Pick-a-Card: Series 5 (Hot Pack)
It's hard to believe that it's been 4 years since we've last gotten together to trade playing cards. A lot has changed since we last saw one another. We had our 2018 season which was more of a return to form with a bi-weekly schedule and six strong and stable teams with a fair amount of parity and talent spread across the league. We said goodbye to the tournament format and to the draft. We didn't know it yet but 2018 would be our final season and we certainly played like it would be our last. But that doesn't mean that the fun is over. We still have a lot to talk about. 2019 was strange as it was the first year for me since I was in 7th grade (the year 2000) that I didn't play any wiffleball. Then 2020 happened. Where to begin... I had considered playing in some Wild and Wonderful Wiffleball games but then COVID-19 hit and with it - many of the plans I (and so many of you) had for the rest of the year. It was farewell London Wiffleball Tournament. Goodbye Amy For Africa Tournament and anything else fun. 2020 was such a bust and it's an experience I never want to repeat.
But the past year did provide me a lot of time to think. I thought about personal and professional matters mostly then I began to think about having activity in my life and started to miss our league a little but mostly missed playing. Perhaps one day we'll see the day that we suit up and hit the fields once again. Sure, it probably won't be as the Huntington Wiffleball League but Brice Clark has been doing some great things with Mid Atlantic Wiffle and his own league up in Mason, WV (Wild and Wonderful Wiffle) so... perhaps there will be some options in 2021. We can only hope for a better year...
Anyway, I figured - why not dust off the 'ole shoebox with my pals and open another pack of cards and shoot the bull. Looks like we have another 6-pack here called the 'hot pack' so that sounds promising.
Oh wow! A Rick Patterson card! I love this guy. A lot of people don't know this but I share a special bond with Rick. In 2015, we were on the same team called Chicken & Wiffles and it was the first year for the league at Miller Park. It's a beautiful park and one I'm glad the HWL could call home BUT there are no bathrooms around so if you need to go - you have to literally get in your car and drive to any nearby facilities. Rick once orchestrated some masterful stalling in a game we had when we were up to bat and I had to go make a bathroom run. I've done the same for him and I'd like to think we grew closer for it and have been #SplashBros since that day.
I don't think any HWL wiffleball card collector can call themselves a true collector without a Randy "Supe" Steele card. I've known the guy 8 years and maybe heard him say 50 words. But he makes his few words count and he has cracked me up on numerous occasions. One of his classic bits that made me laugh was when he would blow smoke into a wiffleball - a trick he called his "Dragon Ball." He mostly did this on the bench but I've seen him pull this prior to throwing a pitch before, which was always a crowd pleaser.
An Ian Handy card could easily be a marquee card in an 'Unsung Heroes Pack' in my opinion. For a player that only had a two-year career, he sure left a mark. Ian didn't come across as a dominant athlete but his ability came through very quickly with his 2016 team Smokin' Aces as they won the April Tournament and his presence as a player and leader was impossible to ignore. He was a quiet guy by nature but let his bat and arm do the talking. And people took notice. He was taken to the NWLA qualifier tournament in Morenci, MI in 2016 and again in Wikes-Barre, PA in 2017. This isn't a card I expected to see but am happy to have in the collection.
I was beginning to wonder what I was going to have to do to get a Brian Ball card! It's about time. What can I say about this guy that hasn't been said a thousand times? He's probably the most overall talented player I've ever played with. He could do it all: hit, field, pitch (a little) and run. If you had this guy on your team, you were likely going to have what it took to put a W in the column. He's without-a-doubt the best fielder this league has ever seen (seen him rob countless homeruns) and a great hitter, decent relief pitcher but where he really shined was his aggression on the base-paths. His high baseball IQ served him well learning when and when not to run and he could dodge just about any peg attempt. This guy was a force on the field. This is a sick find!
Ahh yes, the Myles Robertson. He's easily one of the most photogenic players we had in the latter years of the league - case in point: this card. Myles didn't have a long career with the league but he was an integral part of the Rocket Boys team that made a lot of noise in the 2016 season. They drafted well in 2017 and were sure to pick him up before someone else did early on and it paid off as he hit .453, 16 HRs & 25 RBIs that year. His laid-back attitude was something I always liked about him. He walked a fine line between competing and chilling and that's a style I can dig.
Shew boy! Is that what I think it is? I think so! A Diamond Kings Andrew Westcott card! This guy is a legend. He's started in the league in 2014 as part of the Sit On My Base squad, the second best team in league history - second only to well... everybody. Westcott is a dude who gave 100% wherever you put him. Dude could hit the ball a mile but also made some of the most impressive defensive plays I've ever seen so it's only fitting this gem of a play is what made the card. He's not just a good player but a good dude and one I've come to admire not just as a teammate but a friend. I miss talking smack with him at the fields.
