So many worthy topics, so little space
Perfect time to come back from a little vacation, in time to snoop into so many things that are potential column topics. For example, I could write aboutÂ…
The tale of two football teams, UMD and the University of Minnesota. Guess which one is “big time.” The Gophers believe that playing three weak exhibition foes will guarantee a good enough record to reach a bowl game; UMD, meanwhile, plays the toughest teams around at the Division II level, knowing some lumps from North Central Conference powers will help prepare them for the Northern Sun race. On Saturday, the Gophers, still bursting with pride from beating someone named Louisiana-Monroe, LOST to Ohio University 23-17. Meanwhile, UMD beat St. Cloud State, giving the Bulldogs a 2-0 record over two NCC teams. What’s next? The Bulldogs will make a concerted bid for the Northern Sun title because of their schedule, and the Gophers have blown any hope for prominence because of theirs. The lesson, of course, is why schedule a cupcake? If you play a tough team and lose, you gain respect; if you play a patsy and win, you still don’t get respect, and if you happen to lose — which is why they play the game — don’t even come around asking for respect.
Want another comparison, proving the good life Up North? The Duluth-Superior Dukes, in the relative obscurity of the Northern League, are playing exciting, entertaining baseball — even while almost blowing the second-half title, before regaining their hitting and pitching touch for a stirring playoff drive — while the major league Minnesota Twins have a couple of good players, and a couple good, young pitchers, but not enough to play competitive baseball. Must be the Metrodome’s fault.
The U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame will bring a couple Up Northerners “home” to the Eveleth facility with the induction of three new legends. The three are Neal Broten, of Roseau, Doug Palazzari, of Eveleth, and Larry Pleau, of Lynn, Mass. Broten, former high school, Gopher, U.S. Olympic, North Star, and New Jersey Devil, was a cinch, after a 17-year pro career. Palazzari, the new executive director of USA Hockey, went from Eveleth High School to Colorado College, then, despite being a diminutive 5-foot-6, played eight years in the NHL for the St. Louis Blues and played long enough in the Central League to be named the all-time greatest player in that league by the Hockey News. Pleau, who finished his third year as general manager of the St. Louis Blues, passed up college hockey to play junior hockey in Canada, and played on the 1968 U.S. Olympic team, then, after three seasons in Montreal’s organization, jumped to Hartford of the World Hockey Association and wound up spending 17 seasons as a player, coach and general manager of the Whalers in the WHA and NHL.
The Minnesota Wild ran through a rookie camp, then a four-team competition of practice games during four whirlwind days of their first training camp. While the media in the Twin Cities continues to suggest what a disastrous season this will be for the fledgling expansion team, I think differently. I believe that given a choice, Minnesota fans would far prefer a Wild team that wins 15 games but plays competitively every night, over a team that might win 20 games but get blown out as uncompetitive 50 times this year. And I think Doug Risebrough has assembled a group of young, eager players who will compete. By not going after any big-name (big-contract) guys, Risebrough left a clear message that everybody is starting on equal footing, and everybody will get a chance to make the club — if they compete intensely enough. Owner Bob Naegele said watching the team being molded was what he imagined giving birth might be like. And we’re only a week away from the first Wild exhibition game!
Bobby Knight finally got axed by Indiana University, which had provided a clearcut ultimatum to Knight that there would be no more tolerance of physically or verbally abusing players, students or coworkers. Indiana president Myles Brand said that Knight became more “defiant and hostile” since the ultimatum, and refused to attend important alumni fund-raising functions, then he grabbed a student who called him “Knight” instead of “Mr. Knight.” Turns out, the student was the son of one of Knight’s main critics, according to Knight. But amid the furor and student protests in the aftermath, let’s get one thing straight: Knight might be one of the best five college basketball coaches on the planet, but if you can’t compromise your pride to follow and live by your institution’s rules, you’re outta there.
Dave Fedo, who was a Class of 1961 teammate of mine on the 1960 Duluth Central baseball team, happened to be visiting Duluth and saw a column I wrote a month ago about that team. He’s back running a small college our east, but he sent me a letter to clarify my recollections, complete with a newspaper clipping. Turns out, I guessed we had beaten Cloquet in the district final, but it was Esko. Apologies to Joe Harmala. He verified I was right, however, in the debate with Rich Tanski that we got whipped badly in the Region 7 tournament. Eveleth beat us 6-1, and it wasn’t that close. Turns out Fedo had good reason to keep the clipping this long, because we only got three hits and he got two of them.
Or, I could write about two more interesting events on Sunday. If you were lucky, you watched some of the U.S. Open tennis championship. I watched a young Russian, 20-year-old Marat Safin, win his semifinal match and mentioned to a friend of mine how he undoubtedly would lose to Pete Sampras in the final, but watching Safin was like what it must have been to watch Tiger Woods two years ago. I was close. Safin beat Sampras, in fact, he outplayed him at his own game and won in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 to win the championship. Safin is good, good-looking, gracious, and talented enough to be the next dominant player in men’s tennis, much the way Venus Williams has taken over women’s tennis, and the way Sampras took over exactly 10 years ago. Meanwhile, Tiger Woods won the Canadian Open golf tournament by one stroke, with a miraculous 215-yard shot out of a fairway bunker, just over a green-side trap, and onto the green on the 18th hole.
Yes, having returned from vacation, I could write about any of those events. But I’m out of space.
Lightning runbacks give UMD 36-29 victory over St. Cloud
DULUTH, MINN.—The forecast called for a possible thunderstorm at Saturday night’s UMD football game. Turns out there was no thunder, and no rain. But a lot of lightning. And the Bulldogs used it to good advantage to escape from Griggs Field with a 36-29 victory over St. Cloud State.
One bolt of lightning was freshman Cash Langeness, who electrified the big crowd of 4,074 with a 90-yard touchdown return with the game’s opening kickoff. But if that one was a surprise, flash-forward to the last two minutes, right after St. Cloud State had rallied from deficits of 21-6 and 28-16 to take a 29-28 lead with 2:02 remaining.
The final lightning bolt was coming, but certainly unexpected, but senior speedster Erik Hanson juggled the ensuing kickoff, turned around and caught it at the 10, with his back to the 90 yards between him and St. Cloud State’s end zone. No problem. Hanson spun around and took off, cutting right to get outside, and sprinting all the way to a 90-yard touchdown that snatched victory for UMD.
Langeness, a red-shirt freshman, was back there with the closest view of Hanson’s launch. “After they scored, I thought if they kicked it deep, we’d run it back,” said Langeness, exhibiting far more confidence than anyone in the stands. “Then the kick bounced up off Erik’s helmet.”
Still, there was time — and critical blocking — that left plenty of time for one last lightning strike.
“The disappointing thing about the game is that we had chances to put it away and didn’t,” said coach Bob Nielson. “But we’ve talked about players coming up with big plays, and Eric Hanson gave an example of a senior stepping up to make a big play that won the game.
“I was just talking to Bud Grant, and he said how many times it happens that you see a kickoff muffed and it turns into a big runback, because the defense sees the muff and thinks nothing is going to happen.”
Grant, the former Vikings coaching legend, was at Griggs to watch his grandson, sophomore UMD quarterback Ricky Fritz.
“I think we’re going to have big plays all year,” said Fritz, who completed 10 of 20 passes for 190 yards and supplied his own version of lightning with touchdown passes of 21 yards to Chris Walker and 73 yards to Erik Conner.
But now, after not beating any North Central Conference team for 10 years, the Bulldogs have beaten two in a row to open the season. After conquering Minnesota State-Mankato and St. Cloud State, the Bulldogs open the Northern Sun season against Minnesota-Crookston next Saturday at 6 p.m. at Griggs.
As luck would have it, St. Cloud State won the coin toss and elected to kick off, a move that was UMD’s first inspiration, thanks to Langeness, who is from Luck, Wis. He caught the kick at the UMD 5, zipped up the middle, then cut left and swept around the entire defensive unit and sprinted up the left sideline for a 95-yard touchdown and a startling opening score.
“I worked on kickoff returns, but didn’t get to try any last week,” said Langeness. “But coach said all week to follow the wedge, and when I caught the ball and looked up, I just saw the wedge and it opened up. Somebody knocked their kicker off his feet, and I cut it outside and was gone.”
The teams exchanged punts until senior defensive end Dan Schilling batted and caught a pass by 6-foot-6 Huskies quarterback Ryan Stelter for an interception at the St. Cloud 12. Three plays later, Conner scored from the 3, and Chad Gerlach’s second placekick made it 14-0.
UMD got another break when the Huskies marched to the UMD 35, but senior middle linebacker Jimmy Malo swatted Stelter’s fourth-and-one pass away. This time, however, the Bulldogs gave the ball right back on a fumbled snap, recovered by Eric Earle at the Bulldog 3. Stelter tried three straight swing passes before finally making it work to Andy Thyen, who ran up the left sideline for a 23-yard touchdown.
The Bulldogs were vulnerable to passes over the middle all night. Stelter wound up 15-of-27 for 244 yards and two touchdowns, and when he went out with a leg injury in the third quarter, Keith Heckendorf came in and went 9-for-18 for 140 more yards and a third touchdown. And St. Cloud had a 22-11 edge in first downs, and a 450-283 edge in total yards.
But statistics didn’t seem to matter, as the Bulldogs held the 14-6 lead until halftime, then expanded it.
Malo recovered a Huskies fumble at the St. Cloud 24 and the ‘Dogs struck after two plays, on a sensational play by freshman flanker Chris Walker. The red-shirt rookie from Waukesha, Wis., raced up the right sideline, but cornerback Eric Mickelson played him perfectly, staying inside and matching him stride for stride. Fritz’s high pass was slightly underthrown, and to the left, but Walker hesitated a step, then dived behind Mickelson, catching the ball and landing in a heap in the end zone for a 21-yard touchdown.
Gerlach’s kick made it 21-6, but the Huskies were not about to concede. Stelter found Nate Lehman over the middle for a big gain, although the Bulldogs stiffened, and St. Cloud settled for Nick Orndorff’s 22-yard field goal.
At 21-9, the lead still seemed secure, but 21-16 made it decidedly insecure. With a second and 15 at their 39 a couple of series later, Stelter pitched over the middle — again. Lehman caught it — again — and promptly collided head-on with UMD safety Shawn Pomato. Both recoiled from the crash, but Pomato went down and Lehman caught his balance and took off — running up the left sideline to complete a 61-yard scoring play.
The Huskies made a bid for the lead early in the fourth quarter, but the Bulldogs held, took over, and struck again. On third and nine at their own 27, Fritz let Conner do the work, pitching a short pass that became a 73-yard touchdown play.
“It’s been awhile,” said Conner, who couldn’t remember the last time he had broken off such a long run for a touchdown. “It was just a screen pass right. Everybody was patient with their blocks, and the receivers made some excellent blocks downfield. Then, it was off to the races.”
Even at 28-16, however, the Huskies refused to quit. Heckendorf burned UMD over the middle to move the Huskies downfield. On third and 13 at the 27, Ben Nelson made a diving catch of his pass into the end zone to cut the deficit to 28-23, with eight minutes remaining.
But after three and a half quarters of fireworks, the best was yet to come. Langeness made a great defensive move for an interception to stop the Huskies once, but Heckendorf came scrambling and passing back, driving 76 yards on only six plays, the sixth being a 6-yard touchdown run by Bill Stallings. The drive used up only 1:22 of the clock, and though a two-point conversion pass failed, the Huskies had vaulted to an improbable 29-28 lead.
Only 2:02 remained. But Hanson, playing the bad-hop kickoff off his helmet and all, needed only 17 seconds of it.
Bulldogs big-play opener puts Mankato on the Fritz, 23-18
Whether you call it “putting on the Fritz,” or “Touchdowns in the Mist,” a record-shattering performance by sophomore quarterback Ricky Fritz ignited UMD to a 23-18 victory over Minnesota-State Mankato Saturday before 3,181 fans at Griggs Field.
UMD, wearing new maroon helmets, reversed the trend of having suffered early-season losses to Minnesota State-Mankato each of the past four years, and may indicate that coach Bob Nielson’s rebuilding job is ahead of schedule. Nielson, starting his second season, had the Bulldogs well-prepared to spring the prestigious upset for the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference.
The Northern Sun allows only about half the football scholarships of NCC colleges, so it was no surprise UMD had lost its last 12 starts against Minnesota’s two NCC entries, Minnesota State-Mankato and St. Cloud State — this weekend’s Bulldog foe at Griggs Field.
Fritz picked up right where he left off last season, running a varied-look offense by accumulating 319 total yards, a UMD single-game record. The only criticism of Fritz was that he was too impatient — so impatient that he did most of his damage on the first play after the ‘Dogs gained possession, including 47- and 88-yard touchdown passes to Chris Walker, a freshman from Waukesha, Wis.
Although it took him nearly 10 months to do it, Fritz established a possibly unreachable successive-game record for total yards. Last season, when the Bulldogs sputtered to a meager 3-8 record, Fritz concluded his freshman term with a school record 306 total yards against Winona State. Saturday night, in his next opportunity, the former Eden Prairie broke his one-game-old record with 294 yards on an 11-21 night passing, plus 25 more yards on 10 carries.
The victory required a total team effort, as the defense came through repeatedly in the second half, when the ever-increasing mist blew in hard off Lake Superior and led to several fumbles.
“I’m really proud of our kids,” said Nielson. “I think we showed the people of this community that we’ve got our pride back. I thought we lacked that last year. I could tell we had some confidence from hearing the guys talk this week. I think the people saw tonight the kind of offense we’re going to have. We’re going to make some big plays.”
On defense, freshman Shaun Fisher, from Milltown, Wis., led UMD with six unassisted tackles from free safety, and junior strong safety Kevin Westbrock had four unassisted and 10 assisted tackles. But the whole unit contributed to a bend-but-don’t-break form that prevented the Mavericks from matching UMD’s big-play offense, despite yielding a 20-14 edge in first downs and 121-57 in rushing yards. Fritz outgained Mankato’s Ryan Dutton and spot-reliever Andrew Shea 294-146 in passing yards.
A pair of seniors collaborated for a pivotal turnover in the first quarter, as Justin Hipple’s solid hit jarred a fumble loose and Jimmy Malo recovered it at the Mankato 47. On first down, Fritz rolled left and passed back across his body to Walker, who sped up the left sideline for the 47-yard touchdown. Chad Gerlach’s kick gave the ‘Dogs a 7-0 lead.
The Mavericks countered when Dutton merely gave the ball to T.J. Schraufnagel, who carried on 15 of 19 plays on a 70-yard drive, including the final rush, from the 2, early in the second quarter. But the tying kick missed, and the Bulldogs still led 7-6.
After the ensuing kickoff, Fritz again ignited UMD with a first-play pass, this time a 41-yarder up the right sideline to Cloquet freshman Tim Battaglia, setting up Gerlach’s 28-yard field goal for a 10-6 lead.
But the chance to come undone availed itself later in the second quarter. Troy Gago mishandled a Mankato punt and Colin Bryant recovered for Mankato at the UMD 16. On first down, as if to provide a grim reminder of last season, the defense sagged, and Schraufnagel tore off right tackle for an easy 16-yard touchdown. But any similarity to last year vanished when the Bulldogs snapped back into focus and prevented Schraufnagel, a 6-2, 220-pound sophomore who carried 33 times for 108 yards, from any other runs as long as that 16-yarder.
“One of the toughest things to do in this weather was handle punts,” said Nielson. “I’m not sure we would’ve gotten any guys to volunteer to field punts tonight.”
The Bulldogs held their poise in the second half, and erased the 12-10 halftime deficit after receiving a punt at their 12 midway through the third quarter. With the wind at his back, Fritz launched a high, hard one on first down and Walker ran under it, tipping it away from the deepest two Maverick defenders before grabbing it and running away for the 88-yard touchdown and a 16-12 UMD lead.
The Bulldog defense stopped the Mavericks on downs at the UMD 31 late in the third quarter, and Fritz worked his magic yet again, firing a first-play, 33-yard pass to Steve Battaglia, the sophomore half of the Cloquet receiving brother tandem. Moments later, he found freshman Tim Battaglia for a 25-yard pass on fourth down and four that put the ball on Mankato’s 5, and Erik Conner scored from the 1 on the first play of the fourth quarter.
That made it 23-12, but the Bulldog defense had to come up with some big plays to hold the lead. Cash Langeness, a freshman from Luck, Wis., intercepted a Dutton pass at the 39 to stop one series, but there was still time to crack. With five minutes left, Mankato’s Lubin Joseph recovered a low, slithering snap on a UMD punt attempt at the 21, and this time the Mavericks capitalized when Shea’s only completion, on third and 9, produced a 20-yard touchdown to Dan Weldon with 4:01 remaining.
“We had a couple kicking-game screw-ups that cost us touchdowns, but for the first game, we limited the amount of our mistakes, and we did a great job defensively. The big thing was we put them in a position where they couldn’t just run the football, and our defense stepped up for a couple of big series.”
True, UMD might have won more convincingly with tighter special-team execution, because two of the three Maverick touchdowns were the result of special-team turnovers. But at 23-18, the Bulldogs offense avoided turnovers, and the defense came up with key stops, ultimately holding the Mavericks on downs with 39 seconds left. One play later, the coach didn’t have to ask for volunteers to stream off the bench to celebrate a successful season opener.
Record-setting Fritz ignites Bulldogs past Mankato 23-18
For the fifth straight September, UMD opened its football season against Minnesota State-Mankato. For the first time in those five years, UMD opened its football season with a victory.
A record-shattering performance by sophomore quarterback Ricky Fritz and a poised, big-play style on both offense and defense carried the Bulldogs to a 23-18 over Mankato Saturday night before 3,181 fans at Griggs Field. The last time UMD beat the Mavericks was 1982, when the school was known as Mankato State, and its nickname was Indians, and it was not in the powerful North Central Conference.
But UMD coach Bob Nielson, starting his second season, had the Bulldogs well-prepared to spring the prestigious upset for the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference, which has about half of the NCC’s allowed Division II football scholarships.
When Fritz capped a 3-8 freshman season with a school record 306-total-yard effort against Winona State, he showed his true potential. It took more than nine months, but only one game, for Fritz, a former Eden Prairie star, to break that record with Saturday night’s 319 yards — 294 yards on 11 pass completions, and 25 more yards on 10 carries. His passes included a pair of dazzling touchdown bombs to freshman Chris Walker, a 47-yarder in the first quarter and an 88-yarder in the third quarter that put the Bulldogs ahead to stay.
“I’m really proud of our kids,” said Nielson. “I think we showed the people of this community that we’ve got our pride back. I thought we lacked that last year. I could tell we had some confidence from hearing the guys talk this week. I think the people saw tonight the kind of offense we’re going to have. We’re going to make some big plays.”
The game opened under threatening skies, which moved pre-game cookout festivities inside. But the weather held until the end of the first half, then deteriorated into a wind-blown mist that worsened as the second half progressed, making things miserable and leading to several fumbles and misplays.
Fritz, however, seemed above all that. In the first quarter, senior Justin Hipple’s solid hit jarred a fumble loose and Jimmy Malo recovered it for UMD at the Mankato 47. On first down, Fritz rolled left and passed back across his body to Walker, and the Waukasha, Wis., flash sped up the left sideline for a 47-yard touchdown play. Chad Gerlach’s kick gave the ‘Dogs a 7-0 lead, which stood up until the second quarter.
The Mavericks, who couldn’t match UMD’s big-play tendencies, countered with a 70-yard, 19-play drive, on which quarterback Ryan Dutton mainly handed the ball to T.J. Schraufnagel, who carried 15 of those 19 times, finally cracking into the end zone from the 2. But the tying kick missed, and the Bulldogs held a 7-6 lead.
Again Fritz ignited UMD, with a first-play pass to Cloquet freshman Tim Battaglia covering 41 yards up the right sideline, setting up Gerlach’s 28-yard field goal for a 10-6 lead.
Later in the second quarter, it looked as though the impressive start might fizzle. Troy Gago mishandled a Mankato punt and Colin Bryant recovered at the UMD 16. On first down, Schraufnagel tore off right tackle and covered all 16 yards for the touchdown. For the night, Schraufnagel, a 6-2, 220-pound sophomore, carried 33 times for 108 yards, and that 16-yard run was his longest.
As it turned out, even after a couple of special team misplays led to Maverick touchdowns, Nielson had nothing but praise for his troops.
“We had a couple kicking-game screw-ups that cost us touchdowns,” Nielson said. “But for the first game, we limited the amount of our mistakes, and we did a great job defensively. The big thing was we put them in a position where they couldn’t just run the football, and then our defense stepped up for a couple of big series.”
The confident attitude meant the 12-10 halftime deficit didn’t spin the Bulldogs into a second-half depression. Instead, after each team had a couple of turns with the ball, the Bulldogs took over after a punt at their 12. On first down, Fritz launched a high, hard one over the Mavericks defense and Walker ran under it, tipping it once before grabbing it, and sailing away for the 88-yard touchdown and a 16-12 UMD lead.
The Bulldog defense stopped the Mavericks, and Fritz ended the third quarter with another successful drive, opening with a 33-yard first-down pass to Steve Battaglia, the sophomore half of the Cloquet receiving brother tandem. He hit freshman Tim Battaglia for a 25-yarder on fourth and four that put the ball on Mankato’s 5, and Erik Conner scored from the 1 on the first play of the fourth quarter.
That made it 23-12, but the Bulldog defense had to come up with some big plays to hold the lead. Cash Langeness, a freshman from Luck, Wis., intercepted a Dutton pass at the 39 to stop one series, but Mankato’s Lubin Joseph recovered a low, slithering snap on a UMD punt attempt at UMD’s 21, and the Mavericks capitalized when Andrew Shea passed for a 20-yard touchdown to Dan Weldon with 4:01 remaining.
“One of the toughest things to do in this weather was handle punts,” said Nielson. “I’m not sure we would’ve gotten any guys to volunteer to field punts tonight.”
At 23-18, the Bulldogs were far from safe, but the offense stayed calm and the defense came up with key stops, ultimately holding the Mavericks on downs with 39 seconds left to end the game at the Mankato 35.
Brand new 20-year-old glove makes you feel like a kid again
Baseball players might take all manner of types these days, but there was a time when every kid playing the game was either a Wilson type or a Rawlings type. You used a Louisville bat, but you used either a Wilson glove or a Rawlings glove. They both felt entirely different, and if you preferred one, then the other felt awkward on your catching hand.
I was always a Wilson type, and I still am, as it turns out, but just barely, thanks to Ralph, out at Stewart’s Sporting Goods.
When I got big enough to throw a ball, my dad got me a cheap little glove. It was a “Globe,” and I think we got it at Heinan’s Hardware on 48th Avenue East and Superior Street. As I grew into teenager-hood, I got a “Nokona.” I’d never heard of a Nokona, but that glove felt great, and I wore it absolutely out.
My eagerness to play the game had become apparent to my dad, by then, and as I was approaching high school age, he wrote a letter to Ray Boone, who played for the Detroit Tigers in those days, and whose dad had once played for my dad with the Wausau Lumberjacks. By return mail, Ray Boone sent me a package, and I’ll never forget the joy that rippled through my body when I tore open that square box and pulled out a new Wilson baseball glove, autographed by Harvey Kuenn. It felt as though it had been custom-made for my left hand, and it was the most-valued treasure among my possessions to that point, in our hillside home out in Lakewood. I wore that glove out, too, but I used it until the leather in the palm was pretty much disintegrated. While renovating that home of my growing-up years, I pulled open a drawer and — there it was! — the old, worn-out Kuenn-model Wilson.
By the time I was off to college and playing serious Park National amateur baseball in Minneapolis, I couldn’t feel comfortable using anything but a Wilson. I invested what it took to get the newest model, the “A2000.” I went through a couple of them, and I hated to even use them for softball because it seemed somehow sacrilegious. When I started coaching first one son and then the other, catching real baseballs while pitching batting practice to the kids was a treat. My rules were simple, by the way. You put your hand in the glove, with all your fingers inside. Errors will happen, but putting your fingers inside the glove gave you a better chance for catching the ball, and a proper respect for how to catch it, which required covering it immediately with your bare hand. Major leaguers showboat and snatch balls with one flick of their glove, with a finger outside for extra cushioning, but they’ve caught a few thousand balls every spring training, and they still occasionally drop one.
When my sons got old enough, I bought them Wilson A2000 gloves, too, whether they appreciated them or not. I even bought my wife one, the one year she played on a co-rec softball team. I knew that she might not play too long, and I’d stand a pretty good chance of inheriting that glove when she was done with it. As it turned out, that was the last year Wilson made the A2000 in the USA, turning to Japan for their top glove ever since.
Unbeknown to me, in a parallel scenario 20 years ago, a group of baseball zealots southwest of the Twin Cities in Jordan organized a senior amateur league for players age 35 and over. It had weird rules: Each inning would start with one out, and each batter would start with a 1-1 count, and each game would go nine innings. Differentiating from the standard 3-out, 7-inning style, the abbreviated count with nine innings reduced the scores from 10-8 style to more like 4-2, roughly. More than that, aging pitchers could throw on Sunday and have functional use of their arms by the following Tuesday instead of feeling sore for five days.
I first heard about the league 19 years ago, and I went out and played as a fill-in, then joined a team. We had a great time, and two revelations were clear: One, the first thing that goes away after a ballplayer reaches age 40 is the velocity of the pitch; and two, when you’re over 40 and you make good contact with an aluminum bat, you’re 18 again. The next year, I put together my own team, with a nucleus of players from among the more athletic-looking dads on the various baseball, hockey, soccer and football teams I either had coached or helped coach. We’re still at it. In fact, as the Shoreview Hawks, we head into our own 16-team state tournament in Jordan and Belle Plaine this weekend.
There is good reason that such a league could start and flourish Up North. And, after interviewing and writing a story about softball pitching ace Stephanie Fritch, I found myself describing this league to Gary Fritch, her dad. By the end of the conversation, Gary was convinced, and he is now our commuter-pitching ace, with a 3-0 record and a chance to help us in the tournament. But that’s another story.
For the past 18 years, practicing a lot in May and playing two games a week through June, July and into August, means a lot of wear and tear on the ol’ glove. About 15 years ago, while on a trip home to Duluth, I stopped by Stewart’s Wheel Goods on 15th Avenue East and Superior Street. I’d often stop in there, because you can get a pretty good perspective on sports, ranging from low-key and rational (from Dick) to more outrageous and cynical (from Ralph). That day, however, I noticed two blue Wilson baseball gloves hanging on the wall. Both were A2000 models, and both had the “Made in USA” circle on the thumb. Knowing this was a couple years after Wilson had quit making those gloves in the U.S., I tried them both on, and bought one.
It happened to be blue, and while a blue leather baseball glove may intrude on my purist sensitivities, our team colors are blue and grey, so it worked. It felt fantastic, slipping onto my left hand as if custom made. I had that blue leather Wilson A2000 relined once, after the inside had been used up and disintegrated. I later had it restitched when the rawhide stitching turned to powder. Finally I had it repalmed on the outside and relined again on the inside. All these years, I kept checking on every glove in every sporting goods store I went near, and I never found a glove that felt even remotely as comfortable as that old blue A2000. During those occasional stops were at Stewart’s, I always joked with Dick Stewart about how it was too bad he didn’t have one more old USA-made Wilsons stashed somewhere. He laughed, but he understood.
This year, however, it became evident that the old blue Wilson was not going to outlast me. The holes in the outer palm and the hole in the inner lining were now large enough that they lined up with each other, and when you put the glove on and looked at the palm, you could see bare skin. I started the season with it, but I knew the end was near. Short of sneaking into one of my sons’ belongings and swiping one of their A2000s, I was out of luck. Nokona, a little company in Nocona, Texas, has made a comeback with some impressive new gloves, but other than that, I haven’t found a new glove that feels decent. In fact, the new A2000, made in Japan, has a little leather chute that forces your index finger to go on the outside of the glove!
About a month ago, I wandered into Stewart’s for another therapy session, although it is uncertain whether the beneficiary of the therapy is Dick, Ralph or I. For the umpteenth time, but now with greater urgency, I said how sad it was they couldn’t come up with one more old USA-made A2000.
“I’ve got one,” said Ralph.
I was stunned at Ralph’s response, especially since it came on approximately the 200th time I had made the same request. But, if you know Ralph, you know that he probably has a manufacturer rep’s model of every new glove made over the last 20 years. He says no, but I’m guessing he has to make a big decision every time he wants to choose an implement for his next softball endeavor. As evidence of my theory, he was able to produce a brand new, unused, but 20-year-old black Wilson A2000. We negotiated the price, and both of us knew that Ralph couldn’t remember whether he’d paid anything for it or not. We compromised, and I think Dick got the biggest kick out of it.
One guy on our team is 62, and a half-dozen others are between 35 and 38 years old. After all these years, I’m far closer to the former than the latter. When I showed up with the new black A2000, its silver lettering still shiny, all of the other Wilson-types on my team were envious, while the Rawlings guys thought we were a little nuts for making such a big deal out of it. And the new guys — it’s amazing how the 35-year-olds in the 35-and-over league look younger every year — just stayed silent and wondered if they, too, might get a little squirrelly if they keep playing long enough.
The new black A2000 works well and is already broken in enough so I can’t blame any dropped grounders at short or third on the stiffness of a new glove. I did, however, blame global warming for the obvious effect that the earth seems farther away from my glove this year. But I am crediting the new glove for my improved batting average this year, just because of the reinvigorated enthusiasm it has produced.
As the state tournament runs this weekend and next, the Shoreview Hawks may do well or may fall short. In either case, I am armed and ready after what already has been a year to remember. How many guys, this far into their 50s, can boast of a son’s Father’s Day gift of a new pair of baseball spikes, and then finding the treasure of this new ol’ Wilson glove? At any age, new spikes and a new glove can make you feel like a kid again.
About the Author
John Gilbert is a lifetime Minnesotan and career journalist, specializing in cars and sports during and since spending 30 years at the Minneapolis Tribune, now the Star Tribune. More recently, he has continued translating the high-tech world of autos and sharing his passionate insights as a freelance writer/photographer/broadcaster. A member of the prestigious North American Car and Truck of the Year jury since 1993. John can be heard Monday-Friday from 9-11am on 610 KDAL(www.kdal610.com) on the "John Gilbert Show," and writes a column in the Duluth Reader.
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