Rain stinks sometimes

Well Thanks to all for their support and for taking the time out of your day to watch, or attempt to watch, Madison pitch in the Futures Game today. But when the FOUR HOUR rain delay came after he had already gotten warmed up and prepared to pitch it became bad taboo for him to do it again and pitch. Again thank you to all that tried to watch, and support Madison, I am just very sorry that he could not show you how he is trying to improve his craft. Maybe in September???

I was reading this post in another thread about Madison Bumgarner's rained out pitching effort in the MLB Futures Game and I started thinking about how frustrating that was for those close to Madison....and everyone else involved. Then I started thinking about the fact that all baseballers have memories of frustrating rainouts, not necessarily on the scale of the example above, but still very disappointing. What is your most frustrating rainout memory as a coach, parent or player?

 

This wasn't a time when a rainout was a disappointment....at least not for me. In '93, in a high school regular seasong game, we were playing Bessemer City at home. They had Kevin Millwood on the mound and he was setting us down, pretty much with ease. I believe we had Steven Sanders pitching for us and luckily he was having a pretty good night too. When the rain and lightening came, they sent both teams to the football locker room with the score tied 0-0. We had to come back the following night to finish the game. Millwood wasn't able to pitch that 2nd night and we ended up beating Bessemer City 1-0.

I guess the rain was a blessing for Cherryville. The Bessemer City crowd probably felt a little differently.

 

This was not a particular game, but a series. As most have witnessed it rains a lot in Atlanta...in July. And sure enough this particular year was no exception. My son's team was playing at the WWBA East Cobb tourney and all of their initial games were scheduled at 4:00. Well, for those familiar with Atlanta's weather, everyday started out pretty well, but by 3:00 the clouds started gathering and by 4:00 it was storming...not once or twice, but every single day. The schedule got so backed up that many games were played at sites drenched in water and played late at night. One of our games didn't end till well after midnight and wouldn't you know it---we finally had a game scheduled in the morning---the next day.

After going back to the hotel and getting a few hours sleep, at least we were looking forward to getting to play a game that was not backed up or rescheduled due to rain---not so fast kemosabe. We get to the field and it poured and poured....and to remind me that I had no influence on Mother Nature...it poured some more.

That week reminded me how difficult it is for teams to win this tournament because you're not only battling other teams, but you battle the elements. Pitchers warm up then find out that they won't be playing. Teammates must overcome coming out flat. Players must be weary of slipping on the field during a crucial play. It takes a lot of talent and luck to win this tournament during the best of weather conditions, but when you add in the weather elements it challenges you that much more.

I wish they would change the dates to June. Atlanta does not rain in June. It saves it up for July to be ready for the WWBA World Series.

 

Opening day

I can vividly recall sitting in my Dad's new Chevy truck in May, 1967 while the rain washed out our Little League Opening Day. In St. Albans, WV it was a big deal back then and it all started with a Saturday morning parade with the fire engines and the HS band and majorettes, etc. Each team was in uniform and rode in the back of a pickup truck with color matched streamers and your team sponsor's name on the side of the truck. Each team had a team Queen and two Princesses (not that kind of queen!)...they were usually the sisters of some of the players. They rode in convertibles donated for the parade by the local car dealers. After the big parade finished at the ballpark (decorated with red, white and blue bunting) three games would be played through the afternoon between the 6 teams in the league. As we began our warmups the clouds began to threaten and sure enough the rain began to fall. My brother, Dad and I climbed into my Dad's truck and we all stared at the clouds and tried to talk each other into believing it was going to stop. It never did and we had to postpone our first game. To this day, I can recall the heavy disappointment.

When we played that makeup game, I hit my first ever homerun over the centerfield fence and I remember feeling funny trying to not run fast and I remember seeing my Mom's face in the stands as I approached home. The pitcher was Bobby Sparks and 12 years later (I was now 24) I bought a brand new Pontiac Grand Prix and as I was driving it home from the dealership, I ran a red light and got pulled over. While I was sitting in the police car and the young cop was writing me up, I noticed his little silver nameplate said B. Sparks. I jokingly told him, "you aren't still sore with me for hitting a homerun off you back in 1967, are you?" With that, his stiff demeanor broke down and we had a big laugh about it all....and he wadded up the ticket.

 

The first several years after Riverfront Stadium was built (with Astroturf), the Cincy Reds were dedicated to NEVER having a rainout. During the glorydays of the Big Red Machine, we spent about 6 hours waiting for a game to re-start. Best I remember, it finished around 3am.

 

2005 Babe Ruth Southeastern Regional:Weddington,NC

In 2005, my sons 13 under Babe Ruth team won the state championship & we were headed to Weddington, NC to take part in the Southeastern Regional. The regional was being played at the Weddington Optimist Park, which is very nice & was brand new. As soon as we arrived in Weddington it began to rain & continued to rain for the next 4 days. The Wesley Chapel folks who were running the tournament were not going to play a game until these brand new fields were completely dry, which didn't look like was going to happen anytime soon. Eventually, after some prodding from several team officials they started to look for alternate sites in that area & finally we started playing at fields all over the place: Weddington High, Monroe, & Waxhaw were three I remember & eventually we finished up at the Optimist Park. Very frustrating, wet, week! I do have some pleasant memories of the Hooter's Restaurant on Trade Street (good wings)

 

actually, the wings ain't that good at Hooters... it's the ambiance (@)(@) that makes you think they taste great... they could serve cow patties with lots of sauce and most patrons wouldn't notice!

 

They could call them "WOW" patties!

I'd like to order a platter of wings, a plate of wow patties, and could you please show me how a hula hoop works just one more time. Good Food & Educational!