PIECES OF OUR PAST - THE ET CETERA CHRONICLES - VOL.

THE ET CETERA CHRONICLES - VOL. 103  PLAY BALL!

STETSON STANDOUT - Chuck’s brother, David “Rusty” Beale - a former Dublin High School pitcher and infielder and former Stetson University second baseman- was drafted by the Cincinnati Reds in the 45th round of the 2003 Baseball draft.  He was co-captain of the 2003 team, which played in the NCAA sectionals, where his team lost to South Carolina in the championship game.  In his first season of professional baseball, Beale played 2nd base for the Billings Mustang, a Reds Rookie League farm club.  He played in 58 games and batted .209 in 191 at-bats. He scored 28 runs and had 40 hits, including 5 doubles, 2 triples, and 1 home run.  He drove in 23 runs while walking 21 times and striking out 46 times.  He stole 5 bases and was caught stealing 3 times.

WE ARE FAMILY - Eldon Carlyle, who batted .442 in the 1929 season of the semi-pro Dublin Boosters, signed to play with the Atlanta Crackers. It shall be noted that Carlyle, who made it to the New Orleans Pelicans of the Southern Association, was the brother of major leaguers Cleo and Roy, the latter of whom is given credit for the longest (618 feet) home run in professional baseball history on July 4, 1929.

THE DOC RELIEVES - Doc Ozmer, a member of the 1929 Dublin Irishmen, pitched two innings in his first and last major league game on May 11, 1923.  Ozmer, pitching in relief for the losing Philadelphia Athletics,  set many league records that season for the Martinsburg Blue Sox, becoming that team’s first 20-game winner.  

SUPERIOR SECOND SACKER - Jody Pollock, a former Dublin High School teacher and baseball coach, led his Georgia Bulldogs baseball team to the College World Series in 2001.  The star second baseman helped to lead the comeback after losing their first regional game to Georgia Southern, where Pollock had played prior to his transfer.

SHANNON’S SMACK - Mike Shannon, a fixture on the St. Louis Cardinals for most of the 1960s and a Cardinal broadcaster for more than four decades, hit some long home runs in his professional baseball career. As a member of the Albany Cardinals of the Georgia-Florida League, Shannon smacked the longest of his career at Lovett Park in Dublin, Georgia.  A long home run of New York Yankee legend, Whitey Ford, sparked the Cardinals to a 9-5 victory over the Yanks in the 1st game of the 1964 World Series.  A year earlier, Shannon smacked a blast that hit the clock on the top of the scoreboard at Pittsburgh.  The home run in Dublin, Dublin, Ga. on July 1, 1958,  was longer than that one, laughed the hitter of  Irish descent.  The umpiring crew consisted of John Kibler and Tom Haller, two future umpiring greats of the National League, and both in their rookie seasons.  Managing the Dublin team was future Hall of Fame manager Earl Weaver.    The State, Columbia, S.C., October 8, 1964.

SOME GUYS HAVE ALL THE LUCK - The Rev. J.M. Yarborough, in his first term as the minister of the First Methodist Church in Dublin, took some time off to see the sights of New York City.  While standing in the elevator of his hotel, Yarborough heard several men discussing the outcome of the World Series game later that day.  The preacher exclaimed, “I’d almost share my bed with a man who could get me a ticket to that game.  A bell boy told Yarborough that there would be a man at the bell captain’s desk who would have a ticket.   Skeptical about his chances of getting a ticket at a fair price,  Rev. Yarborough tried it.  He found the man to be an affable Kentuckian who sold it to the minister at face value.   The preacher dashed to the subway and got there before game time.  Much to Yarborough’s astonishment, he found himself sitting in a box seat, very close to MLB Commissioner Happy Chandler.  The Yankees won the series 4-3 over the Brooklyn Dodgers.  Courier Herald, October 13, 1947.

WE’RE THE BEST - For most of the three decades around the turn of the 20th Century, there was always a fierce battle between the neighboring semi-pro baseball teams between Wrightsville and Tennille.  The Johnson County boys trounced their enemies from Washington County, 14-5.  The score was no surprise in that the Wrightsville team had not lost a game in four seasons.  Atlanta Constitution, June 19, 1896.