Union Base Ball Club of Dexter visits Greenfield Village

On Sunday, July 28th the Union Base Ball Club of Dexter made their yearly trip to Greenfield Village for a much anticipated match of historic base ball.  The follow was written by an observant reporter on the scene.

In last years first ever meeting between the Union Base Ball Club of Dexter and the Greenfield Village Lah-De-Dahs,  the match of vintage base ball took place amidst oppressive heat and scorching sun.  After managing to score only a single tally against the well-established Lah-De-Dahs, our Union squad were determined to make this years  return to Greenfield Village strikingly different.  As the final tallies of the match were recorded it was obvious to this reporter that our local team of gents had made it so.  One notable difference was in the match day weather. While the calendar said it was July 28, the 200+ cranks that descended upon Greenfield Village’s Walnut Grove field were dressed as if it were a day in early October.

After team introductions, the Lah-De -Dahs won the coin toss and elected to strike first. Their offense showed up quickly as they tallied 5 runs in both the first and second innings.  The gents from Dexter showed great restraint as they let their offensive fire build more slowly and by the 3rd inning were rounding the sacks with regularity.  This reporter  noted many fine examples of the Union’s offensive abilities including  a cannon shot off the bat of Keith “Stats” Perrault  that sent the Lah-De-Dahs scampering in desperate pursuit while the bases were cleared and Stats coasting into third sack with time to ponder his feat.  Wrong hander Tom “Tomahawk” Covert repeatedly sent the onion screaming over the railroad tracks in right field, causing the match judges to suspend play in order for the adversaries to search the nearby forest for the lost ball.  If the train had been coming through at the time of Tomahawk’s strikes a passenger would have surely thought they were witnessing a daytime shooting star. Other notable strikes came from Jerome “Hogwash” Paulissen and Marc “Knees“ Stankov whose shots to deep left field hugged the fair line for what seemed an eternity before finally returning to earth.  Adding to the display of power was a well struck ball by Brian “Crawdad” Koval whose lift to left center field confounded the Lah-De-Dah fielders in their attempts to catch it.  Ben “Bucko” Martin managed to strike one so hard his willow was reduced to fire starter. Brian “Knuckles” Miller had so many strikes about the field he kept the opposition in the dark as to where his next struck ball might land.

Defensively, Our Union boys repeatedly snatched the struck ball from the Lah-De-Dahs bats, with outstanding snags witnessed by Hogwash, Greg “No Show” Gould,  Jim “Swede” Sprague and Donovan “Mad Dog” Hill.  The Lah-De-Dahs wondered whether third sacker Eric “Buckeye” Durliat  was wearing a plate of steel as he  blocked a screaming shot with his chest, retrieved the stunned ball and rocketed it to across the infield to first sack.  John “Seabass” Gouin was all over the field Sunday catching and throwing well despite having injured his thumb fielding a ball during pre-match batting practice.  A 2014 prospect for the Union club, Jason ”Peacekeeper”  Endyke introduced his acrobatic abilities in jumping, tumbling and diving for the flying ball.  It is this reporter’s belief that even the struck ball was in awe of Peacekeepers feats as it seemed to always stop when it was struck in his direction.

So while the final tally was 35-16 in favor of the Lah-De-Dahs, our Union boys in the blue and grey accomplished their mission.  Their tally count has been improving as of late and left the host Lah-De-Dahs impressed with the marked improvement in match play.  But one thing that stood out to this reporter was something that did not change from last years match.  The Union Base Ball Club of Dexter played with poise , integrity and heart, which from this reporters view, is becoming a welcome constant from this team of gentlemen.

As observed by “Eyes” Havitt