With a thrilling come from behind victory. Things were not looking too good for DaBears as we went in to the bottom of the 6th inning – down 10-19 but the King of Kings team was such a group of whiny complainers that DaBears were actually motivated to try for a change. Wallis led off the inning with a double, and we batted around from that point (except Neven) including Nick Heizer’s only hit of the night – a Home Run over the left field fence. By the time Wallis came up for his second time in the inning, with only 1 out he scorched a line drive that went all the way to the fence – past the whining, crying outfielders for the King of Kings and scoring Jeffrey to tie, and Wagnon for the victory.
Other highlights and unofficial stat totals:
• DaBears may have shaken the King of Kings faith in God with this comeback victory as they are the first team we have played in the Church League that has chosen not to pray after the game – and a few of their members were seen drinking up at Bobby Valentines after the game.
• Kabakoff hit an over the fence HR out to center field
• Wallis went 4 for 4
• Danny went 3 for 3
• LVB contenders:
o Nick went 1 for 3 and saw his average fall down below 500 and finished the Spring with a 490 (27 for 55) average and ties the team record with 3 strikeouts
o Neven – like Nick, came on strong in the end to end up batting 357 (10 for 28)… please don’t quit though.
o Leaders in the clubhouse last night were Perez (318 average, 2 strikeouts) and Slim Paul (360 average)
o Could we have a 4 way tie??? I’m going to need some help with this one… please vote in the comment section – Dave, I think I need some of your help on this one.
• Scott Austin wins the RBI race with 34 for the season
• Wagnon finishes with 32, Danny had 28, and Jimmy had 22
• Jimmy ended his season with 40 runs scored, followed by Danny and Scott with 26
• Good strong averages for the season: Wallis 824 (28 for 34), Jimmy 773 (51 for 66), James 690 (29 for 42), James’ Boss 677 (21 for 31) and Scott 655 (38 for 58 )
• Jeffrey and Wagnon rebounded from bad starts and ended up hitting 627 and 604 respectively.
Stay tuned starting tomorrow for the award season. We will be doing things a little differently this season – most awards are already figured out, but I will announce the day before what award will be given out the next day – at that time, it is up to you DaBears Interweb fans to plead your case and try to “rock the vote”.
Archive for May 13th, 2008
DaBears end the season much like they began…
May 13, 2008Allow me to be serious for a moment…
May 13, 2008First of all, I want to let everyone know that Jason “Power”, “Moneyshot” Neven is one of the greatest sports I have ever known. This site seemed almost dedicated to tormenting him for many years, and somehow Jason never resorted to going on a 3 state killing spree. Check out the actual list in the post below – no offense to Thomas, who was very good but didn’t play long enough to make this prestigious list. You will see the mighty Neven in the unlucky #13 spot in the countdown and see that this was only a joke to exclude him. Please also note that his rant was a joke as well, because he knew this was coming.
Secondly, everyone needs to know that despite his less than stellar softball stats – Neven clinched our first league championship for us back in 1995 with a super-clutch 2 out game winning hit vs. the hated Wagner Floors. It is probably safe to say that while Neven was getting that hit, that most of the guys playing with us now were being tucked into their little beds by their mommy after having cookies and milk. Another thing that we always talk about is how despite what the stats suggested – we were always better when Neven was out there in right-center field, between Jeffrey (his security blanket) and Keston, with Wagnon out in left. Those 4 guys played together out there for 6 years and 18 straight seasons, and didn’t even need to talk to each other out there by the end of that run. It was fun to watch.
My favorite memory of Neven out in the outfield is still how he would seemingly run from a mile away to back-up the possible Jeffe throw to the outfield if there was a grounder to 3rd with a runner on first. It was impossible to tell exactly where that throw would have gone, but it was still hilarious to see him try to predict where it might have gone!
One other semi-serious note (I promise not to do this again for a while) – first place in the voting the patriarch of DaBears - Papa Bear Reilly with a special shout-out to Mrs. Reilly who has kept score and watched more of our boring games than 90 percent of the guys that have played with us have actually played in! “Papa Bear” Reilly is #1 on the list because he was the rock of the team for so long. Danny, Dave and Teddy have been good pitchers for us – but Mr. Reilly would go entire seasons between walking batters. Every first pitch was a strike, and he came through with clutch hits when we needed them. He was the one player that could calm “High Pitch Jeffe” down and gave us credibility with all those dirty umpires who would have otherwise just seen a bunch of young punks. Wagnon said it the best when he said that the night that Mr. Reilly took that screamer back up the middle off his face, that was the end of the glory days for DaBears. It hasn’t been the same without him on the field, but it is always nice to see him come out to our games wearing his Bears shirt to cheer us on, or just hide in embarrassment.
One final note, that he to this day fails to recognize: we were playing Strike Force (another hated rival of the past) and we jumped out to a huge lead even though they were a much better team than us… they angrily tried to mount a comeback while they bitched and moaned at the umps on every call, as well as each other for letting our many hits drop… there was Mr. Reilly just outside the dugout… me, Jeffrey and Wagnon were sitting near him and we heard him say – clear as day, in his New York accent – “we need to beat these cocksuckers”. And with those words, we did. How could we not after those words of wisdom.
50 Greatest Bears List (actual list)
May 13, 2008DaBears 50 Greatest Players of All Time:
1) Charles “Papa Bear” Reilly
2) Jason Wagnon
3) Dave Stanton
4) Jeffrey Reilly
5) Jimmy Reilly
6) Jeffe Drake
7) Tim Wallis
8 ) Matt Smith
9) Bo Rankin
10) Paul Stanton
11) Keston Leisure
12) Robert Dyer
13) Jason Neven
14) Poochie Drake
15) James Drake
16) Teddy Spradlin
17) Danny Bullard
18 ) Mark Simmons
19) Alan Smith
20) Chris Digiorgio
21) Todd “Worm” Stanley
22) Colby Horton
23) Scott “Softball Jesus” Austin
24) Mark Dubois
25) Jeff “Mr. December” Green
26) Ernie “Big Ern” Price
27) Jason Kabakoff
28 ) Nick Heizer
29) Chris Coffee
30) David Peters
31-40) Tim Carlisle, Jake Rankin, Kris Dickman, Jeno Leisure, Ramiro Martinez, Scotty Middleton, Clint Lee, Dick Anish, Tim Perez, Big Matt
41-50) Eli, Howie, Heinz, Jim Horton, Ryan, Terry, Brian Wooley, Aaron, Tim Miller, and Djemal
