Finishing up Dartball

The early spring weather continues to feel and look like mid to late spring as we enter the last week of March. Upper 60s today, with rain on the way for tonight, but no "cold" weather in sight for the time being. Baseball Scrimmage at Convoy Crestview tonight. Sam is in Kentucky at the University of the Cumberland for 4 games over the next 3 days...yesterday OSU-Lima dropped to 0 wins 3 loses on the young season, losing to Miami University at Hamilton(Ohio) 10-4...Sam warmed the bench, so he remains 0 for 2 on the season, the ego may be getting a little bruised, but hey at 27, he's still in the game, and the second oldest on the team, a distance cousin being the oldest at 29.

Last night Patricia and I headed to the metropolis of Schumm, Ohio(population about 25 not counting Dairy Cattle), and attended the Wabash Valley Dartball League banquet...food, entertainment, and the hand out of the awards. We got our 2nd place Tournament Trophy for St. Johns-Celina Lutheran, and I picked up Sam and my "All Star Shirts" for making the All-Star team...this marks my 12 time in 15 years, even though my stats were rather pedestrian this season....a .362 batting average and just 22 runs batted in. I have managed to bat over 400 in 11 of 15 years, but have failed the last 2 years, hitting .353 last season and this years .362.

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The Wabash Valley Dartball League began back in 1938, making this the 71st consecutive year according to our records which the "host" team keeps in it's possession each season. Schumm was the host church this season just ended, we(St. John Lutheran-Celina), will take over for 2009-10. The host church/team takes over the finances, hosts the playoffs, the tournament, and the season ending banquet, and takes care of the trophies and awards. So, I'm league President this coming season, meaning a figurehead that gets to dole out the other positions, so I don't have to do most of the work....smart move.

When originally founded the league was strictly Lutheran Churches situated around the Wabash River Valley of west Ohio and the Indiana border of Ohio....teams from Van Wert, Mercer, and Darke Counties made up the 12 team league. Now days we have 3 Lutheran Churches and other denominations scattered throughout Mercer County, with Schumm, being in Van Wert County...and are down to 8 teams. We don't have the numbers as past years, seems the teens have little interest in "Dartball", but we keep recruiting enough young guys to keep the league going...our team ranged in age from 10 to 90(Original League member Martin ), with the 90 year young guy still hitting as good as just about anybody, Martin is usually around or above the .300 average mark each year.

So we will keep plugging away, Wabash Valley Dartball season #72 starts in October.

Today, working on the floors and some spot removal on the lite colored throw rugs, that comes with an almost 11 year old Airedale deciding to come into "heat" at an advanced age...had to put the disposal diapers on Reagan, and needless to say, she is not all that happy about it...but tough, that, or she goes outside or the back storage room for the duration, making her even less happy.

Got home last night from the banquet, and watched the Philadelphia Flyers take on New Jersey. Philly pretty much secured themselves a home rink advantage for the Stanley Cup Playoffs coming up in April, with a 4-2 win over the Division leaders....unless they do a total collapse. It's also looking like the Columbus Blue Jackets may make the playoffs for the first time in their 8 year history, hopefully so, they have a great fan base, and that base needs to be rewarded.

I am reaching for stories as you can tell...guess I'll shut it down for this post.

back later>>>>>

Photos-front of my "All Star" T-Shirt. and front and back sides of the Dartball Tournament Banquet Flyer.