The Pecan Park Eagle

Bill McCurdy & Deacon Jones reminisce prior to the Katy games on Saturday, June 25th, about their treasured long ago days as teammates on the Mudville Nine and that now celebrated time that Deacon came to bat in the bottom of the ninth for the "Gumbo Goblins" with with two runners on base and two men out, and dear old Mudville trailing, 4-2.

After months of quiet waiting through a drought of both rain and vintage base ball action, the Houston Babies flew back into action on Saturday, June 25th, as one of three invited teams selected to play in the Katy Heritage Festival at Katy City Park. Along with the host club Katy Combine, the Babies filled out a dance card of three games played at 10:00 AM, 11:30 AM, and 1:00 PM. The third club came all the way from Boerne, Texas to play as the Tusculum Free Thinkers. Named for an ancient Roman city that once thrived in the Alban Hills of Italy, Tusculum also served as the name of the early settlement in Texas that now lives on as Boerne.

The Babies took the opener, 4-2, over the Katy Combine.

Playing without several regulars due to injuries and other commitments, Larry Hajduk pitched the first of two masterful games against the Katy Combine in the opener, winning a close one by 4-2, Shortstop Tim Stouffer and third baseman Robby Martin contributed some stellar defensive plays to keep the home club Katy folks on the short side of the bell-ringing scoring ledger all day as pitcher Larry Haduk kept coaxing playable out balls off the Combine bats. Kyle Burns and Chris Chestnut each contributed three hits each in Game One as all Babies, but pitcher Hajduk picked up at least a single hit in the 14-safety attack.

Larry Miggins: The Hands of a Vintage Ball 1st Baseman.

It’s hard to see the bruises i the photo, but the swelling in the hands of first baseman Larry Miggins was fairly obvious and the opener was in the can. Miggins is old school. He does it effectively and without complaint. This guy could have played vintage ball by the 1860 rules back when the world of baseball was still evolving from its most practical birthplace on the Elysian Fields of New Jersey.

Deacon Jones runs out his first batted ball in Game Two.

The Babies were honored to have the DH services of former MLB player and Astros batting coach, and now spokesperson for the new Sugar Land Skeeters independent club, Deacon Jones, in Game Three at 1 PM. Game Two resulted in a 7-1 win for Tusculum over Katy, so, in effect, our game with Tusculum was for the championship pf the day.

In Deke’s first of two plate appearances, he slashed a sharply hit ball that could have easily resulted in a single to right against an ordinary defender, but the nameless (to me) fist baseman for Tusculum was no ordinary fielder. He quickly caught and converted 75 year old Deacon Jones had smash into a sharply played 6-3-6 double play to end the Babies’ inning.

Deacon Jones's 2nd Smash was a hard hit ball to the right. (This photo by Matty Green.)

Deacon talks with "Blind Tom" as Bat Boy Jackson scurries to collect a bat.

You may be able to see the ball in the above photo. In his second time at bat, Deacon ones has just crushed one down the line. Unfortunately, the same superman is still playing first base. The guy literally leaps to his left through the air to capture the line drive in foul ball flight as old pro Jones walks away wondering what one has to do to get a hit in this crazy game called vintage base ball.

For one thing, Deke, we just appreciate you for who you are and what you do as a real baseball man – a guy who lives, breathes, feels, and thinks baseball from the top of your head to the bottom of your toes.You don’t have to prove yourself at vintage ball or anything else. You’ve already done all of what needed doing by the life you already have lived and by the way you now give yourself so willingly to the future of Sugar Land Skeeters Baseball.

The upcoming “Deacon’s Dugout” is your legacy, Mr. Jones – yours and no one else’s.

Tusculum 3 - Houston 8 was our second game final score.

Shortstop Tim Stouffer and Catcher Mike McCroskey each had three-hit games in the Houston Babies’ 8-3 win over Tusculum. McCroskey and Chestnut from Game One were the only two perfect plate day Babies. Each played in a single game – and each went 3 for 3. Again too, it was our Pitcher Larry Hajduk shutting down the visitors with only 1 earned run among 3, and never being troubled at any point, that made everything work out OK for the Houstons. The double pitching gems pushed Hajduk’s 2011 record to 2-0 on the year.

Hopefully, the Houston Babies will have additional games in the fall. In the meanwhile, here are box score performances of the Houston Babies in the two games played yesterday. Have a a peaceful Sunday, everybody.

Note: As you read the batting averages, these figures are for the whole season of 2011 and, since this doubleheader also represented the first two games of this calendar year season, the averages you see in Game I are for that game only. The averages for Game 2, however, reflect how players did in both games of the new season. It’s the cumulative batting average of each player for both games.

Got it? ……………………. Good.