8 MAY 09: Great Southern Woodbats
The Thursday morning weather in Columbus was surprisingly rainy. My sunrise jog had to be delayed until mid-afternoon. The National Day of Prayer event had to be moved inside the Government Center. And even if Golden Park had a 7:15 p.m. baseball game, it would have been postponed before noon.
Yet inside the offices at Golden Park, there was an effort to spread sunshine Thursday. The owners of Columbus's new team in the Great South League disclosed plans for a summer baseball season. If it wasn't for that team, sports fans would have to root for skaters at the skateboard park to organize roller derby teams.
The Columbus franchise officially gained a nickname Thursday - the Woodbats. So much for signing up Blaze Recycling as a team sponsor....
You see, the Great South League requires baseball players to use wooden bats. High school and college organizations permit metal bats -- which saves money for teams, but some say also increases the risk of fielders getting injured. Injuries with wooden bats can be eliminated, if batters wear gloves to guard against splinters.
The owners of the Columbus Woodbats announced the first home game at Golden Park will be Wednesday, 3 June. Tickets will sell for only five dollars -- which tells me if you ask for "five-dollar footlongs" at the concession stand, you might be seriously underbidding.
We're told the Columbus Woodbats will play 32 games in June and July. But the Great South League's official schedule makes you wonder a little about that. For instance, the Woodbats are listed with four games against "TBA." I don't think that stands for Tampa Bay - so this may be the big moment your church softball team has been waiting for.
The schedule has the Woodbats and Columbus Lions playing competing home games on the same night twice in June. And a Father's Day weekend homestand occurs at the same time as the Aflac Outdoor Games. But look at it this way -- they're trying to reduce the overcrowding at "Family Day in the Park" any way they can.
The Woodbats also announced Golden Park will host the league championship series in early August. At least they told us in advance about this. That small- college conference tournament came to town and left so quietly, I almost thought it was run by undercover police officers.
The Columbus Woodbats already have commitments from several young players. Two of them are Casey and Cyle Rasmus - as in the brothers of Colby. So why isn't father Tony the head coach? Will he be busy working as Colby's personal agent?
The Woodbats are owned by the nonprofit Columbus Baseball Foundation. General Manager Jim White told WRBL this is one franchise that will never be moved. Talk about famous last words! If a minor-league pro team expresses interest in Golden Park, the Woodbats will be gone - at least to Ragsdale Field at Columbus State.
Columbus Baseball Foundation Chairman Bo Callaway said we need the Woodbats because "you can't have a great city without baseball." How London and Paris achieved it, we're not really sure....
The managers of the Woodbats promise to bring "good clean fun" to Columbus this summer. I presume that means Manny Ramirez will NOT appear at any home games.
So how are the last residents of Golden Park doing? The former Columbus Catfish are now the Bowling Green Hot Rods. They drew 6,886 fans to their first home game in a new ballpark, and had more than 3,200 in the stands last Friday night. Wait until the crowds figure out it isn't really lawn bowling.
But back to the weather, as we check other Thursday news:
+ A downtown Columbus event marking the National Day of Prayer was moved indoors, to the chambers of Columbus Council. Based on the video clip I saw of people praying, Bert Coker could learn some things about appealing to the mayor for change.
+ Heavy rain fell on Montgomery, forcing the Alabama Legislature to move from a flooded Statehouse to the old state Capitol. Every Phenix City resident who shops for groceries in Columbus to save on sales taxes should take personal responsibility for this....
+ Northside High School's Christine Powell was named Muscogee County Teacher of the Year. She teaches English and journalism, she's not even 30 - and after looking at her picture, you start to understand some of the news reports about teacher-student affairs.
+ Richard Hyatt's web site revealed the Columbus High School yearbook is being dedicated to former principal Susan Bryant. Bryant is serving a one-year suspension of her teaching license.-- but if I remember my high school years correctly, some of the pages had to be submitted to the printer last December.
+ WRBL reported the Harris County School Board hired Dr. Craig Dowling of Rockdale County as its new superintendent. Dowling is a father of seven - and if all seven had attended Thursday's board meeting, they might have been a majority in the audience.
+ Great Championship Wrestling marked its fifth anniversary. I presume the card in Phenix City marked this properly - with grapplers pulling out serrated cake-cutting knives, and using them against each other.
+ Cleveland clubbed Atlanta again in the N.B.A. Playoffs 105-85. WEAM-AM must have realized another rout was coming, because it didn't bother carrying the Hawks radio broadcast at all.
+ Instant Message to Church's Chicken: Aw, c'mon - a chicken restaurant selling corn dogs?! Why, this makes about as much sense as doughnut shops bragging primarily about their coffee. And we all know.... oh wait. Dunkin Donuts does that often.
SCHEDULED THIS WEEKEND: An empty place with questionable brick work.... and it's only two months old....
The number of unique visitors to our blog is up more than 14 percent so far this year! To advertise to them, offer a story tip, make a PayPal donation or comment on this blog, write me - but be warned, I may post your e-mail comment and offer a reply.
BURKARD BULK MAIL INDEX: 554 (+ 15, 2.8%)
The views expressed in this blog are solely those of the author -- not necessarily those of anyone else in Columbus living or dead, and perhaps not even you.
© 2003-09 Richard Burkard, all rights reserved.