January 31st 2015

  How the West was One

January 31st 1860

   As the story goes....

   It started out as a dismal day for the club nine of Bisbee. Weather was upon them as they left Bisbee by Wagontrain. The skys were dark and heavy as they pulled out of Bisbee with Tucson in thier sights. There they would transfer to Railhead in to Phoenix. After a bite of lunch and the transfer complete, Bisbee headed on . Somewhere about Ajo, the Locomotive out ran the storm. With the storm behind them and good skys in Phoenix, the games were sure to be on.
   Phoenix, on the other hand, had just taken on two days of rain. The conditions weren't good yesterday as the Bees rolled in, as they brought the rains of Bisbee with them. There was percipitation late in to the evening. Chances of match play lessened with every raindrop. Somewhere around midnight the sky quit dripping and the ground began to drink up the moisture.
   At daybreak, Ol' Moonshine made his way down to the Playing grounds. The fog was raising off the Alfalfa as the sun started to make it's way in to the morning sky. The sky was still a bit dark, but the clouds were raising and the breaks were starting to form. The field was in great shape! It was wet, yet packed and the garden,though heavy in dew, was lively as well. Word got to Bees at breakfast that the matches would indeed be played today.
   Moonshine eyeballed in some fresh Lime on the infield and set up the hurlers box. Just as the last bit of chalk was laid the Ballists started arriving at the lot. The Field was soon bustling with the guys stretching and warming up for the double header contest Between the Glendale Gophers and the Bisbee Bees. The Captains met at the dish for the coin toss as the Cranks filled the stands and the players tossed the pill. Bees won the coin toss and opted to begin the match as the Outs Club, Gophers to bat first.
     In the first match of the day, the Gophers willows were live as they swatted in 21 aces to the Bees 9 aces. Glendale was spotting the pill in all the open areas and took advantage of the cold blooded Bees. Not much more could be said for the match. The Gophers put forth a solid defensive performance while hitting the pill in the gaps to force the ace.
   The second match got interesting real quick as the Bees started off by pushing two tallys across the dish to start the first inning. The Gophers poked the Bees nest enough in the first match to upset the hive and the Bees shut the Gophers out in the first. Inning by inning the tally see sawed back and forth. The Bees pushed an ace around in the seventh inning to tie the match at eight aces each. Again the Bees came back with an outstanding defensive effort to stop the Gophers in thier tracks, forcing extra innings. In the eighth inning, The Bees mounted an attack but were thwarted in the end to no aces tallied. The match came to an end as the Gophers struck thier first two batters to push across the final ace. Gophers win nine aces to eight.
   HUZZAH!

November 6th 1860

The stage was set for a Showdown! The Black Sox and Bees of Bisbee and the Sauguaros up from Tucson came to visit The Gophers in Glendale. The Gopher Hole was trimmed and sacks were laid all that was missing were the Ballists to show up. Somewhere about 10:00 they started filing in one wagon at at time through the pass. By 11:00 we were set for a showdown. The Black Sox took the field against the Bees in the first match. It was a Bisbeean shoot out from the start. The weather was still fair and the dew had burnt off and there was fresh lime in the grass, marking the lines. The Match was pretty feirce from the 1st to the 7th inning, finding the Bees besting the Black Sox.
Next up was the Gophers Matching in with the Black Sox. The day had begun to warm up and we actually added a chunk of ice to the water bucket. Along with the day beginning to warm as did the competition on the field.Them Black Sox took on an early lead and never looked back. The Gophers were puzzled and discombobulated and never could recover. The Gophers wereBested by the Black Sox 14-4. Who woulda seen it coming? The Black Sox Strikers were relentless with the bats and the Gopher Gardners just couldn't run em all down.
Next Stage was the Bees Squarin off with the Saguaros. The Mighty Bee Brigade took advantage of the Hurler early on and the onslaught began. The Saguaros offense was duely subdued with the Bees swarmming the field and covering everything. The Saguaros tucked thier tails and conceeded in the 4th inning. Huzzah to the Bees for an undefeated start to this season.
The Final Match of the day pitted the Saguaros and the Gophers. The time was nearing 3:00 and the day had peaked at 90 degrees. One more chunk of ice to the water bucket and Match On! The Saguaros figured out the Striking thing and started producing runners. Both Clubs were out to avenge an earlier defeat. The Gophers mounted an early lead and had to work for the entire match to maintain it. The Saguaros put together a few rallies, but fell just 1 rally short, finally falling to the Gophers in the last of the 7th inning. A valiant effort put forth... Huzzah! to the Saguaros for putting up the good fight.
Next week the Gophers travel North to visit the Prospectors from the Northwest.

October 17th Harvest Festival

Twas an unexpectedly hot day for mid October, with the Thermomometer hittin' up over the century mark. Life was good though.... The smells of hot Pies and Chili cookin' filled the air as Base Ball was played out on the field. No Heat Wave was gonna stop us rowdy fellas from playin' Base ball.

The First match saw the All-Star club from the Northwest Territory pitted against them Senators from Phoenix. The Match was well played until the later innings as the All-Stars ran away with the match. Final tally was All-Stars 22 aces to the Senators 5.

The Second Match was well played by the Bisbee Bees and the Local boys out of Glendale. As the temperature started to heat up so did the Match. The bats were alive and the defense was spectacular from both clubs. The Gophers ended up with a win in the last two innings with the final tally 14 aces to 6. The afternoon Championship was set. Bisbee would face off against Phoenix for the consolation match as Northwest Territories would face off against Glendale for the Championship Match.

With the first two matches played and the afternoon set, we all gathered for the Harvest Feast. The Chili and Pie contest was Judged by the Arbitrators, Tally Master and Honorary Judges, Mayor Bob Burnside from Camp Verde and Mr. Richard Saenz from the Phoenix News. After the judging we all partook in the vittles. Mr. John Linker was voted up for the Best Chili in these parts. Not only tasty, but SPICY!!! Mrs. Jerri Mikus was Judged with the best lookin' and tastin' pie this side of the Mississippi with her Famous Lemon Mirangue Pie, Mmm-Mmm-Mmm! Now that was tastey!

The Chillins' kept entertained with train rides and games of all sorts. They was flippin' dimes for dishes. Pitchin' bean bags for prizes and painting toys for arts and crafts. Later in the afternoon they all gathered up in Ol' Paul's back yard and greased up a pig for a pig chase. Yes, the day was good....

After the Vittles and all was done with and the dishes got cleaned and put away, we were back to playin' Base Ball. The consolation match had the Bisbee Bees playing with the Phoenix Senators. The Afternoon was extermely hot with the mercury climbing up to 103 degrees. This blistering heat still had no deterence from the Gentlemen playing Base Ball. The only problem we experience with the heat was the shade ran away to get out of the heat, leaving us out in the sun with no relief. The match played on however with the Bisbee Bees Victorious 11 aces to 5.

The Arbitrator and Tally Master had just about enough of the heat, so with a quick quenching drink of water they called the Championship Match to play. The Nortwest Territories All-Stars Struck first, but not often enough to hold back the on-slaught that came in the form of the Glendale Gophers. The Gophers were relentless in thier pursuit of the Championship trophy. With the Final inning played through, the Arbitrator called Match with the Gophers claiming the Championship with the Final Tally 12 aces to 5.

Oh, what a day that was had by all. We look forward to hosting everyone again next fall.

How the West was One....

Twas a wild time up at Fort Verde over the past few days. The Farmers all worked frivilously to bring in and secure the Harvest while them Cavalry boys kept them cantakerous Apaches at bay. While the Cavalry was out on the plains with them Apache Raiders, us fellas from Glendale kept the Fort clean and secure. Glad we could do our part. The town of Camp Verde can rest easy once again.


Once the Unit withdrew and came back to the Fort and all responsibilities were relinquished back to the Cavalry we loaded up our wagons in preparation for the trek back to Glendale. We spent the best part of our last day relaxing around the cook kettles with the smell of Turkey dinner roasting in the pots.

It was brought up and decided that we'd all work up an appetite for dinner. So them Cavalry boys brought out the sacks and bats. One of the quartermasters stiched up a ball and we had a Base Ball match with the Cavalry. The Fort Verde Excelsiors, as they call themselves, won the bat toss for home field advantage. With the Glendale fellas up to bat first the match got under way. Us glendale boys batted through the lineup in our first inning of work. When we turned over the bats to the Excelsiors, our defense didn't allow any aces. We played for the best part of 2 hours or so. Somewhere along the line we lost track of how many aces each club had scored. It was more just a bunch of Good Ol' Boys havin' fun.

We got through the 5th inning and decided to call it quits because of the overpowering smell of the Turkey dinner with all the fixin's. The hunger got the best of us all as we enjoyed a succulent dinner. As we were all much obliged for the fixin's and the Base Ball match, the enevitable was upon us. it was time to head the wagons south for Glendale as we have our own harvest to bring in this week.

All is done not in jest, as the Fort Verde Cavalry unit has agreed to come down to Glendale in the upcoming week to insure that we have a safe harvest as well. Hopefully we can return the favor of a great harvest spread as we were treated to. I still savor that Succulent Turkey dinner.

Headed North

With the War getting heated and the Apaches on the Offensive, we have been asked to make our way up to Ft. Verde to help the already battle weary Cavalry. With Fall in the air and the Harvest coming up from the fields, the concern is that an Apache raid is eminant! We've been recruited to help secure the Fort while the Boys in Blue watch over the Farmers and escort them in to Market.


I got the Wagon all hitched and ready to pull out at first light. I have enough provisions to get the family through the three day haul up the hill. I loaded light knowing that the Mountain range twixt Glendale and Ft. Verde is a steep, long haul.


To all my fellow Gophers, I have room in the Wagon if'n there's anyone what needs help getting up to Ft. Verde. The Mules have been out to pasture and are well rested for the trip. I'm gonna tether ol' Daisy and Emma up to the wagon for when we hit the Mountains outside of Black Canyon. The Oxen can pull the wagon a bit easier than the Mule team up that steep terrain.
Happy Trails and God Bless.

Ready to play!

Saturday found us in the midst of a joint practice with "dem boys from Bisbee" again. With the Bees, Gophers and a few town boys, we had 10 men out on the prairie shaggin and swattin base balls around. I'm thinkin we found our First Sacker. Hoss has a pretty sure hand over there. Second sack is still a toss up, but Ole Books seems to have a pretty good handle on it. Kid Linker, me thinks, will rove around as our Middle Maintainer. We still need to figure out who's gonna field as the Behinder as well as Gardeners. I'm thinkin that we'll have Frenchy take on Left Gardener , Papi Ramirez patrolling out the Center Garden with Blondie taking care of the right side. I'm thinkin that Preacher can either Hurl or pick up as the Behinder with Way-out Smythe doing the other. We also have Smitty that can pick up any position needed. I heard that smitty has some time in the Professional arena with a club from New York, maybe you've heard of the Dodgers Club Nine?
After practice concluded, we made our way to Town Hall and had a town meeting. It has been decided that we are all itchin to have a match. I sent out by telegraph an invite to a few clubs from neighboring towns to come out in a few weeks to put on a few matches. We invited the Bees out of Bisbee, the Senators out of Phoenix and the Stars from that Sun city place. Hopefully we'll get em all to come out, as this is the time that Glendale holds it's Harvest Festival.
I can't wait for the for the Festival this year! I hear that Granny Linker is bringin one of her Famous Pies for the Bakin and eatin contest. I loves me a slice of Granny Linkers Pies! I'm also told that we're gonna have some Of the Cavalry boys from Fort Verde down to make sure they ain't no Apache raids of the Festival. Can't never be too careful with them Apache's on the Warpath! We'll see what else happens in October.....

Bulldozer

GLENDALE TOWNSHIP HOLD FIRST PRACTICE

Glendale Township gathered today for its first Official Base Ball Practice.
There was quite a BUZZ when a few of them Bisbee Bees showed up to see what was happening.
"I think they may have sent spies" says one Glendale source. Little did he know that these fellas were here today to help Captain Bulldozer teach the fellas the game of Base Ball. Jim " Stretch" Gentner and Jimmy " Hustle" Roth both gave thier wisdom and knowledge of the game to the Boys from Glendale. Watch out , here come the GOPHERS!