The Pecan Park Eagle

The 1950 Pecan Park Eagles
Back: Charles Willis, Billy Sanders, Billy McCurdy, Pepsi (McCurdy dog), Eileen Disch, Johnny McCurdy.
Front: Kenny Kern, Raymond Giese, Jackie Perkins, Randy Hunt.

Brand New John McCurdy Sketch of the Pecan Park Eagles

This artistic rendering of the 1950 Pecan Park Eagles by my artistic brother, John McCurdy, arrived in yesterday’s Saturday mail. When he and I talked about his great work earlier this morning, he quite unnecessarily explained his reasons for taking liberty with reality – one more time.

We never had uniforms like that. ~ We never had uniforms of any kind – not even caps. We were a club of “Shoeless Joes” – with toes and soles as tough as nails – and most often tougher than the loose nails, broken beer bottle glass, and runaway garbage tins that so often ended up on our sacred playing ground. All we needed was the time it took to rinse the foot-cut from the faucet in Mrs. McGee’s flower bed and to make sure that the bleeding had stopped and we’d be back at it – full swing.

Way to go Eagles and thank you again, Brother John! – Today’s gift is both a mighty sweet contribution to the folklore surrounding the brief but passionate life of The Pecan Park Eagles ~ and a major step up the line to our little 1950 team gaining eventual acclaim as the Action Comics Mid-20th Century Juvenile Heroes who would best help lead the fight for “Truth, Justice, and the American Way” among their peers.

The Action Comics recognition, of course, was all part our now retroactive dream, but it was easy to find because, at that time, the Pecan Park Eagles were the only kid sandlot baseball team in Houston we know of that also had a girl who played for them as a star pitcher. Her name was Eileen Disch.

And, oh yeah! Eileen also was the only one who always kept her shirt on at Eagle Field. Her personal uniform was blouse and shorts. Otherwise, she was barefoot in the park like the rest of us.

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Lance McCullers, Sr. & Jr.
Minute Maid Park, Houston.

Junior Now has One More Career Win Than Senior

Through all games of August 4, 2018, Lance, Jr. still has a one career win edge over his long ago retired dad at 29 to 28. The comparison is a little irrelevant from the standpoint that Junior a total al starter and his dad was almost exclusively a reliever over similar periods of time ro date.

One thing’s for sure when you look at what both of these men have done and where they’ve done it over time is still pretty clear. – They’ve both got MLB pitching ability flowing through their shared DNA.

A Father & Son MLB Numbers Comparison

Of Lance McCullers, Senior and Junior

Through All Games of August 4, 2018:

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“Just Brushing My Teeth, Dear!” ~ W. C. Fields. It was a line inspired by too much W.C. Fields drinking time in a locked bathroom at home and a snoopy wife who inevitably asked the “what are you doing in there” question.

“Never Give a Sucker an Even Break!” ~ W.C. Fields

When reached at his present home in a paranormal time dimension beyond our own, here’s what W.C. Fields told our farthest roving reporter when asked if he planned to advise his great-grandson, a Houston Astros season ticket holder for many years, as to what action he should take to the sharp increase in ticket prices for Astros season tickets next year.

Here’s how Fields responded:

Fields: “Help him out? ~ Yes! ~ Good question! ~ Well, I’m not sure I can do that now. ~ You see ~ I just received a handsome consultant fee from the Astros for sharing a piece of advice with them on how this very event might be received by the general public. ~ Yes, it’s pretty tricky territory here! ~ Had to be careful! And fair! ~ After all, the Astros are good, honest people that deserved credit for bringing a World Series title to Houston! ~ And, as everybody knows, it’s going to take some money to keep the championship here!” And keeping the World Series title here benefits all of Houston!

TPPE: “Well, what did you tell the Astros, Mr. Fields?”

Fields: “Sorry, sonny, nothing comes free in this old globe of yours. ~ In other words,  my little little ‘pluck-a-bee’ ~ come up with the dough ~ and I’ll let you know!”

TPPE: “Must be some heavy reading, sir.”

Fields: “It’s not heavy. That’s my cover. ~ The thing’s lighter than air ~ one sentence long ~ all easy words ~ and all put there to shape the heart of every fire-breathing salesman who ever sensed when the fish were jumping into the boat to bite the hook – whether it had a worm on it ~ or not.”

TPPE: “No kidding?”

Fields: “No kidding, my little jabber-wocky! ~ Why, the Astros were so happy with my advice ~ they even gave me a bonus. ~ It’s a tailor-made golf clothes outfit ~ and it comes with two pair of pants ~ just in case I get a hole in one.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to find the men’s room. It’s time to brush my teeth.”

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Bill McCurdy

Principal Writer, Editor, Publisher

The Pecan Park Eagle

Tags: 2018 Lagniappe, August 5

This entry was posted on August 5, 2018 at 10:37 pm and is filed under Baseball, culture, History. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.