Bound for Glory
Bay City hosts Midland
Saturday, August 1st, 2009
Carroll Park, Bay City, Michigan
Bound for Glory!
Bay City 16, Midland 6
This Saturday past saw the Bay City nine welcome in their neighbors to the west, the Mighty River Hogs of Midland County, to play a match game of ball. The River Hogs requested that the match be played by the old “bound” rule, which was done away with in the rules of 1865. The older set of rules, known as the bound rules, allows for a fair ball to be caught on one bound for a hand lost (out). Ever the gracious host Bay City agreed to play their match by these past standards.
The match would begin with the River Hogs striking well, and sending eight men to the plate in only the first innings of play. Thanks to several successive safeties and a passed ball, the Midland gents were able to tally three aces. Then the Hogs were able to pull off a neat double play against the Bay Citys, and at the conclusion of one innings the scores stood at Midland 3, Bay City 0.
The Midland boys wouldn’t have much more luck at the stripe after the first, as Bay City’s own hurler of reknown, Fred Twinkle-Toes Brissette would enter the contest in the second innings and whitewash the River Hogs for the next five innings. The River Hogs luck in the field began to change as well thanks due in large part to the willow whipping of the Independents. Buttons McInerney would lead the charge again for the Bay Citys by pounding a ball deep into the garden, and easily making his second. McInerney would score on a clean safety from the bat of Branden “The Rope” Revette. Revette himself would later tally thanks to successive singles from the sticks of “Butterfly” Beceril and Dean “Sawmill” Koch. Beceril would score the match tying run when Captain Jayme Johnson placed a neat safety into the garden which allowed him to make his first safely.
The match was now a tight scratch at Bay City 3, Midland 3.
In the third innings Captain Johnson would score the go ahead run of the match for the Independents after making his first again and tallying thanks to a howitzer to the long field from the bat of Ray “The Banker” Banister. After Banister’s heroics the bats would go silent for the Bay Citys until the sixth innings. Banister would lead off the sixth with another drive to the long field and he would be the first of six gents to tally in the sixth innings for the Independents with four coming in a two hands down rally. After six innings the contest now stood at Bay City 10, Midland 3.
The River Hogs would tally two runs in the seventh innings and one more in the ninth to bring their total in the contest to six runs. It was an impressive display by the Midland gents, but the Bay Citys would not be outdone in front of the home crowd, as they would tally one more run in the seventh and five more in the eighth. The biggest blow of the contest came in the eighth innings with Bay City strikers occupying second and third sack and two hands lost Fred “Twinkle-Toes” Brissette took his turn at the plate and mashed the apple well into the right field. The howitzer from Brissette’s bat bounded into the flower garden and by the time the Midland gents had retrieved the ball Brissette had tallied a clean home run. The contest would end at Bay City 16, and Midland 6.
Bay City will next travel off to Dearborn to represent the fine folk of our fair city in the World’s Tournament of Base Ball to be held at Greenfield Village on August 8-9th. Bay City plays their first match at 11am Saturday against the two time Reserve Champion Columbus Capitals Base Ball Club of Columbus, Ohio.
