On this day in 1967, the Exton Varsity Boys softball team defeated Briar 4-2, a game played at Briar. I recall this because I have the game ball from that contest, which I grabbed after the third out and had everyone on the team sign it as you can see in the accompanying photos. I took the ball because I homered with someone on base to break a 2-2 tie in one of the later innings. None of my homers probably were ever booming fly balls; more likely the Briar outfielders, seeing the skinny kid at the plate, played me shallow and I hit a decent line drive between the left fielder and left center fielder that just kept rolling and I flew around the bases as best I could, yelling Say Hey to our team on the bench as I rounded third wide eyed, passed Beeba, who was coaching there, and raced the throw home. But whats more remarkable, I think, is the ball itself, which Ive kept all these years and, while its a bit weathered, still has everyones signature. Theres Beeba Rocket Turtle Exton, Coach (and how many of you recall the genesis of that nickname, because of the Rocket Turtle hat he wore at times that summer (bright colored felt with a plastic toy turtle on it)? Near that is Stoller which I believe was Lesley Stoller. And also Allan Slugger Pearlman, who I dont think anyone called Slugger. I think we called him The Man from Glad. Theres also the big guy, Steve Ace Liss, Coach (because he helped Beeba coach that year), and Joey Conrad (Star) who added I Hate School after his signature (that has always been my favorite signature), George Mick Beilin, the Mick being for Mantle (he also wrote a bold number 7 after his name, and I dont think any of us called him Mick either). Theres Eddie (Great) Fernbach, who was and is great, but of course we called him Doc. And Ed (Orange Drink) Neidick, nicknamed such because of Niedicks Orange Drinks, the chain store in the city that sold bad hot dogs and drinks (they had a store in front of the old Madison Square Garden on 8th Ave.). My lifelong friend Joel Stein signed it Best Luck, Steinie and added that he was Super Short .563 which indicated his shortstop position and batting average at the time. We had a friendly rivalry for best batting average that summer, I think I ended up with the teams highest batting average that year, not because I could actually hit but mostly because Id hit weak dribblers down to third base and beat the throw to first. Rob Rosenwald signed under Joel and I cant fully make it out any more, but it starts off To Willie Mays... And under Robbie is Rich (J.V.) Sirota, because Sirots coached the JV team that year. Jon Gruber signed it, too, right above my brother Cliff Hackel, who wrote Brother Kip, JV and Varsity. And under Kip is Joel Friedlander, My pal Mitch Ellner prefaced his signature with Mazel Tov, a nice sentiment. And Neal Rodar, just printed his name, somewhat flamboyantly. with a flourish on the final r. And then theres just Juan, who Im fairly certain is Jeff Levitt, but I cant remember why we called you Juan, Jeff, do you?; maybe because of the Giants pitcher Juan Marichal, or maybe something more nefarious. Farina is on there, and that was one of our nicknames for David Flaxer, besides Flax. And our buddy at second base, Mike Rosenberg printed his name in large letters. I dont know why Galen Guberman isnt on here because I think he was a coach that year, too, as all the former varsity players who signed the ball were. Anyway, Im pretty sure Facebooks tags are going to be screwed up when I post this, but I thought Id share this with everyone anyway on this 47th anniversary of our victory. I think we almost went undefeated that year, losing only our last game of the season, I think at Silver Lake. It was a great team with great guys and Im glad to still be friends with you all. Love, Willie.
Posted on: Fri, 18 Jul 2014 18:18:24 +0000
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