the
triangle of a ladder represents the Holy Trinity and if you break that you are
in league with Satan. And I don’t
know how many cracks I have stepped on and my mother’s back is doing just
fine. So, you can see,
superstitions can be silly. However,
baseball superstitions are an exception, grounded in truth, bolstered by years
of scientific study. That’s why
Nerd always wears Scooby-Doo boxer shorts the day before games and why you’ll
never see me on time to home games. And,
why this article is so late in coming. I
couldn’t write a new article in the midst of a winning streak, especially one
that was seventeen games long and covered nearly two months. I didn’t want to be the one to blame for its ending.
But, alas, it did, but what a wild streak it was. The 2005 MHT Season was
quite a ride. There were so many
individual and Team accomplishments to take pride in. Oftentimes, Night League takes a backseat to Day League but
for the end of the season article NL gets first billing. Why you ask? Perfection.
MHT completed the NL schedule with an outstanding 14-0 record.
We truly defined Team in NL. Everybody
on the roster from 1 to 21 did their part in reaching and winning the
Championship. Leading the charge
was the man on the bump for eleven of those games, Mikey Brabender.
He took the hill week in and week out, and dominated.
Congratulations on a great year, Mikey!
As for the offense, MHT averaged over seven runs per game.
When you consider that some nights everybody on the roster got playing
time, that is one great accomplishment. Night
League was a key component in building the confidence the Team displayed all
Season. As for Day League, the
goals were the same as every year: win
the section, make the Final Four, and win the championship.
Well, two out of three ain’t bad.
After starting off hot, we cooled a bit and found ourselves 6-3.
But the Team knew we were better than that.
And over the remainder of the regular season we proved it to ourselves
and the rest of the league. We had
to deal with a lot of adversity on and off the field, but the guys came together
and just played Ball. We finished
up the regular season winning our last seven, and taking the Divisional crown. And, that’s when the really tough work began.
(Coming out of the Northern Section is not for the faint of heart.
Some teams build up a nice record and claim they’re a good ball club.
It would be nice tossing them to the wolves of the North for a full
Summer and see how they feel at the end.) After
dispatching the plucky Bluffers in the opening game, we had CP in the way,
hungry and wanting revenge. It’s
a difficult task beating a team three times in one Season, but B-Town was up for
the challenge. Showing the
fortitude that has made him our rock, B tossed a shut-out, and we squeaked by
with a 2-0 win. Then it was our
time for revenge. Sauk Prairie beat
us earlier in the Season in a game where we had a slight case of the yips. Due to that defeat, we had to make the trip to their place.
But as any Dweller knows, a road game for MHT might as well be a home
game because our Fans travel like no other fans in the League.
This time we brought our bats, and left the yips at home, and pulled out
the win, stamping our invite to the Dance.
Being with the guys after that win was something Nerd will always
cherish. MHT is really not a whole
lot more than a bunch of family getting together on Sundays and playing a little
ball. We just do it damn well. The Final Four was a goal,
but ultimately what we really wanted was that Championship.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be.
After a stellar first round game against Jefferson, where the Team
knocked the cover off the ball, pitched lights out, and looked smooth as silk in
the field, we stumbled in the remaining two games.
Against Verona, the yips returned and we stuck ourselves in a hole we
couldn’t quite climb out of, not for a lack of trying.
And, in what proved to be Sun Prairie’s Championship moment in the sun,
our bats decided they just didn’t have anything left.
But no regrets from Nerd. We
played hard, competed to win, and showed class in defeat, and we did it all
together. I am mighty proud of
that. I wanted to thank all of
the fans for the support this year. We
truly believe that we have the best fans and it means the world to us to see
y’all come out every week. I also
want to thank Middleton Sport Bowl and Rusty’s for being such gracious hosts.
The guys aren’t just Teammates of each other, but Friends, and many a
memorable moment has been shared at your fine establishments. Thanks
everybody, and see ya next year. Trivia This
time around we are going to try something a little different.
This is for those Dwellers who pay attention to the crossword puzzle
section in the newspaper. It is a Cryptogram. The
rules are simple: A Cryptogram is
an encrypted word or phrase in which each letter represents another letter. Through
trial and error, the object is to decode the masked words.
The same, but different from the example, code applies throughout. All the answers are members of MHT. To make it more interesting, I used nicknames.
Have fun. Example:
AQRRTOBVE SDWOSDTT would be MIDDLETON BASEBALL.
1.
EZZGLV
2. WNLLG
3. JDGLT
4. IZFLW 5. AZZQ ENKPDFA
6. QU
7. ENKWL IVKEL
8. WENY 9. NDFXUL
10. IKAW SV.
11. IVKIW
12. VKFQKUU-LU 13.
NDF-WZF 14.
RE
15. FLVQ 16.
NZYWL 17.
WEZZRLV
18. VZILVR RNL IYRULV
19. L-WD 20.
I-RZOF
21. MLQVZ
22. GVYWLV
23. IZZ 24.
UZZZEKW The
Answers from last time:
o
A darker color is preferable to
keep glare away from the eyes. Green
is chosen because it blends in naturally with the color of the grass.
o
After winning the pennant in 1902,
the elephant image was added to show off to New York Giants manager, John
McGraw. McGraw had made many nasty
comments, most notably calling the team a 'bunch of white elephants.'
o
Black Betty and Beautiful Bella.
o
Harmon Killebrew.
o
Carroll Hardy, while playing with
the Boston Red Sox was the only man called upon to EVER pinch hit for Ted
Williams. Quotes (MHT,
Part 2) Apparently, Nerd left out
too many popular quotes the first time around.
So, here are some more:
Just a taste, this article
has become too long already. Nerd Book
Club My new choice for induction
to Nerd’s Book Club is a little different this time around.
It is titled The MHT Scorebook 2005. All
the elements of a great story are present. Intense ups and downs, comedy and tragedy, perseverance and
failure. The cast of characters is
rich with personality. A group of
men you truly can rally behind. Their
courage and camaraderie in the face of adversity will lift your hearts.
The
Scorebook has it all, and it was tough to put down when it was over.
Of course, you can’t find it just anywhere.
It’s not at Barnes & Noble or the local library, but that lends to
its charm – it is a true hidden gem. If
you don’t have access to one of its rare editions, or the chance to have a
conversation with one of the key participants, don’t fret.
There is a nice Cliff Notes version on the Statistics page of this
website. Check it out – you
won’t be disappointed. Read
to Achieve, Dwellers. Previous Selections: o
Nine Innings,
by Daniel Okrent o
Plan B,
Jonathon Tropper o
The Giving Tree,
by Shel Silverstein o
www.bodendein.com,
Jordan Bodendein o
The New York Trilogy,
by Paul Auster o
Flags of Our Fathers,
by James Bradley o
Moneyball: The Art of
Winning an Unfair Game, by
Michael Lewis o
The Joy of Keeping Score,
by Paul Dickson o
Zen and the Art of
Motorcycle Maintenance, by Robert
Pirsig o
Flyboys: A True Story of
Courage, by James Bradley o
Chicken Soup for the
Baseball Fan’s Soul o
Eats, Shoots, & Leaves,
by Lynne Truss o
Lucky Man: A Memoir,
by Michael J. Fox o
The
Know-It-All, by A.J. Jacobs o
The
Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini Argument
Starter No arguments this time –
let’s all just get along. How to Reach
Me For those of you who would
like to say “hello” or “shut up, Nerd” or “where the heck is the next
article” my email address is stephene@chorus.net.
Tater, on three.
Middleton Baseball Commission 
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