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Have Glove, Will Travel

See Will Travel, page 2

Photo by: Meg GiffenLeft to right: Jason MacDonald,

Steven Ball, Matt Mercer

By GLENN MILLERRoy Hobbs Baseball The Panhandle Pirates are from near the west-ern end of the Florida Panhandle, a long journey from Fort Myers. Most Northerners likely have no conception of

Florida’s size. The distance from Eg-lin Air Force Base, where several of the Pirates are sta-tioned or have been stationed, is 561 miles to the Centu-ryLink Sports Com-plex. That’s accord-ing to Google Maps.

To put it in perspec-tive: The distance from Pittsburgh to Chicago is 460 miles. The Pirates made the drive east through the Pan-handle and down nearly the entire length of the penin-

sula to play in the World Series. “Worth every pine tree,” Pirates manager Jason MacDonald said of the countless pine trees they rode by. MacDonald said six of his current players are ac-tive military and their league back home is “comprised mostly of military.” One of the Pirates on active duty is 35-year-old Stephen Ball. When MacDonald, Ball and other Pirates gath-ered to chat they had just finished their third game in two days. Ball was ready for another game and ready to play anywhere at anytime. “Anywhere he needs me,” Ball said of MacDon-ald. “I just want to be out there.”

Baseball's Badge of HonorBY GLENN MILLERRoy Hobbs Baseball If the Roy Hobbs World Series experience could be boiled down to one day, a couple innings, one team, soiled uniforms, a bunch of sandwiches and bottles of water and Gatorade it might be what happened with the Pittsburgh Wild on Tuesday. It was all there at Hammond Stadium in the Cen-turyLink Sports Complex. Competition. Camaraderie. Excitement. Spiffy uniforms adorned with baseball’s badges of honor – dirt and grass stains on white pants. The Wild beat the Tallahassee Tomahawks 4-3. But it wasn’t easy. Tallahassee tied the game at 3 in the bottom of the eighth. In the top of the ninth the Wild’s Joe Eisner led off with a triple to left-center. After a strikeout and a pop-up he was still a third. Then Joe Novak boomed a double to left, giving the Wild a 4-3 lead. In the bot-tom of the ninth the Tomahawks placed runners at sec-ond and third with two outs. A hit could win or tie it. A groundout ended the game. Reliever Dan Ruef earned the save. Ruef, 35, is in his first Roy Hobbs World Series. His impres-sion? “Oh, it’s been fantastic,” Ruef said. “So many teams. So many players. To see people go back and forth, see them in the locker room. Real friendly. Guys saying ‘nice hit, nice play.’” As Ruef chat-ted his teammates were seated several feet away, eating lunch and drink-

Photo by: Meg GiffenDan Ruef

See Baseball Badge, page 2

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Will Travel Ball is an Air Force technical sergeant working in what he referred to as munitions. He has been de-ployed to Turkey and South Korea. Baseball is a great break from the stresses of keeping America safe. “It’s what we call a brain dump,” Ball said. Ball, a father of three young boys, had been away from baseball since his childhood and returned to the game in 2015. “I just wanted to feel like a kid again,” Ball said. “Fishing wasn’t working.” But baseball is. As he spoke, Ball’s three boys sat at a picnic table. Samson is 5, Cayden is 9 and Tyeson is 11. That infusion of youth also keeps the Pirates Matt Mercer, 44, playing. He’s a retired Air Force master sergeant who now teaches grade school at Rocky Bayou Christian School in the Panhandle. “Feeling like a kid again,” Mercer said. “You don’t get that many things that make you feel like a kid again.” Baseball is one and is worth every pine tree the Pirates rode past on their 561-mile journey to the World Series.

ing water or Gatorade as they rested for their second game of the day. This was why Ruef is here for the first time and thousands of others keep returning. To play games such as the one that just ended and to play in a place such as CenturyLink and to bond with teammates over sandwiches following a game. Plus, the Wild wear sharp uniforms with a W logo that resembles that of the Washington Nationals. Man-ager Frank Cararie explained the logo was selected for a simple reason. “We wanted something anybody could go buy,” Cararie said.Some things, though, can’t be bought, things such as camaraderie and the glow of a hard-fought victory and the chance to play. “There’s a great appreciation,” Ruef said, “for the ability to come down here in October and play and play.” And earn those baseball badges of honor – dirt and grass stains on your uniform.

Baseball Badge

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NOTEBOOK

Greg Wagner PhotoAmericans catcher rises above a cloud of dust after forcing the MN

Bulldogs runner at home

Expanding RHWS or PDC Growth?Roy Hobbs is holding off on expanding the World Series to 5 weeks as we have not seen enough evidence to do that.Couple that with plans to ex-pand the Player Development Complex to 8 adult fields by 2019, and Roy Hobbs is shelv-ing those discussions for the time being.It is simpler, Roy Hobbs be-lieves, to utilize the Charlotte County Complex on a very limit-ed basis as needed. Roy Hobbs anticipates doing that during the week of the Legends, Vin-tage and Forever Young divi-sions, especially on playoff Fri-day.This year there are 85 teams in Week 3. With 83 in 2016, there were only 2 open field times, so we survived with no rain! With 85, there is no fudge factor on scheduling at all, and we may need to grab a HS field to get 2-3 games played to make it work with 85 teams until we get to Friday.

Customer Service Roy Hobbs Baseball is proud of its record on customer service. Staff members are required to wear identifying staff shirts during the working hours of the tournament

and should be easily identifiable. At least two are as-signed to each of the satellite complexes daily. In the case of emergency, please go to the near-est concession stand at the satellite complexes, where someone will be available to summon help. Roy Hobbs field managers and key personnel are Red Cross First Aid certified, and Roy Hobbs Base-ball has guidelines in place on the handling of injuries. Additionally, AED devices are available at each of the facilities, and Roy Hobbs personnel have been trained on those devices.

Broadcast Plans Roy Hobbs is working on a plan to broadcast se-lected World Series games, both live-streaming via the internet and as a posted post-game podcast on the Roy Hobbs website. The immediate goal for 2018 is to be able to of-fer teams the opportunity to have one of their games broadcast from Hammond Stadium at the Centurylink Complex. Teams buying into the plan – we would broadcast 2 games a day Sunday through Wednesday – would have their stadium game at Centurylink. Roy Hobbs would then broadcast 2 championship games each Saturday. We are talking broadcasting 48 games. Preparing to be able to present that option to its members, Roy Hobbs plans to broadcast 4 games this year – 2 championship games on both November 4 & 11. This is our test drive, so to speak, and our opportu-nity to be able to show teams what can be done in this format. Stay tuned!

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FINAL STANDINGS

W L PCT RA RA41 Chicago Knights 3 2 0.600 56 332 Akron Knights 3 2 0.600 51 353 Panhandle Pirates 2 3 0.400 44 264 Kodak Reds 2 3 0.400 46 285 Cape Diablos 2 3 0.400 47 316 Ft M Hooter’s Owls 2 3 0.400 44 327 Cincinnati Colt .45s 2 3 0.400 57 418 Akron Cardinals 2 3 0.400 80 599 Detroit Dodgers 1 4 0.200 58 3810 Ukraine Veterans 1 4 0.200 58 4211 Nova Scotia Alpines 1 4 0.200 66 4512 NEO Angels 1 4 0.200 66 5013 Glass City Black Sox 0 5 0.000 50 3614 Tidewater Drillers 0 5 0.000 64 5015 Tallahassee Lumberjacks 0 5 0.000 89 5916 Tallahassee Red Sox 0 5 0.000 94 61

Championship GameSaturday @ City of Palms Stadium @ 9 AMTidewater Drillers @ Glass City Black Sox

AA Division

W L PCT RA RA41 Minnesota Bulldogs 5 0 1.000 14 102 Minnesota Web Gems 5 0 1.000 25 133 Pittsburgh Wild 4 1 0.800 17 44 Jet Box 4 1 0.800 17 65 MaxBat 4 1 0.800 23 116 Tallahassee Tomahawks 4 1 0.800 28 177 South Bend Cardinals 4 1 0.800 40 248 Baltimore Chop 4 1 0.800 50 359 DRS Astros 3 2 0.600 24 1410 Tennessee Dirtbags 3 2 0.600 27 1711 Germain Ohio Aces 3 2 0.600 36 2412 Miami Marlins 3 2 0.600 45 2413 Pensacola Sharks 3 2 0.600 43 3014 New Jersey Twins 2 3 0.400 54 3815 Vukgripz Akron A’s 1 4 0.200 55 3016 Americans BB Club 1 4 0.200 42 32

Championship GameSaturday @ CenturyLink Stadium @ 9 AM

Jet Box @ Pittsburgh Wild

AAA Division W L PCT RA1 Chicago Woodpeckers 4 0 1.000 162 Stars BB Academy 3 1 0.750 213 Toledo Aces 3 1 0.750 254 HPK Oilers 3 1 0.750 255 Estrellas de Herrera 2 2 0.500 266 New Jersey Mets 2 2 0.500 30

Championship GameSaturday @ JetBlue Stadium @ 9 AM

Chicago Woodpeckers @ Stars Baseball Academy

AAAA Division