HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1975-09-04, Page 9Cy enrich
31 Dec. 1 0 9 8 U 6 5 4
Public L.,.brary, u
52 1'Iontreal
Goderich . Ont . N7A 2G4,
SIGNAL—STAR
128 YEAR -36`.
ti
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1975
. `. SECOND -SECTION
Labor, Day fastball tourney
41
biggest, best in the province
Vii: {:i•. iir
...
The Duke of Bedford trophy for the tournament grand
champions Ted'
carried off by the coach and captain of
London Ted Tilts Jewellers. Here the two, coach Bill Teams
onleft and captain Mike Tucker admire their team's award.
(staff -photo)
Ingersoll umpire Gerry Weir ar•'rived at the park prepared
for a shirts and skins exhibition gamer between ,the tour-
nament executives and the former Goderich Bissets squad.
Weir's prowess at the plate, however, did not match his build,
aSrhe went nothing for two in the game. (staff -photo)
The. most valuable player in the Goderich weekend tour-
nament was Ken L'Heureux, leftfiel.der for the grand
chamliiort London Ted Dilts Jewellers team. t'Heureux
batted .722 in 18 trips to the plate and stole 10 bases as well as
exhibiking defensive In
the
field. the
stf
was pfelentedh tournament chairmanDngFiher.(af
photo)
•
Three full days
.•
f good b o seball and memories
BY JEFF SEDDON •
Four dozen baseballs,, 31 'game`s, gallons
of beer, coffee and soft drinks, hundreds of
hotdogs and hamburgers, and a new grand ,
champion—learn and the seventh annual
Labor Day.w,eekend softball tournament,is
history.
Thre days of fastball from morning til
night. Incessant baseball chatter, the
constant thud of baseballs hitting bats and
gloves and one team has emerged over 32
Others as the best of the three days.
The annual Goderich tournament is
much more than just softball. Now the
largest tournament in Ontario it is a
combination of fun, competition and hard
work. All three •portions of the three-day
event started off slow with the'first pitch
Saturday morning and built slowly and
intensely until the last pitch Monday night.
As teams win their way through quarter
and semi finals rivalries build up to which
fans. and pla°vers alike react. At the outset,
of each new contest the fans pick their
team and back it with the,same fervor they
would a home team: If the club loses the
fins won't be fickle but they will pick up on
another team playing in'the next game and
.offer them' the same support they did the
first team.°
' The players develop .some of the same
competitive spirit as they begin each new
game. More than just the financial benefits
of winning games they sometimes build
rivalries between 'a team from a small
town playing one from a city. In some
cases the teams may be .from neighboring
'Municipalities and bring an old grudge
from their own league play to the tour-
nament. Some of the teams remember the
game they played against the same team
in, last year's tournament or they have
heard rumors that some club is powerful
and,will be hard to get by to the finals.
Whatever the reason the players have far
c.L
winning a game, they all add up to the
same thing — desire. Desire to win big in
this year's tourney and it is this desire the
fans pick up on and react to to help the
three day contest to become a little more
successful.
The work in' olyed in making the whole
thing a success is' tremendous. The "tour-
nament executive begin early in the
summer mailing out. invitations to teams.
Once they have received the allotted
•number:of replies they set up the schedule_
and set the final gears .in motion to kick off
the three-day event.
Beer and liquor -must be bought; food has
to be brought in,for the players'and their
families; the diamonds raked, measured
and'Inarked; players' lists verified and
checked 'at the outset of each game;
schedules to maintain; the ,bar and food
counter gaffed throughout the i r;ee days;
ground rules explained; money collected
and counted; decisions faced by the hour;
and finally as the final 'game draws to a
close the most valuable player for the
tournament and the most sportsmanlike
player, have .:to be chosen and -,.,,awarded
their,trophies.
" Throw a little socializing on top of that
list of jobs and you come up with a very
tiring weekend for :the handful. of hard
working executives that each year throw
" their backs into the job to try to make this
year's weekend better than last.
',The, whole thing adds -up to success, the
type of success that has carried the
Goderich . Labor Day Weekend Fastball
tournament- from ,a one day, six' team
tournament .to the biggest fastball tour- -
nament in the province.
The seventh annual tournament is over.
The executive wrapped a the weekend in
the bar nuc. » g a cold one and making
bleary-eyed plans .or the' eighth tourney,
the best one yet. ,
Umpires irnportaflt •factor. '
when b�tsstart sswinging
BY JEFF SEDDON,
Wanted immediately:
persons to umpire softball
game . in big weekend
tourname .�. Must have good
eyesigh••, ` � o . rules of
softball tho -°i ughly, ignore
irate fans and coaches that
insult regularly, officiate to
the best of ability but above
all stand by the decision
regardless of the reaction
some people will have to it.,
and advising their counterparts official according to tIarold.
to have a good game. The -plate After he makes a close scall )he
umpire dusts off home plate, will accept the questions, of a
raises his 'hand and 0 shouts concerned coach if they are
"play ball". done in a calm manner. He will
` With that signal he and his explain why he made the call
base umpires try to wipe their and usually, if he has control
minds clear of everything but
baseball and devote their entire
• concentration powers to of-
ficiating. They make every
effort possible to stay on top of
the play to make the right calls t}e field• shoutin'g
and leave as' little'as possible to ' dissatisfaction, Harold will
The above fictio'.nal ad-
vertisement may serve to
describe the people needed to
umpire Goderich's annual
three-day fastball tournament.
The people applying for, the job
must be able fo handle it or the
tournament wi1'1 enjoy no.
success despite the quality of
teams involved in it. The
umpires without a doubt make
or break the tourney.
The 1975" edition' of the three
day .event was once ' again
Handled by the members of the
Ingersoll Umpires Association.
The association, 18 umpires
strong, handled the chores last
year and the quality • of their
work inspired the tournament
executive to ask, them back.
For the second consecutive
year they did an exceptional
'job.
Only about dozen of the
Ingersoll men are required to
handle the weekend games but
they 'spttrup the task rn such a
" manner that The fans usually
don't recognize them from one
ga e to the next. On Saturday
eight of them appeared to
handle the `action. at 'two
diamonds, six returned for
Sunday's, games and five for
Monday's contests.
The' Ingersoll umpires; throw
the ,sanie deSir•'e into--than40b_
that the players do to win a
gamb. As they don the spikes,
masks and chest protectors to
go out and do a game, they
check and racheck rules +a
signals and position they will
tflfe up on.tlie field to make the
calls.
"As they step out onto the, field
they Shako each other's han(s.
offering .rrppi I''t to one allot her
and has proved his abi;;ty, .the
coach will accept the decision.
He and the rest of the
Ingersoll umps will not t'olerat'e
abuse. If a coach runs out onto
their judgement.
"We're only human," says
veteran ump Harold Fishleigh.
"We may be wrong on occasion
butwe stick by our decision and
never let anyone think -we know'
we're wrong. If we do we've
• lost control of the game."
Control , of the game is the
most important function of the
Lucknow - 1
Exeter • 0
stand face to face with him and
tell him why the -call was made.
If the coach persists he -will tell
him calmly to sit down or he
will be out of the game. If the
coach persists much longer he
will invariably find himself
watching the contest from the
bleachers.,
"We'll
leachers.--
"We'll tell him
Windsor - 6 Ailsa Craig 8
Toronto - 4 Port La mbton - 3
Windsor 8
Lucknow 1
"A" Division
"B" Division
Lucan 8
Ziebart 7
why
we
m
ade
Tournament executive pitcher Doug Kennedy slides in -under the throw from Bissett's catcher
Deb Shewfelt to third baseman Ron Carter. Kennedy beat the tag. to score what proved to be the
tying run for the execs. (staff -photo)
•
the cail'hut no matter what his
argument is, whether we
believe him or not, we • will
nover change our minds,': said.
Harold. '
Position onthe field is vital in
calling -a game. Base umpires
follow the base' runner' around
the hags staying on the side.of
the °mein the ball is on. On first
lase they • watch the runner's
foot and listen for the sound of
the hall' hitting the glove.
Whichever is first governs their
call: On a close sliding `play
they never take their eyes off
the hall. watching the runner's
position when the tag is made.
Th »greatest thrill for Harold
is a post game congratulations
from the losing team. He says
he realizes his greatest per-
sonal satisfaction when one of
the losing players goes up to
'Petrolia Squires • 10 Georgetown - 3
Kitchener 0,.W. Sports - 3 Arva •' 2
Petrolia 3
Ailsa Craig 0
.n.
Ietrolia '3
'Windsor 0
•
•
London 6
Petrolia• 4
him and ' shakes his hand.
telling him he did a great ,
umping job. Quite a few of the
players losing in ,this year's
tournament , did just that,
Mak, ing Harold and 'his fellow
umps confident they. did a good
jot) o\ er the three days.
A good umpire is li•ktw a good
player.'He must prove,hi mself.
Candidates for an umpire's •
card must .work several game's
with ;,a senior man before they
are recommended for duties on
their .own. Depending on their
ability they m'ay' take up to
three years getting recognition
from ;1 veteran umpire. ,
The Ingersoll umpires take
th'6ir ,job' very seriously. They
handle about' (OO games het -
ween them, Working from 50 to
60 games each 0 sc'asorl: The
only thing they are not con -
Kitchener Evergreens - 6
Strathroy
Georgetown 6
Kitchener 2 .
London 4
Georgetown 0
•
Grand Championship London YO Petrolia 2
sistent in is their s -tyle.
• Some have a •personal flair
they have picked up such as`
calling strikes. Harold drawls
his strike calls out for fans and
`players alike to hear.
"Heeriiiike," he bawls when
a pitch comes over",
I01m; misses, a simple "bol"
that sounds more like 'he is
clearing his throat gets the job
clone.
Some of his base umps have a
flair that adds' a special ex-
citement to the game. On a safe
play they bend over untilatheir
chin is nearly on the ground,
stretching their' arm to their
sides. palms down crying
"okay"
When the runner is out, they
clench a fist. and bring their
Elmira =, 4
Windsor - 1
m
Goderich - Ziebar't • 1 Lucan • 19
Walton - 0 Watford • 1
Ingersoll 4
Lucan 3
Ingersoll 4
DRMCo 1
Ingersoll" • 12
Zurich - 5
Petrolia 9
Ingersoll 1
1
Petrolia 4
Badenoch 2
Goderich • DRMCo • 11 Petrolia - 10
Bryanston 4 Goderich - Gord's Sports • 3
Petrolia 4
Fullerton 2
(continued on page 9)
•
London Ted Diltz - 3
Sarnia - Barnes .Gravel - 1•
London 9
Elmira .1
Fullerton 12
Sandy's 1
•J O
Badenoch • 4 Goderich - Sandy's Clippers - 7 Fulieirton1- 3
Glencoe - 1 Picton - 0 • • Huron**Park - 0
4 44