Some articles from the Athens Banner Herald:

It wasn't exactly according to plan, but pitcher Fred Hale gave his team exactly what it needed as he pitched 6 2/3 strong innings to boost the Comanches to a 9-4 win over the Mariners in the Athens Area Men's Baseball 35-and-over League Championship Saturday at Foley Field.
Hale and starter Elbert Nichols have combined on the mound all season, but the reliever has generally entered much later in the game. But when Hale took the ball in the bottom of the third for Nichols, his pitching performance the rest of the way proved the move wise.
Hale allowed just two hits, two walks and one run as he moved through the Mariners' (10-2) lineup with relative ease to pick up the win. He didn't record any strikeouts, but he also wasn't the least bit disappointed.
''My pitching philosophy is to let them hit it,'' Hale said, ''and let my defense catch it. We've been trying to save me for the (late innings) ... but the clouds covered up the sun and I'm used to the heat anyway.''
The Comanches' (8-4) hitting overshadowed its pitching and defense -- they pounded out 16 hits -- but manager Mike Horne praised those two elements for pushing his team to the title game.
''I said defense was our strength,'' Horne said. ''I think it really proves that practice can make a difference. They've gotten better every week.
''(Hale) is just an awesome ballplayer. It's been like that for the whole year, too -- we've started with Elbert and finished with Fred.''
Horne also said he knew the team could win the championship after its last victory over the Mariners, a 21-11 win, following losses to the Atlanta-based squad in their first two meetings.
The Comanches never trailed during the game. They held a 4-3 lead entering the sixth, added three runs in the top of that inning and two more in the seventh.
Rob Benson led the Comanches at the plate, going 3-for-4 with two doubles, a walk and three RBIs, while Elbert Nichols was 3-for-4 with two runs scored and Brad Zimanek was 3-for-5 with two runs scored. Jack Hudson, Derek Farber and Daniel Nichols each drove in two RBIs.
Mariners starter Bruce Ahlswede went seven innings and allowed four earned runs, three walks and 14 hits while recording six strikeouts. Reliever Jerry Tobin held the Comanches scoreless in two innings of work.

Published in the Athens Banner-Herald on Sunday, August 18, 2002.

Friday, August 16, 2002

Most baseball careers end, at best, at the high school level.

But thanks to the Athens Area Men's Baseball League, those interested in pursuing their love of the game and the dream of a title have had the chance to work toward this weekend's championship games at Foley Field.
The Desperados will face the Heat for the AAMBL's 18-and-Over league championship at 7:30 p.m. today, with the 35-and-Over title game starting at 1 p.m. and pitting the Atlanta-based Mariners against the local Comanches.
The league has been in existence for 10 years, but just added upper age division this year. The caliber of play from some of these middle-aged athletes has amazed even those closest to the team.
''When we first got together in January, I made the comment to one of the other guys about how surprised I was that at their ages they could still play baseball at that level,'' Comanches manager Mike Horne said. ''From the beginning it was a hard-working, dedicated bunch coming out every week.''
Two of the team's most impressive players have been Fred Hale and Jack Hudson, who are 48, but play defense on par with 18-year olds, according to Horne.
Elbert Nichols will start on the mound for the Comanches (7-4) in the team's bid to even things with the Mariners (10-1), who have gone 2-1 in three games between the two teams. Winning at Foley Field has been a motivating factor for the Comanches, who have taken three of the past four titles.
''From the get-go that's why these guys have worked so hard,'' Horne said. ''They really wanted to be one of the two teams on the field in the championship.''
The 18-and-Over game will be highly competitive as well, with several players who played college baseball, some at the Division I-A level.
The Desperados boast two pitchers, former University of Georgia player Matt Steele and Drew Casto, who were drafted for professional baseball. That level of experience has been helpful to player-manager Pete Thorne.
''It's definitely made my job a lot easier,'' Thorne said. ''The strength of our team is a very good balance of pitching, defense and hitting. The pitching staff is our crowning jewel ... but we've got wonderful defense at every position and some speed.''
The Desperados (15-4) have played their best baseball since a mid-season loss to the Heat (14-5), which defeated them twice in the regular season. So like the Comanches, the Desperados will be searching for a little vengeance in addition to a trophy.
''They got the better of us both times,'' Thorne said. ''We had some mental and physical lapses and it cost us. The Heat are all about their pitching staff ... so we have to keep our strikeouts down, but we have to be aggressive.''
The Heat's roster is almost entirely made up of firemen, and the shift schedules have required some lineup juggling throughout the season. The team has prided itself not just on playing well, but also in entertaining its fans.
''We've had a pretty good season,'' Heat manager Sam Cleghorne said. ''We're not sponsored by the fire department, but they do support us a lot. And you'd have to know firemen, but they're a lot of fun. I think we put out a pretty good product.''
To move to 3-0 against the Desperados and win the title, Cleghorne -- like his rival manager -- expects pitching to be vital.
''Our pitching is going to have to maintain,'' he said. ''We've had three pitchers who have worked pretty well for us, but I don't know who's going to start yet or how we're going to work it. Our hitting's finally come around, too.''

The news hit everyone on our team hard. It was worse than a sucker punch below the belt, and it took us a few minutes to process it.

Athens Area Men's Baseball League Commissioner Pete Thorne had just told us that our 35-and-over Championship Game would not be held at Georgia's Foley Field as previously scheduled. That was the our main rallying cry since we started practice back in January -- ''Let's get to Foley Field!''
Playing the championship, which will pit my team, the Comanches, against the 35-and-over regular-season champion Mariners, wouldn't have felt right if it was played anywhere else. But the wind was out of our sails.
The reason Foley Field was unavailable was the seating area is being water-proofed and sealed and the press box is being renovated. But earlier this week, we were granted a reprieve with the help of Georgia Athletic Director Vince Dooley and assistant athletic director Charles Whittemore.
The water-proofing of the stands was being temporarily postponed because workers were needed to help with the transformation of Gate 6 at Sanford Stadium for the season opener against Clemson on Aug. 31.
Because of the delay at Foley, Dooley and Whittemore are allowing our game, scheduled for Saturday at 1 p.m., and the 18-and-over Championship game between the Heat and the Desperados set for Saturday at 7:30 p.m., to go on.

Foley Field won't be in it's usual spring-time splendor.
The stands from home down the third-base line will be off limits because the seats are being removed, the scoreboard and public address system will not be operational and there are thin spots before the pitcher's mound and some brown spots in the outfield because of the drought.
But to us it will be like Wrigley Field or Fenway Park, especially if you've seen the butchered infield we've played on all year at Lay Field.
So, if the fact that major league owners and players are squabbling how to split up their millions has got you down, or, if you just want to see people playing baseball because they love it, come by for either game.
The admission charge is $5 or a canned food item, which will given to the Athens Area Food Bank. Each player loves to play, and the talent level might surprise you.
The play in the 18-and-over league is superb. The Desperados will bring to the mound a Foley Field veteran in staff ace Matt Steele, who posted a 6-4 record for the Bulldogs in 15 starts during the 2000 season.
The 35-and-over league boasts some incredible talent, even though age makes some of it rougher on the edges. But just to see the Mariners and their 55-year-old catcher behind the plate for all nine innings is unbelievable.
As far as the Comanches go, we figure we're the home team. The Mariners are made up primarily of players from Gwinnett County and Atlanta, and we will wear the red and black uniforms that will make us look like Bulldogs.
At 7-4, we're the underdogs to the 10-1 Mariners, but the Comanches beat the Mariners 21-11 the last time the teams met.
We want to win the title. We've strived all season for it. But it doesn't matter if we lose because thanks to Dooley and Whittemore we were given the opportunity to play a championship game on Athens' field of dreams, which makes all the effort we've put in worthwhile.

Published in the Athens Banner-Herald on Thursday, August 15, 2002.

It's now down to two teams in the Athens Area Men's Baseball League as the Desperados and the Heat advanced to Saturday's 18-and-over Championship Game with playoff victories Sunday at Lay Field.
The Desperados (15-4) defeated the Rebels 3-2 in the American League playoff series behind a complete-game, three-hitter from Drew Casto. He also scored all three runs, collecting a pair of hits.
Rebels starter John Sawyer also pitched a complete game, allowing only five hits and one earned run.
The Desperados loaded the bases with score tied 2-2 in the bottom of the ninth. Rebels catcher Luis Solis allowed the winning run to score with one out when he was called for a balk after leaving the catcher's box early because of a pitch out on a squeeze play.
The Heat (14-6) won the decisive Game 3 in the National League playoffs 12-1 as staff ace Stuart Sanders pitched a complete-game, four hitter. Chad Moon and Waymon Casper each added three hits for the Heat. Jason Pierce, Keith Holloman and Chris Culver also added two hits apiece for the winners.
The Desperados' sweep of the Rebels means they will be making their fourth trip to the Championship Game in their five-year history. They had won three consecutive titles before suffering an early exit in last year's playoffs.
The inaugural 35-and-over Championship Game will also be played Saturday between the regular-season champion Mariners (10-1) and the Comanches (7-4).

Last winter I received a call from Mike Horne because he needed a shortstop for his over-35-year-old baseball team. Billy Henderson had given him my name.
I thought, sure, why not? I've played softball for years, so playing baseball, even though I hadn't seen a curveball since my American Legion career ended 19 years ago, didn't seem like too far a stretch.
From the first practice, I was hooked by the feel of a wooden bat against a ball. (Yes, kids, you can play baseball with a wooden bat. I bought my first one for $1.98, a black Ernie Banks autographed model, in Green Bay, Wis., in 1971. Wood bats now sell for $20.)
I also relished the long throw from deep short or behind second base, leading off and stealing bases, getting out of the way of a pitch up and in, looking down to the third base coach for a hit-and-run sign and the cat-and-mouse game at the plate between fastballs and off-speed pitches.
But playing baseball at my age wouldn't be possible without the labors of love of people like Horne and Athens Area Men's Baseball League Commissioner Peter Thorne, who directs the four-team Over-35 League and the eight-team Over-18 League on weekday nights and Sunday afternoons.

The games are played at Lay Field, which is not a Field of Dreams. Earlier this season, a player on the Mariners threw a rock at second base and wondered if he threw out the other debris whether there would be any field left.
The weeds and uneven playing surface add to the ambiance and make every ground ball a potential nightmare, and it's not because of the caliber of the players.
But the Athens-Clarke County Leisure Services Department and the league are going to work on elevating the field to suit the players' desires.
Two of my teammates on the Comanches, Fred Hale and Jack Hudson, epitomize the work ethic, enthusiasm and joy of playing the game, even if there isn't a multi-million dollar paycheck to pick up at the end of the week.
This spring, I've over scheduled myself.
Playing baseball and on two softball teams, the Banner-Herald team that finished first in the city's Com/Civ C Division and Central Presbyterian team that finished second in the Overflow League, was way too much.
But when my right shoulder ached, and when my wife laughed at how many ice bags I needed to reduce swelling and soreness, I tried not to complain.
All I had to do was watch Hale and Hudson for inspiration. The 48-year-olds are our best players.
Hudson, who resembles Fred Patek (one of the smallest players to wear a major league uniform), can play the infield or outfield (he's currently starting in center field, where he runs down nearly every fly ball in his vicinity), he can pitch, he steals bases at will, he works the count and his bat control is incredible. (He fouls off the bad ones, like Nellie Fox or Luis Aparicio, and slaps the good ones for singles to all fields.)
Hale's good enough to play in the Over-18 League. He said he would if he could see the ball better during the night games against players, many of whom are ex-collegians, who are in their physical prime and throw in the 80s and 90s.
At age 44, he led the Over-18 League in home runs.
He plays first, third and pitches, and he is crafty, even though the years may have taken some of his velocity. He hits the ball so hard sometimes it screams. I can't imagine how good he was in his prime.
The Comanches, with leaders like Hudson and Hale, are just like every league team: We're trying to get to the championship games that will be played at Georgia's Foley Field in August. But the journey is just as fun as realizing the goal.
Because of the Athens Area Men's Baseball League, grown men are allowed to escape their routines and responsibilities and become little boys, even if it is only for a few hours each week.

Published in the Athens Banner-Herald on Wednesday, June 5, 2002.

Thursday May 28, 2002

Desperados shortstop Jeremy Barrett tries to flag down an RBI-single from the Rebels' Randy Deitsch Tuesday night in the third inning at Lay Field.
The Rebels (6-1) held on to first place over the Desperados (5-3) in the 18-and-Over National League with a 6-2 victory behind the impressive pitching of Eric West, who is 5-0 on the season.

All games at Lay Field
18-and-Over

American League
W L Pct. GB
Rebels 6 1 .857 --
Desperados 5 3 .625 11/2
SugarKings 3 3 .500 21/2
Spurs 1 6 .143 5

National League
W L Pct. GB
Heat 7 1 .875 --
Hammers 5 3 .625 2
Bulls 3 5 .375 4
Roaddogz 0 7 .000 61/2

Tuesday's game
Rebels 6, Desperados 2
Rebels pitcher Eric West (5-0) turned in a brilliant performance, allowing only three hits as he picked up his fifth victory of the season.
The Rebels scratched out a run in the third inning, but did most of their damage in the bottom of the sixth inning with three consecutive singles that didn't leave the infield and two key Desperados' errors.
Desperados 000 001 001 2 3
Rebels 001 005 00x 6 9
WP--Eric West (5-0). LP--Chad Gillespie.
3B--Desperados: Brian Strok.

Thursday's game
Bulls vs. Hammers, 7:30 p.m.
35-and-Over
W L Pct. GB
Mariners 3 0 1.000 --
Braves 1 1 .500 11/2
Comanches 1 2 .333 2
Bulls 0 2 .000 21/2

Sunday's game
Bulls vs. Comanches, 3 p.m.
Monday's game
Mariners vs. Braves, 7:30 p.m.

Published in the Athens Banner-Herald on Wednesday, May 29, 2002.

Pete Thorne loves the game of baseball; so much so that he has played or been involved with the sport in some capacity for much of his life. Today, even at 30 years old, he has no intention of quitting, which is very good for the group of local men who look to him as commissioner of their amateur baseball league.
That's because Thorne, along with his duties as commissioner of the Athens Area Men's Baseball League, also plays third base for the second-place Desperados.
The AAMBL, now in its eighth year, is a six-team assortment of local guys who, according to Thorne, all have one thing in common: love of the game.
''Some of the guys played as kids, some in high school,'' said Thorne, owner of Athens Modernage Tobacco and Gifts on Baxter Street and the Smoker's Den downtown. ''We just all love the game and we see no reason to stop now.''
The league, comprised of six teams and about 70 players, is made up of men 18 and older from all walks of life who are willing to pay the $185 league dues, which go to equipment, field rental and umpire fees.
''We have 45-year-old men out here living their childhood dream,'' Thorne said.
The teams play every Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday night, always at 7:30, and have seven regular season games, playoffs and a championship game left to play. Once located in Bishop, the league moved to an Athens field this season. Thomas Lay Park, situated behind the Lyndon House Arts Center on Hoyt Street, offered the league the option of night games, a concession stand, and a play-by-play announcer by way of former Athens Academy sports announcer David Hill. The league today boasts an American and National League division with three teams in each and the possibility of expansion in the future. Since the move downtown, popularity among fans and players alike has exploded, according to Thorne.
''We had a record number of people turn up this year to try out and we had to turn people away, which isn't a bad problem to have,'' said Thorne. ''We take it seriously; we want to win.''
Cara O'Connell, 22-year-old girlfriend of Desperado center fielder Brian McDonald, added that the fans take the games as seriously as the players. ''The fans definitely get rowdy,'' she said. ''We have a good time.''
In addition to having a good time, the league also hopes to positively influence some of the kids from the surrounding area by hosting a baseball clinic designed to expose kids and young adults to the poetry that is baseball. Willie Hull, facility supervisor at Lay Park, and Thorne are negotiating a date to hold the clinic in hopes that it will open up a new sports arena to the local kids.
''It is a good program,'' Hull said of the AAMBL. ''Basketball is king around here and these guys are real cooperative about exposing the neighborhood to a new sport.''
In addition to the clinic, Thorne hopes to work with the Athens Area Food Bank to trade canned food for tickets to the championship game, scheduled to take place at the University of Georgia's Foley Field in August.
''There is no reason that this league can't make it in this town, no reason we can't play forever,'' said Thorne. ''We want to do something for the community to thank them.''
The league, completely nonprofit with players purchasing their own uniforms, relies on community support and word of mouth for survival, and survival is very important to the players and coaches.
''I love it,'' said Paul Trudeau, second baseman for the Colt 45's and co-owner of Paul and Hugh's Neighborhood News downtown. ''It is like hanging out with your friends and playing baseball with them, kinda like little league. I want to keep playing.''
Mike Horne, an electrician from Bogart who doubles as the coach of the first-place Comanches, echoed Trudeau's sentiment, adding that playing in the league may be the most fun he has ever had.
''But it is so hard to get the community support, and that is sad,'' he said. ''For most of these guys, this is their outlet from work and pressure and stress. It is important to us that we play a game we love.''
For the time being, judging by recent attendance, the league has nothing to worry about as fans continue to go out to the ball game and the players continue to play with gusto and passion.
''Athens could be a mecca of adult-league baseball,'' Thorne said with a look of hope. ''All I get anymore is positive feedback from people about the league. I believe that Athens wants to be a baseball town.''
Anyone interested in joining the Athens Area Men's Baseball League, as a player or a fan, may call commissioner Pete Thorne at (706) 548-4289.
Games remaining
All games except the championship game are played at Thomas Lay Park off Hoyt Street behind the Lyndon House Arts Center. Games start at 7:30 p.m.
Thursday: Gray's vs. Rangers
Sunday: Desperados vs. Comanches
Tuesday: Rangers vs. Colt 45's
June 22: Rockies vs. Comanches
June 25: Grays vs. Desperados
June 27: Colt 45's vs. Comanches
June 29: Rangers vs. Desperados
July 2: Grays vs. Rockies
July 3: Comanches vs. Rangers
July 6: Desperados vs. Rockies
July 9: Grays vs. Colt 45's
July 11: Rockies vs. Rangers
July 13: Comanches vs. Grays
July 16: Desperados vs. Colt 45's
July 18: Rangers vs. Grays
July 20: Comanches vs. Desperados
July 23: Colt 45's vs. Rockies
July 25: Desperados vs. Grays
July 27: Colt 45's vs. Rangers
July 30: Comanches vs. Rockies
Playoffs:
Aug. 8 (Game 1): American League 2 vs. 3
Aug. 10 (Game 2): National League 2 vs. 3
Aug. 13 (Game 3): Winner of Game 1 vs. American League 1
Aug. 15 (Game 4): Winner of Game 2 vs. National League 1
Aug. 20: Championship (Foley Field at the University of Georgia)

September 4, 1997

May 24, 1997