thedrifter
03-23-09, 05:35 AM
March 23, 2009
Military vets take swing at Sox minor leaguers
All-Stars happily trade roadside bombs for beanballs
By GLENN MILLER
gmiller@news-press.com
They wore spikes, not boots. They wore caps, not helmets. They carried bats and gloves, not rifles.
They played baseball on the practice field at City of Palms Park, a long way from Iraq or Afghanistan.
The U.S. Military All-Stars lost 4-0 to a collection of Boston Red Sox minor-leaguers Sunday. The score didn't matter.
Especially not to players such as Isaac Rodriguez, a Marine Corps sergeant who earned two Purple Hearts in Iraq.
"No sand," Rodriguez said. "No bullets."
And no IEDs, or improvised explosive devices.
That's how Rodriguez was wounded in Iraq. Twice. Those devices left Rodriguez with a perforated ear, a concussion and shrapnel in his legs.
This wasn't a typical opposing team for the Red Sox. And they knew it.
"We got a bunch of heroes," said Ron Johnson, who managed the Red Sox minor-leaguers during the game.
During the game, Red Sox manager Terry Francona, general manager Theo Epstein and pitching coach John Farrell watched from behind the backstop.
The Military All-Stars are not beer-league softball players.
They're former college players and had to try out for the team. All the players in Sunday's game have served in Iraq or Afghanistan.
One of those former collegiate players is Lt. (jg) Will Sheehan, an outfielder who played at the Naval Academy.
"It's an amazing opportunity to take a break from the actual fog of war and go back to the basics of just throwing and hitting a baseball," Sheehan said.
They have left the war but not the military. Their uniforms are camouflage-themed.
The names on the back of the jerseys are not the players but resonate with history: D-Day. Gettysburg. Bulge. Lincoln. Kennedy. Roosevelt.
"They speak for themselves," Dan Duquette, the team's director of player development and a former Red Sox general manager, said of the uniform names.
"Our manager is Ground Zero."
The team's manager is former Red Sox first baseman Brian Daubach. His advice to his team Sunday was simple.
"Swing hard in case you hit it," Daubach said.
They didn't expect to win. That wasn't the point.
Retired Lt. Commander Terry Allvord, a coach with the team, gathered his players near the first base dugout before the game.
"It doesn't take any talent to hustle," Allvord told the players. "We're military. We outhustle everybody."
The All-Stars don't play home games. They don't have a home field.
"We go around city to city," Duquette said. "We're kind of like the Harlem Globetrotters."
The Red Sox, though, are not the Washington Generals, the Globetrotters' perennial designated whipping boys who are supposed to lose.
Sunday was a long day for the barnstorming soldiers, sailors, Marines and Coast Guardsmen.
They left a Tampa hotel at 5:30 a.m. for their 10 a.m. game in Fort Myers. They then traveled to Clearwater for an evening game.
Yet, they weren't complaining.
"It's just off the charts," Lt. Mark Blask, a coach with the team, said of playing at the Red Sox's spring-training home.
He wasn't worried about beanballs near the noggins of his players.
"I think if they get knocked down, it won't be the worst thing that's happened," Blask said.
No, not Sunday. Not on a peaceful beautiful, sunny morning on a ballfield in America, far from any IEDs.
"Living a dream," Rodriguez said.
Additional Facts
- Lt. Will Sheehan
"It's an amazing opportunity to take a break from the actual fog of war and go back to the basics of just throwing and hitting a baseball."
Ellie
Military vets take swing at Sox minor leaguers
All-Stars happily trade roadside bombs for beanballs
By GLENN MILLER
gmiller@news-press.com
They wore spikes, not boots. They wore caps, not helmets. They carried bats and gloves, not rifles.
They played baseball on the practice field at City of Palms Park, a long way from Iraq or Afghanistan.
The U.S. Military All-Stars lost 4-0 to a collection of Boston Red Sox minor-leaguers Sunday. The score didn't matter.
Especially not to players such as Isaac Rodriguez, a Marine Corps sergeant who earned two Purple Hearts in Iraq.
"No sand," Rodriguez said. "No bullets."
And no IEDs, or improvised explosive devices.
That's how Rodriguez was wounded in Iraq. Twice. Those devices left Rodriguez with a perforated ear, a concussion and shrapnel in his legs.
This wasn't a typical opposing team for the Red Sox. And they knew it.
"We got a bunch of heroes," said Ron Johnson, who managed the Red Sox minor-leaguers during the game.
During the game, Red Sox manager Terry Francona, general manager Theo Epstein and pitching coach John Farrell watched from behind the backstop.
The Military All-Stars are not beer-league softball players.
They're former college players and had to try out for the team. All the players in Sunday's game have served in Iraq or Afghanistan.
One of those former collegiate players is Lt. (jg) Will Sheehan, an outfielder who played at the Naval Academy.
"It's an amazing opportunity to take a break from the actual fog of war and go back to the basics of just throwing and hitting a baseball," Sheehan said.
They have left the war but not the military. Their uniforms are camouflage-themed.
The names on the back of the jerseys are not the players but resonate with history: D-Day. Gettysburg. Bulge. Lincoln. Kennedy. Roosevelt.
"They speak for themselves," Dan Duquette, the team's director of player development and a former Red Sox general manager, said of the uniform names.
"Our manager is Ground Zero."
The team's manager is former Red Sox first baseman Brian Daubach. His advice to his team Sunday was simple.
"Swing hard in case you hit it," Daubach said.
They didn't expect to win. That wasn't the point.
Retired Lt. Commander Terry Allvord, a coach with the team, gathered his players near the first base dugout before the game.
"It doesn't take any talent to hustle," Allvord told the players. "We're military. We outhustle everybody."
The All-Stars don't play home games. They don't have a home field.
"We go around city to city," Duquette said. "We're kind of like the Harlem Globetrotters."
The Red Sox, though, are not the Washington Generals, the Globetrotters' perennial designated whipping boys who are supposed to lose.
Sunday was a long day for the barnstorming soldiers, sailors, Marines and Coast Guardsmen.
They left a Tampa hotel at 5:30 a.m. for their 10 a.m. game in Fort Myers. They then traveled to Clearwater for an evening game.
Yet, they weren't complaining.
"It's just off the charts," Lt. Mark Blask, a coach with the team, said of playing at the Red Sox's spring-training home.
He wasn't worried about beanballs near the noggins of his players.
"I think if they get knocked down, it won't be the worst thing that's happened," Blask said.
No, not Sunday. Not on a peaceful beautiful, sunny morning on a ballfield in America, far from any IEDs.
"Living a dream," Rodriguez said.
Additional Facts
- Lt. Will Sheehan
"It's an amazing opportunity to take a break from the actual fog of war and go back to the basics of just throwing and hitting a baseball."
Ellie