Saturday 03/14 - Jim's Baseball
"interregnum" -
UNOFFICIAL - Un-Audited and subject to
errors (typing, cut/paste, spelling, interpretation, etc.)
Posted at -
http://baseballlmw.blogspot.com/
American Legion Baseball notes posted
at - http://albdistrict2mi.blogspot.com/
Lots of problems domestically and
internationally - but as
Scarlett O'Hara said in "Gone with the Wind" - "Tomorrow
is another day" (or
something like that)
Live
one day at a time, use common sense and leave panic for the talking
heads.
Remember
that "I don't know the answer" is often a good, realistic
response.
Some
things the United States has endured
-
Cholera,
Malaria, Typhoid Fever & Yellow Fever at various time
Polio
The
"Dust Bowl"
The
Depression of the 1920s/30s
The
Cuban Missle Crisis
Two
world wars
Two
national "undeclared wars" - Korea & VietNam
The Summer of 1977 - a brief recap
of one team's experience
*Extracted (without asking permission)
from An Inning at a Time by Mel Machuca and Will
Shepherd (Amazon link -
https://www.amazon.com/Inning-Time-American-Baseball-Championship/dp/1592995535)
*Additional information "Four
decades later, South Bend Post 50 still Indiana’s lone American
Legion national champions" by Steve Krah -
https://takeoutyourscorecards.wordpress.com/2017/08/04/four-decades-later-south-bend-post-50-still-indianas-lone-american-legion-national-champions/
*Additional information 1977 Indiana
State Tournament (from
https://www.indianalegion.org/uploads/7/6/0/7/76076421/alb_history_1926-2014.pdf)
Team - South Bend American Legion
Post 50
Post 50 Baseball Chairman - Bob Kouts
Team manager - Mel Machuca (ALB 1977
Manager of the Year)
Assistant coach - Bill Barcome (ALB
1977 Coach of the Year)
Bench coach - Dan Toles
Media advisor - Forest Miller - South
Bend Tribune
Players (to the best of my
knowledge) -
1 - Matt Kowatch (5'8-1/2) - LaVille HS
2 - Greg Heyde (5'8) - Marian HS
3 - Bill Schell (5'9) - Texas
Wesleyan (American legion Player of the Year and Louisville Slugger
Award)
4 - Dan Szajko (5'8) - Adams HS
(drafted out of Notre Dame by Montreal)
5 - Mike Clarke (6') - Adams HS
6 - John Ross (5'8) - Clay HS
7 - Jim Andert (6'3) - Adams HS
? - Jeff Rudasics (5'11) - Clay HS
9 - Mark Toles (6'2)
10 - Dave Yates (6'5) - Marian HS
11 - Will Shepherd (5'11) - LaVille HS
? - Scott Madey (6'1) - Clay HS
? - Dom Romeo (5'8) - Adams HS
? - Dave Hankins (6'1) - Clay HS
15 - Gary Vargyas (5'10) - Purdue
Unviversity (football)
17 - Dennis Janiszewski (5'9) - Clay HS
19 - Jeff Coker (6') - Adams HS (free
agent signed by Philadelphia)
1/2 - Todd Machuda (4'5 - 7 years - bat
boy)
American Legion Player of the Year -
https://www.legion.org/baseball/awards/player
American Legion Slugger -
https://www.legion.org/baseball/awards/batting
American legion Leadership -
https://www.legion.org/baseball/awards/leadership
The season - no
guarantee that I've "exacted" all this correctly!
*The "Discovery" segment
(playing local competition)-
+Game 1 - Win (1-0)
+Game 2 - Win (2-0)
+Game 3 - Win (3-0)
+Game 4 - Loss (3-1) - Valapariso-3,
South Bend Post 50-1
+Game 5 - Win (4-1) - South Bend Post
50-12, Valaparaiso-11
+Game 6 - Win (5-1) - South Bend Post
50-5, Knox-0
+Game 7 - Win (6-1) - South Bend Post
50-W, Warsaw-L
+Game 8 - Win (7-1) - South Bend Post
50-W, Warsaw-L
+Game 9 - Win (8-1)
+Game 10 - Win (9-1) - South Bend Post
50-W, Adams HS summer team-L
*
*The "Step Up" segment
(tuning up) -
+Game 11 (at Southport) - Loss (9-2)
+Game 12 (at Southport) - Win (10-2)
+Game 13 (at Beech Grove) - Loss (10-3)
- Beech Grove-6, South Bend Post 50-3
+Game 14 (at Beech Grove) - Loss (10-4)
- Beech Grove-W, South Bend Post 50-L
+Game 15 (Post 50 Tournament) - Loss
(10-5) - Michigan City-4, South Bend Post 50-0
+Game 16 (Post 50 Tournament) - Win
(11-5)
+Game 17 (Post 50 Tournament) - Win
(12-5)
+Game 18 (Post 50 Tournament) - Win
(13-5)
+Game 19 - Win (14-5)
+Game 20 - Win (15-5)
+Game 21 - Win (16-5)
+Game 22 - Loss (16-6) - Elkhart Post
74-W, South Bend Post 50-L
*
*The "final preparation"
segment (putting it together) -
+Game 23 - Win (17-6) - South Bend Post
50-4, St Joseph/MI-3
+Game 24 - Win (18-6) - South Bend Post
50-5, Buchanan/MI-4
+Game 25 - Win (19-6) - South Bend Post
50-4, South Bend Post 357-0
+Game 26 - Win (20-6) - South Bend Post
50-5, Dowagiac/MI-1
+Game 27 - Win (21-6) - South Bend Post
50-6, Elkhart Post 74-5
+Game 28 - Win (22-6) - South Bend Post
50-4, Whiting-0
+Game 29 - Win (23-6) - South Bend Post
50-6, Whiting-2
*
*Indiana American Legion Sectional
Tournament at South Bend Belleville Park (August) -
Teams (South Bend Post 50; South Bend
Post 357; Elkhart Post 74; Michigan City; others?)
+Game 30 - Win (1-0 / 24-6) - South
Bend Post 50-6, Elkhart Post 74-4
+Game 31 - Win (2-0 / 25-6) - South
Bend Post 50-5?, South Bend Post 357-2
+Game 32 - Win (3-0 / 26-6) - South
Bend Post 50-15, Michigan City-0
+Game 33 - Win (4-0 / 27-6) - South
Bend Post 50-14, Michigan City-2
*
*Indiana American Legion Regional
Tournament at South Bend Kennedy Park (August) -
Teams (South Bend Post 50; Crown Point;
Hammond; Whiting)
+Game 34 - Win (5-0 / 28-6) - South
Bend Post 50-8, Crown Point-2
+Game 35 - Win (6-0 / 29-6) - South
Bend Post 50-5, Whiting-1
+Game 36 - Win (7-0 / 30-6) - South
Bend Post 50-W, Whiting-L
*
*Indiana American Legion State
Tournament at Richmond, IN
(more notes below) -
Teams? (South Bend Post 50; Lafayette
Post 11; Terre Haute Post 346; Beech Grove; others?)
+Game 37 - Win (8-0 / 31-6) - South
Bend Post 50-5, Terre Haute Post 346-1
+Game 38 - Win (9-0 / 32-6) - South
Bend Post 50-4, Lafayette Post 11-3
+Game 39 - Win (10-0 / 33-6) - South
Bend Post 50-8, Lafayette Post 11-5
*
*American Legion National Regional
Tournament (Great Lakes Regional) at Chicago, IL (more notes below) -
Teams (South Bend/IN Post 50;
Mansfield/OH; Blissfield/MI Post 325; Morehead/KY; Arlington
Heights/IL; Wisconsin, Illinois host)
+Game 40 - Win (11-0 / 34-6) - South
Bend Post 50-3, Blissfield/MI Post 325-2 - 11 innings
+Game 41 - Win (12-0 / 35-6) - South
Bend Post 50-1, Morehead/KY-0
+Game 42 - Win (13-0 / 36-6) - South
Bend Post 50-6, Arlington Heights/IL-5
+Game 43 - Win (14-0 / 37-6) - South
Bend Post 50-3, Blissfield/MI Post 325-0 - 11 innings
*
*American Legion World Series at
Gill Stadium, Manchester, NH (more notes below)
Teams (Trumbull/CT Post 141 (32-7);
Charles B. Yeager - Boyertown/PA Post 471 (45-2); Palm Beach/FL Post
12 (29-2); Francis L. Miller - Hattiesburg/MS Post 78 (); South
Bend/IN Post 50 (37-6); Rapid City/SD Post 22 (); Lewis-Clark -
Lewiston/ID Post 13 (63-16); Santa Monica Bay Cities/CA Post 123
(41-3));
+Game 44 - Win (15-0 / 38-6) - South
Bend/IN Post 50-5, Boyertown/PA Post 471-1
(Santa Monica/CA Post 123-9,
Trumbull/CT Post 141-2)
+Game 45 - Win (16-0 / 39-6) - South
Bend/IN Post 50-7, Santa Monica/CA Post 132-1
+Game 46 - Win (17-0 / 40-6) - South
Bend/IN Post 50-8, Hattiesburg/MS Post 78-1
+Game 47 - Win (18-0 / 41-6) - South
Bend/IN Post 50-3, Hattiesburg/MS Post 78-1 - Championship game
*
1977 Indiana State Tournament (from
https://www.indianalegion.org/uploads/7/6/0/7/76076421/alb_history_1926-2014.pdf)
1977 - RICHMOND/IN Indiana State
-
South Bend Post 50 became the third
South Bend Post to win a state championship. Post 50 had been close
to the title before, finishing as state runner-up three straight
years from 1961-1963. The wait had to have been worth it
because Post 50 would use its first state crown as the
impetus to do something no Indiana team had done before nor
has done since. In the state finals South Bend turned back
Terre Haute Post 346, 5-1, in the opening round and then beat
Lafayette Post 11, 4-3, in the winner's bracket final. The Terre
Haute roster included 16 year-old Brian Dorsett who would play
eight seasons in the major leagues. Dan Szajko went 3-3 in the
win over Terre Haute. Dave Hankins turned in a complete
game performance for the win over Lafayette. South Bend had
trailed 3-0 in the fifth inning of the Lafayette game but Jim
Andert singled in two
runs and Will Shepherd'sground rule double scored the game
winner. In the championship game Lafayette scored five times
in the top of the first but South Bend, which had trailed or was
tied in the middle innings in nine of its ten tournament games,
rallied again to claim a 7-5 state-title clinching win. South
Bend got two runs back in the second on Bill Schell's triple.
After Jeff Coker's 400-foot two-run bomb made it 5-4 in the
fifth, Greg Heyde's solo blast tied it in the same inning.
Post 50 got the game-winner in the seventh when Coker
singled, stole second, and scored on Shepherd's single off
the second base bag. A single run in the eighth closed scoring. Coker
went 7-9 and had three walks in the finals. Hankins, who
came on with two out in the first, worked his final three
innings of eligibility and Heyde, who took the mound
with one out in the fourth, worked 5 1/3 to pick up the win.
After the five-run outburst in the first Lafayette didn't
get a hit over the final eight innings.
1977 - Bellwood/IL - National
Regional -
In the national regional in
Bellwood IL, South Bend got a 3-2 opening round win over
Blissfield MI Post 325 when Coker's11th inning walk
scored Szajko. Post 50 did not have a hit in the
inning. Coker's home run in the seventh had given South
Bend a 2-1 lead after Blissfield had taken a 1-0 lead in the third.
Szajko's single in the fifth, after Shepherd had
doubled, tied it. Heyde struck out 13 and went the
distance for the win. South Bend left the bases loaded in the
eighth, ninth and tenth innings and stranded 14 for the game.In
second round play Jeff Kowatch's suicide squeeze scored
Shepherd with the only run of the game as Post 50 downed
Morehead KY Post 126, 1-0. Hankins, who missed the opening
game of the tournament due to college orientation and arrived
only a few hours prior to game time, retired the first 15 hitters he
faced, and 20 of the first 21, before finishing with an eight
strikeout,no-walk, three-hitter.In a scene all too familiar for South
Bend, it took a rally, this time from a 5-1 deficit, to down
Arlington Heights IL Post 208, 6-5. Kowatch's single in the
bottom of the ninth was the game-winner when Heyde knocked the
ball loose on a play at the plate. South Bend coach Mel Machuca's
gamble (there were no outs when he sent Heyde) worked
as Post 50 remained the only undefeated team in the
tournament. Besides scoring the winning run Heyde picked up
the win on the mound with five innings of four-hit shutout relief.
Hankins, who pitched all 11 innings over two days, ran
his scoreless inning streak to 29 as South Bend beat
Blissfield, 3-0 in 11 innings, to claim the regional
championship. Hankins bases-loaded walk in the 11th
scored South Bend's first run. The game was played over two days as
rain halted play in the bottom of the fifth on the first attempt to
determine a champion.
1977 - Manchester/NH - American
legion World Series
-
In the American Legion World
Series at Manchester NH, South Bend took a 5-1 opening round win
over Boyertown PA Post 471 as Schell had four hits, scored
twice and drove in two. Heyde tossed a six-hitter to gain the
win. In second round play Hankins held defending national
champion Santa Monica CA Post 123 to four hits and Schell
collected four hits in four trips to the plate in a 7-1 win. The
California roster included Tim Leary who was drafted by the
New York Mets in 1979 and pitched for the 1988 Los Angeles
Dodgers World Series Champions. Leary pitched Santa Monica's
opening round win over Trumbull CT. South Bend scored six unearned
runs in an 8-2 win over Hattiesburg MS Post 78, to become the only
undefeated team left in the World Series.With over 3,900 fans in
attendance Post 50 claimed Indiana's first, and only, national
championship with a 3-1 win over Hattiesburg. Heyde ran
his season record to 15-1 as he allowed only eight hits.South Bend
scored the first run of the game in the top of the second when Mike
Clarke scored on a wild pitch. After Hattiesburg tied it in the
bottom of the inning, South Bend took the lead for good in the third
when Schell tripled to lead off the inning and Coker
walked with one out. When Shepard's ground ball to third
was mishandled, Schell scored. Coker crossed the
plate when Shepherd's steal of second resulted in the catcher
throwing the ball into center field. Schell was named the
American Legion Player of the Year and won the Louisville
Slugger Award as the top hitter in national play with a .441
batting average. South Bend had entered tournament play
with a good season record of 23-6 but Post 50 was immaculate in
the tournament as they ran the table with a perfect 18-0 log to
finish the season 41-6. In no less than 14 of those 18 wins the
South Benders were either tied or trailed in the middle innings of
the game. There were some other oddities as well.Post 50 did not
have a left-handed pitcher nor a left-handed hitter and after
the state regional they played without starting second
baseman GaryVargyas, who was ill during the state
tournament and did not play during the national tournament
because he was involved in football practices at Purdue.
* * *
